Sponsored

Is my math correct? Is it really this cheap to operate?

bc1

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 25, 2025
Threads
10
Messages
307
Reaction score
231
Location
McPherson, KS
Vehicles
2025 Ford f150 Lightning Flash
Publicly traded utilities are an absolute scam. Our surrounding counties have municipal energy utilities that are significantly cheaper (and statistically more reliable).

This arrangement with Duke energy benefits no one but Duke (and probably the governor 💰). Sorry for the rant 😆.
Richguy82, you are correct but the only ones who really benefit is the "richguy" who owns Duke Energy stock. :)
Sponsored

 
First Name
David
Joined
Jun 15, 2024
Threads
2
Messages
14
Reaction score
10
Location
Texas
Vehicles
2003 f150 lightning pro
Occupation
Window cleaner
I have a ladder rack on my truck and drive a ridiculous amount for work. In general it seems like it increased my electric bill about a hundred bucks a month. With my old truck I was paying $400 a month for gas on average so it's a win. I got the pro edition and got a pretty good deal on it with 0% APR about a year and a half ago and when I did the math it's cheaper per month for the loan plus electricity than the loan plus gas if I had bought a 7-year-old F-150.
 

rockhead

Well-known member
First Name
Glenn
Joined
Jun 20, 2024
Threads
7
Messages
107
Reaction score
275
Location
BC
Vehicles
F150 Flash
Occupation
Geek
When I get a really obnoxious hater I ask them if they can drill for oil in their backyard, tilt tracking array ftw

Ford F-150 Lightning Is my math correct?  Is it really this cheap to operate? 1771081402284-0v
 

courtneych

New member
First Name
Charles
Joined
Oct 10, 2025
Threads
0
Messages
2
Reaction score
1
Location
Gainesville, Florida
Vehicles
2025 F150 Lightning Flash, 2024 Kia EV9 Land, 2021 Mach-e CR1
Occupation
Retired veterinarian/university professor
I am fortunate to have solar with 1:1 net metering. At the end of the year my Florida utility reimburses me about 4.5 cents per kWh for any unused electricity I sent to them over the year, so I figure I would have received 4.5 cents per kWh for the electricity I put into my Mach-e and Lightning. Therefore it costs me about 2.2 cents per mile for the "fuel" to operate my Lightning vs. 15 cents per mile (@ about $3.00 per gallon) to operate my previous ICE F-150. Those of you with solar and a lower end of year reimbursement rate would have even cheaper "fuel" costs by this method of calculation. Then there are the significantly lower maintenance costs for the Lightning vs. the ICE F-150.
 
Last edited:

RickLightning

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 17, 2022
Threads
108
Messages
6,766
Reaction score
9,223
Location
SE MI
Vehicles
'22 Lightning ER Lariat,'22 Mach-E Premium 4X
I have had my 2025 Lightning FLASH for a little over a year now and have a little over 17,000 miles on it. I decided to do a calculation of what it costs me per 100 miles to drive my truck. I live in the Phoenix metropolitan area and during the summer I average about 2.3 miles per KWh and in the winter I average a little over 2.6 miles per KWh. I decided to use 2.5 as an average for my calculations so I use about 40 KWH per 100 miles. I have a FCSP at home and charge exclusively at home except when I drive to LA or up to the mountains. My FCSP shows that I use between 7.1% and 7.5% more energy to charge my truck each time I charge. I decided to use 8% to be conservative which means to add 40 KWh to the truck I will use 43.2 KWh from the power company. I charge only at night starting at 10 PM and the rate I pay through my power company is 5.943 cents per KWh off-peak in the summer and 3.495 cents per KWh during super-off-peak hours (10 PM to 3 AM) in the winter. If my calculations are correct then the cost to drive 100 miles is $2.57 (43.2 * .05943) in the summer and $1.51 (43.2 * 0.3495) in the winter. Why would I ever spend money on gasoline again if my calculations are correct?
Your math is off a tiny bit. 100% from the house becomes 92% at the vehicle, so you take 40 and divide by 0.92, getting 43.48kWh, not 43.2.

As to the cost, you need to include ALL VARIABLE COSTS from the bill. That would be generation, distribution, AND ANY OTHER VARIABLE COSTS including taxes. Only exclude any fixed cost that would be incurred if you didn't charge the truck at all.
 

Sponsored

Robert1380

Well-known member
First Name
Robert
Joined
May 14, 2025
Threads
15
Messages
250
Reaction score
185
Vehicles
2025 Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum
Occupation
Retired law enforcement
The advertised cost per kWh on our utility plan is
Winter: $0.12351 off-peak, $0.03495 super off-peak, and $0.32543 peak
Summer: $0.12345 off-peak and $0.34396 peak

For us, last month’s effective rate was $0.15/kWh.

I believe Arizona requires the utility to give you the $/kWh effective rate. Find that on your bill and use that cost rather than the advertised rate.
Must be nice. We pay .26 per kWh super off peak and .56 on peak. We have solar and my electric bill went up about 350 bucks a month cuz we have two EVs.
 

Bobby Two Two

New member
First Name
Bob
Joined
Dec 16, 2025
Threads
0
Messages
2
Reaction score
2
Location
British Columbia
Vehicles
2025 Ford Lightning XLT
Occupation
Retired
You forgot to factor in maintenance or, in our case, lack thereof. The first service is at 16 000 km not 8 000 which is the usual for an ice. No oil changes, very few moving parts to wear out, etc., etc. If you drive almost exclusively in one pedal mode like I do, you can expect break linings to last basically forever. This is why dealerships hate EVs. Much of their after market profit is based on maintaining gas guzzlers.
 

SSNutz

Well-known member
First Name
Troy
Joined
Sep 25, 2024
Threads
5
Messages
59
Reaction score
44
Location
SE Wisconsin
Vehicles
2024 Flash
Occupation
Sr Process Innovation Specialist
If you want a reason to move to Wisconsin, the effective rate is about $0.17/kwh. We’ll call that 8 cents per mile. EA membership rate is $0.36/kwh.
WE energy in SE WI offers $.109/kWh for off peak rates (.30/khw peak). I've shift most of my charging to off peak (7pm to 7am). This does save but Wife does work from home so the peak rate stings a little.
 

K6CCC

Well-known member
First Name
Jim
Joined
Sep 12, 2024
Threads
26
Messages
868
Reaction score
846
Location
Glendora, Calif.
Vehicles
2024 Lightning Flash ER in Antimatter Blue w/9.6 PPO , 2017 Corolla (wife's car)
Occupation
Retired from 2-Way radio systems
With my previous truck (2003 Dodge Ram 2500) I was going through about $500 per month in gas. I have owned my Lighting for 10 days shy of a year and spent $1,478.43 on charging - or about $125 per month. Miles driven typically runs about 18K miles per year and I will be pretty close to that at the one year mark. This is southern California so very high electric rates. Although it has changed a little, currently my off peak rate is 23.608 cents per KWH. Before I retired I did benefit from some free charging at work, so my total electric cost divided by total KWH came out to 20.3 cents / KWH.
 

shutterbug

Well-known member
First Name
Joseph
Joined
May 20, 2021
Threads
12
Messages
1,297
Reaction score
1,274
Location
Phoenix
Vehicles
MME GB FE—Dead. F150L Lariat SR. MME Rally.
As to the cost, you need to include ALL VARIABLE COSTS from the bill. That would be generation, distribution, AND ANY OTHER VARIABLE COSTS including taxes. Only exclude any fixed cost that would be incurred if you didn't charge the truck at all.
As I pointed out, OP rates are all in and include all costs including taxes and fees. So there's nothing to add.
 

Sponsored

shutterbug

Well-known member
First Name
Joseph
Joined
May 20, 2021
Threads
12
Messages
1,297
Reaction score
1,274
Location
Phoenix
Vehicles
MME GB FE—Dead. F150L Lariat SR. MME Rally.
Unusual for residential to have a demand charge. Typicaly that is a 15-minute average. That can add up. Since the charger is on full time, then whatever your typical highest demand was you can add 6-11 kW to it while charging based on your charge rate. That could be an extra $100+ demand charge on your bill. Sometimes demand is time limited and doesn’t apply off-peak though.
APS demand charge only applies between 4:00PM and 7:00PM M-F, and only for a single hour during the month. So if you don't charge your EV during that time, it adds $0.
 
OP
OP

kps713

New member
First Name
Kevin
Joined
Mar 10, 2025
Threads
1
Messages
3
Reaction score
17
Vehicles
2024 F150 Lightning Flash
Thanks for all of your replies. Looking back at my FCSP history 93% of the energy used to charge my truck is actually put into the truck. Thus, it takes 43.01 KWh to introduce 40KWh into the truck. I will round up to 44 just for a buffer.
Here is a dump of costs from my actual bill:

Meter Reads Dec 18 Jan 20 Total
Total Read 11301 13095 1794 kWh
On-Peak 15231 15306 75 kWh
Super Off-Peak 16122 16235 113 kWh
Off-Peak — — 1606 kWh
On-Peak Demand — — 3.40 kW
On-Peak Energy $7.45
(Rates are higher during on-peak hours, 4pm-7pm weekdays, but lower all other
off-peak hours.)
75 kWh x $0.09930/kWh (Generation, Delivery & Transmission)
Super Off-Peak Energy $3.95
(Super off-peak hours provide the lowest off-peak energy rates during Winter
months (Nov-Apr bills), 10am-3pm weekdays.)
113 kWh x $0.03495/kWh (Generation, Delivery & Transmission)
Off-Peak Energy $95.36
(Rates are lower for all other off-peak hours during weekdays and all day on the
weekends plus designated holidays.)
1606 kWh x $0.05938/kWh (Generation, Delivery & Transmission)
On-Peak Demand $46.74
(The charge for the highest energy use during a set time period when rates are
higher, determined by your rate plan.)
3.4 kW x $13.74706/kW (Generation, Delivery & Transmission)
Adjustors $42.38
(Part of your energy costs for programs and services like fuel, renewable energy
and energy efficiency that are based on your energy usage.)

Note: the cost per KWh includes Generation, Delivery & Transmission. The only thing that might impact cost is adjustors which is $42.38 or $.02362318 per kWh. So I will add the .02362318 to the cost. I never charge during on-peak hours and you can see that my on-peak demand was 3.4 kW which is significantly less than the 11.5 kW that is drawn which charging (48 Amp).
So here is what the updated calculation is:
If I charge on weeknights during super-off-peak hours which I sometimes do the cost is:
44*($0.03495+$0.02362318) = $2.58
If I charge on weekends which I actually do most of the time the cost is:
44*($0.05938+$0.02362318) = $3.65

For me the bottom line is: Why didn't my dealer or even Ford let me know how energy efficient EVs really are. I think this is actually a big seller and for people like me who live in Phoenix which is the land of big SUVs and trucks it is a no brainer to own an EV. Sometimes when I am out driving I count as many as 7 other Lightnings on the road.
 

RickLightning

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 17, 2022
Threads
108
Messages
6,766
Reaction score
9,223
Location
SE MI
Vehicles
'22 Lightning ER Lariat,'22 Mach-E Premium 4X
As I pointed out, OP rates are all in and include all costs including taxes and fees. So there's nothing to add.
I didn't see where OP said they had that company or plan...
 

shutterbug

Well-known member
First Name
Joseph
Joined
May 20, 2021
Threads
12
Messages
1,297
Reaction score
1,274
Location
Phoenix
Vehicles
MME GB FE—Dead. F150L Lariat SR. MME Rally.
For me the bottom line is: Why didn't my dealer or even Ford let me know how energy efficient EVs really are. I think this is actually a big seller and for people like me who live in Phoenix which is the land of big SUVs and trucks it is a no brainer to own an EV. Sometimes when I am out driving I count as many as 7 other Lightnings on the road.
The dealers are mostly clueless and have no incentive to educate themselves on this.
Sponsored

 
 







Top