Save money on gas: Buy a $53,000 electric car!

A buyer who says he's from Los Angeles put an electric-powered Toyota RAV SUV up for sale on eBay last night. Bidding starts at $53,180 for the 2002 vehicle, which has almost 77,000 miles on it and >goes 80 miles on a single three-hour charge.

Toyota says it stopped making the electric RAVS in early 2003; electric car activists have long said the company didn't do enough to market the vehicles. The group Plug In America says that the RAV's mileage is so good that the cost of purchasing electricity for it is the equivalent of paying about 83 cents a gallon. That's like getting more than 100 miles a gallon.

A gas-powered, four-cylinder RAV gets about 24 mpg but only costs about $27,000 -- if fully loaded. So do the math. The electric RAV would likely result in more than $2,000 a year in fuel savings (if driving about 15,000 miles a year), but also costs you twice as much up front.

The other wrinkle here is that a lot of electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels, which produces carbon dioxide, which in turn contributes to global warming. Zan Dubin Scott, a spokesperson for Plug In America, said her group believes it's still far less polluting than actually burning gasoline in individual vehicles.

The bidding on the electric RAV ends Monday. Plug In America says another electric RAV sold in May for -- get this -- almost 70,000 boxes of ziti.

--Steve Hymon

Got a take on traffic or transportation? Email your tips to steve.hymon@latimes.com.

Photo: Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[tina juarez]

Until EV owners learned that Toyota was buying back used RAV-EVs for crushing, the prices for used RAV EVs were quite reasonable. As Toyota wasn't willing to pay the sticker price of $40K, it became the base price to keep the cars on the road. So the real value starting price is $13K. You can convert a car yourself for $6K - $10K & up. Instead of stubbornly holding on to the idea of buying a production car, I converted for $6K, 4 years ago. Sure, I'd love a RAV-ev, but now I am planning to build an EV dragster,.. this is fun!

[Dan]

The USA currently imports about 13 million barrels of oil per day. By coincidence that's exactly how much oil is burnt in the form of gasoline by the US private automobile fleet.

To power an equivalent fleet of electric cars we'd only need the energy equivalent of about 1/4 that. In other words 3 million barrels per day.
So even if we used coal to provide the energy, it's way LESS than if we used fossil fuels in 100 year technology of the internal combustion engine.

By anyone's reckoning, the efficiency difference is astounding.

[jagadees]

there is another aspect named efficiency. IC engine based vehicle has only 15-20% efficiency [http://jagadees.wordpress.com/2007/10/20/ic-engine-efficiency/] from fuel to wheel. And it has a lot of complex components. manufacturing all these takes lot of fossil fuels. Also it pollutes all the way. It wastes a lot of fuel while idling, when they are in traffic jam or signals.

where as electric motors are every efficient. It contain very less components, reducing manufacturing and maintenance costs. electricity production also done by big turbine based plants which are more efficient that otto cycle. Also they can implement sophisticated pollution control measures on the plant, which never able to implement on an automobile.

If more people buy the EVs then its cost can be reduced. IC engine based vehicle are less costly because these companies are crossed the break even point in the past 200 years.

if you care about environment please dont buy oil based automobile. Use public transportation or EVs.

[The Pizzaman]

If you run those numbers at $4 a gallon, thats $2500. Also, no brake pads, oil changes, or emisions testing. Plus, today you can convert to electric for less than $70 grand and get a better range that 100 miles.
You have to remember the other things too.

[GDC]

Now run the numbers again factoring in my 2kw wind turbine feeding the car, and the additional $12/gal in estimated health costs associated with the burning of gasoline.

[Bo Bennett]

What we are seeing now is the incredible demand for these vehicles in the USA and lack of supply. Why would someone pay upwards of $70k for an electric version of a $24k ish car? It's certainly not about the "savings", but more about making a statement, doing your part for the environment. If it were me, I would rather donate $100 to Greenpeace. There is more on this EV at http://www.evecast.com .