Impact Calculator Disclaimer
The EV Lifestyle calculator should only be used to roughly project the financial and environmental impacts of switching to an electric vehicle. The numbers will vary from driver to driver, as well as from vehicle to vehicle.
To project various levels of CO2 emissions, we worked with the assumption that a gas vehicle consumes 22 MPG of fuel, a diesel vehicle consumes 30 MPG of fuel, and a hybrid vehicle consumes 60 MPG of fuel.
- Constant Variables
- Miles Per Gallon (miles/g)
- MPG gas = 22
- MPG diesel = 30
- MPG Hybrid = 60
- Cost Per Gallon (in US dollars/g)
- CPG Gas = 3.682
- CPG Diesel = 3.923
- CPG Hybrid = 3.682
- Cost Per 100 Miles of Driving (in US dollars/100 mi) = (CPG / MPG)*100
- CPM Gas = 16.74
- CPM Diesel = 13.08
- CPM Hybrid = 6.14
- CPM EV = 2
- Carbon Emissions Per 100 Miles of Driving (in lbs/100 mi)
- CEPM Gas = 24.2
- CEPM Diesel = 17.79
- CEPM Hybrid = 8.9
- Average Vehicle Tank (in gallons)
- AVT Gas = 20
- AVT Diesel = 20
- AVT Hybrid = 20
- Average Mileage of 700 Electronauts (mi)
- Miles Driven = Variable Defined by Slider
- Average Annual Mileage (mi) Driven by User
The MPG and CPM values below will refer to the constants (above) of the currently selected vehicle type by the user.
Dollars Saved on Fuel
Annual Fuel Savings (in US dollars)
(Miles Driven * CPM/100) - (Miles Driver * CPM EV/100)
This number is determined based on your estimated consumption of gas, minus the estimated cost to charge your electric vehicle. In addition, we assumed that an average driver will most likely commute a maximum of ten hours per day, at an average of 50 MPH.
Pounds CO2 Not Emitted
Annual Emissions (lbs)
Miles Driven * CEPM/100
Additional data related to CO2 emissions is calculated using the equation CO2 (lbs.) per mile = 5.33 lbs/22 for a gas-powered car (with a substitution of 30 for diesel, 60 for hybrid).
In order to convert “watts per hour” to gallons of gas, we used the formula: one gallon of gas = 33,700 watts. To convert gasoline to carbon content per gallon, we used the formula: CO2 (lbs) = gallons of gas*2421*10-3*2.2.[1]
All calculations related to carbon dioxide are estimated according to the daily usage of a gas-powered vehicle.
Gas Stations Skipped
Number of Trips Per Year
Miles Driven / (MPG * AVT)
Data Sources
[1] Based on — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/miles_per_gallon_gasoline_equivalent
[2] Based on — http://epa.gov/oms/climate/420f05001.htm