What “MPG” are you getting?

[Enginerd Josh]

I have. 2024 Flash, with a cab-height canopy. In Eastern WA chilly weather I get around 2 mi/kWh on my typical drives, so about 5 cents per mile when I charge at home and pay my local utility 10 cents/kwh. I like to compare the cost savings against my previous truck, an ICE 2007 F150 with the 5.4 V8: I got 13.5 mpg with that, so with gas at $4/gal, it works out to 30 cents per mile driven. So Im saving about 25 cents per mile driven!

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[TaxmanHog]

I don't live in MA but someone said they used this program. https://www.nationalgridus.com/electric-vehicle-hub/Programs/Massachusetts/Off-Peak-Charging-Program Hopefully that could help reduce some of the cost. 35.78 cents a kWh is definitely a lot

I tried the program, but @Ford Motor Company froze my access to Ford Pass because of unauthorized third party connection to my account, it happened twice, after the second offense I was warned I would lose access permanently if I violated the TOS one more time.

Since those incidents, I canceled the program, and am waiting for my FCSP to die, then I'll replace it with a EVSE that can communicate with the program discreetly and not violate Ford draconian INFOSEC policies. Though with that program it's a joke of a token for credits to comply with psudo-tou gimmicks.

 

[DavidS]

The math works for daily at home charging but starts to break the other way on road trips unless you find free charging. I do a quarter of my yearly mileage on road trips which impacts the overall savings, but not paying for gas is only one reason I drive EVs.

 

[electricpig]

My lifetime average is 2.7 mi/kwh. I've have a 27K miles. Driving has included aub 0Ftemps as well as 100+F. My commute to work is 13 miles each way, moderate hills of a few hundred feet. I have gotten as high as 3.2-3.4 going to work in the morning, and 3.8 coming home (about 50' lower elevation). MSO drives a Tesla. She and I both average about 1K miles per month. Currently adds about $60 to electric bill in summer, and about $90-100 in winter when efficiency goes down. That covers both of our home charging. I'll take it with a smile.

 

[tearitupsports]

I have a lifetime average of 2.3 mi/kWh over 70k miles. This includes many road trips that brings that average down.

 

[Labs4Lightning]

@20andOut

You mention Motor Trend & operating costs - gas & charging are not the only components of operating costs. While they are the bulk, but depending on time of ownership and total miles all the other maintenance cost factor.
some owners have high weekly mileage maybe dcfc at added costs-some get business charging reimbursed.

gonna be wide range in total cost of ownership.

also the rate difference for owners in electric costs vary greatly.
using a ford charger excludes me from time of use discounted charging,
paid sticker with no ev credit.
the cost saving on charging vs gas purchase will not equate for savings in my case.
that’s ok, the truck is great, quiet, smooth ride, smooth acceleration.

 

[Athrun88]

I kept my math simple, though admittedly, I did the math *after* getting the truck and home charging set up. I did know though that I would be in net savings, just didn't know the numbers until after, so definitely don't do what I did unless you're OK with facing the music if it comes to that!

My comparisons were against my father who drives a 2019 F150 EcoBoost. His gas fill ups are about $400-$600/month depending on his driving and season. That's separate from the oil changes and other ICE related maintenance that needs to happen. For my personal use, while a truck is overkill, it had it's benefits. Once I got my EVSE set up and truck set for home charging (I was DCFCing every 3-5 days for about 2 months beforehand so I don't count those), my electricty bill went up about $200/month in the worst case. People will say that's alot, which it is if you don't have an EV, but I drive nearly as much as my father and my operating costs went up $200 versus his $400-600/m on fuel alone. So my rationale is that I am 'saving' $200-400/m in operating costs which solidified my decision to go with an EV.

On top of all that, the Lighting is fast, powerful, quiet, and oh-so-smooth. Opened my wife's eyes and she ended up picking up the Q6 etron for herself. This house is never going back to ICE when the numbers, and feelings, are this good.

 

[WXman]

I actually built a spreadsheet to calculate this when I had my Lightning.

I always charged at home, which is a critical point here.

When NOT towing, I was seeing $0.07 per mile, which is the equivalent of a gas F-150 getting 35 MPG.

When towing I was seeing $0.16 per mile, which is the equivalent of a gas F-150 getting 14 MPG.

If we're talking purely winter time, when not towing, I was getting the equivalent of about 24 MPG.

This is all strictly calculated on COST and nothing else.



Now, if we talk charging out on the open road, the numbers look horrendous.

Not towing, equivalent of about 13 MPG.

Towing, equivalent of 4 MPG.

Strictly winter time commuting, not towing, equivalent of about 9 MPG.


The efficiency is good on the Lightning in some situations, horrendous in others. Obviously, the higher gas prices go, the more favorable it looks for Lightning.

 

[electricpig]

"When NOT towing, I was seeing $0.07 per mile, which is the equivalent of a gas F-150 getting 35 MPG.

When towing I was seeing $0.16 per mile, which is the equivalent of a gas F-150 getting 14 MPG."

These number equat to $2.45/gallon and $2.25/gallon for gas at you stated cost per mile. Highly doubt these are prices seen in most of the US/Canada for gas.

I didn't bother to look at towing.

FWIW, I calculated about $100/month savings on fuel alone going from my previous Ford Ranger (getting 27-28 mpg according to the computer) with gas at around $3.10/gallon locally at the time. Actual savings varies depending upon gas pric, efficiency, etc., but has largely followed expectations. Our electricity rate is not expensive. 400 KW EV charging at $0.0.55/kwh off peak, and $0.105 otherwise. MSO Tesla is well cheaper than gas. she drove a small Nissan SUV before that got around 30-35 mpg. But for her the cost for her car is significantly reduced, but I have bothered to calculate how much

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I’ve been running Monte Carlo simulations of the total cost of ownership to help me choose between vehicles for about 15 years. These models include estimates for maintenance, taxes, insurance, cost of energy, years of ownership, miles driven per year, etc. The simulation runs 10,000 estimates across two dozen variables, lets each variable change within a defined set of valid values, does all the algebra and churns out a total of 10,000 TCO estimates per vehicle compared.

For a 10k pound towing option 2025 F-150 Lightning (Flash or Lariat), the cost of a new vehicle is approximately $62,000 with dealer and Ford price incentives in my area. Adding in $4k for a charger purchase and install brings the estimated purchase price to about $66k. For a F-150 ICE Lariat with similar options for 4x4, Pro Power Onboard, and the towing package getting the truck to a 10k lbs towing capacity, the cost is $70,000—from the same dealer.

Using the average cost of gas across the nation of $4/gal and the average cost of electricity of $0.189/kWh (as of March 2026), there’s an ~95% probability (in my model) that the total cost of ownership for the Lightning will be lower than for the gas ICE. So, yes, in some scenarios, the total cost of ownership of an F-150 ICE will be less than a BEV Lightning, but in the vast majority of cases, it’ll be lower for a Lightning.

The TCO lines cross after about 3-4 years of ownership, mostly because of the difference in depreciation—if you sell “early,” you don’t save enough to offset the depreciation of the Lightning. The number of miles driven makes a difference, as the price per mile is an important factor. I get better miles/kWh average than I use in the model (I get >2.5 miles/kWh; I use 2.2 miles/kWh in the model—this is overall average, not highway average).

If I drop the average efficiency of the Lightning down to 1.5 miles/kWh, bump up the ICE to 25 mpg, and decrease the depreciation loss of the Lightning, I can make it a 50:50 chance that the ICEv is the same TCO for an average of 10 years of ownership. However, if the vehicle is kept for more than 10 years, the TCO of the Lightning still improves relative to the ICEv.

 

[user-name-required]

Altogether, all of the reports I’ve read in Motor Trend, Car and Driver, Edmunds, and other trade mags consistently say operating costs of an EV average 40% of the cost of gas vehicles.

What are you all getting?

Canadian here, west coast of British Columbia. Not "Canadian"- level of cold winters, but winter nevertheless.

Have tracked my economy overall since purchase, and for the 6 month periods April - Sept, and Oct - Mar, representing road trips summer and winter, towing, etc.

Average Summer: 37kwH/100 km
Average Winter: 33kwh/100 km (no RV towing offsetting colder temps)
Overall Average over 27,000 kms: 35kwh/100kms.

Internet says that converts to 1.8 Miles per KwH. That seems right for me...we have very dense coastal air, at least 10% of my driving has been freeway towing a 20' long, 8' wide travel trailer, another 20% has been freeway road trips mainly in colder months through the BC mountains, and then I use the Pro Power quite a bit in the summer for running power-hungry airbag fans at my place instead of my 7500w generator, so I think that still adds to the usage per the "where did my power go" screen, so is probably a factor for me as well.


What this means in practice $ wise?
-- Home charging = ~$0.10/kwh, so about $3.50 per 100kms.
--DC Fast charging at ~$0.40/kwh, that would be $14/100km.
-- Gas F150: $20 - $30/100kms.

Even prior to gas prices shooting up (for some totally unexpected reason, apparently), gas was $1.60/L here. A gas F150 averages about 13L/100km (probably closer to 15 for "real world" use), so this would be about $20. Gas is now over $2.10/L here, so it would be $26 - $30.

Using fast charging for about 20% (to err on high side) of my fuel needs, this would give me an average fuel cost of $5.60/100kms, or about 18% - 25% of the fuel cost of a gas F150...



So, I think the 40% figure is probably too high. In my experience with our two EVs, fueling EVs costs about 20% that of an ICE equivalent vehicle, before you even consider maintenance.

 

[I <3 My Lightning]

The whole ev mpge is a farce imo. Many people do not include the all in price per kWh. I think last month it was ~8.6 cents per kWh then after all the other nonsense close to ~27 cents per kWh. Plus many only look at what the app said the battery took in and not what the charger actually used. On a good day the conversion rate on AC at home is 93 percent. On a bad day a tad above 91%. If I have a cold soaked battery or balance to the 100%, it gets worse and forget about the whole preconditioning the cabin.

DC charging prices are above the price of gasoline around these parts and maybe on par with other parts of the country. But in the best conditions it's only 85% delivered to the battery. Cold soaked battery and winter I have seen it get down to 75% delivered of what was paid. Cold winter day and a warmed battery it's about 80%.

Lightning vs. '19 Yukon 6.2L 10 speed
Am I saving by charging at home vs. what I had to pay for premium gas?, yes.
Am I saving on motor oil changes?, yes.
Am I saving on brake fluid changes?, no.
Am I saving on cabin air filters and wiper blades? no.
Am I saving on coolant changes? No.
Am I saving on differential and transfer case fluid changes? Yes by 50 percent.
Am I saving on tires, no.
Am I saving on brake pads and rotors, yes
Am I saving on an engine air filter? Yes
Am I saving in a 12v battery changes? No. I like to throw them on a charger no matter if it's ice or ev. 5 years is my comfort limit.
Am I saving on registration, auto insurance, and yearly inspections? No.
Am I saving on tolls? Yes, 10% with my "green" ezpass.

I calculated, based on my lighting use and efficiency, that I achieved over a full year and through the seasons a 36mpg truck. Which is better than what I used to average in my Yukon, which over a year was around 18mpg. I could easily pull 24 mpg on longer highway trips in the summer but in the winter work commutes would average 14mpg.

Now on the other side our EV6 awd wind vs our old kia Sportage awd gdi turbo, which used regular 87 octane gas, and averaged only 20mpg over the year, but Kia did have to reimburse us for falsifying epa results each year, the EV6 is about a 46mpg vehicle over the year.

.... my calculations did not include the saving for engine air filters, oil changes and brake pads... Why? Because I consider those savings over the vehicles lifetime to cover the cost for me to pay for the supplies and my labor for the home ev charging infrastructure, insulating my garage, insulated overhead door and side entrance door and installing a mini split.

 

[doggod]

Well, it sucks out West (PG&E). Last electricity bill I got I was paying $.51kw, and Gas is around $5.50g. Fortunately I have solar, so . . I'm paying off my solar panels with travel. But will never recoup my solar cost as I had 26kW of battery installed also.

at that rate you will pay off the solar and batteries very quickly. I am off grid in NORCAL for the last 6 years, loving it. I have 10 kwh solar and 60kwh of battery cost for them was around 20k. so paid for after 40,000 kwh of solar power at $.51 a kwh. was $.39 a kwh when I switched to off grid. pg&e wanted $150k to connect my property to the grid. should pay off itself in about 5 more years.

 

[cptj777]

I tried the program, but @Ford Motor Company froze my access to Ford Pass because of unauthorized third party connection to my account, it happened twice, after the second offense I was warned I would lose access permanently if I violated the TOS one more time.

Since those incidents, I canceled the program, and am waiting for my FCSP to die, then I'll replace it with a EVSE that can communicate with the program discreetly and not violate Ford draconian INFOSEC policies. Though with that program it's a joke of a token for credits to comply with psudo-tou gimmicks.

I haven't used the Ford Pass app since I purchased the truck and also sent in the requests to delete my personal data and not track me. As someone who has never used the app, I can confirm it's not really needed. It is nice to have but if it's costing you that much more in electricity cost, it might make sense to get rid of it. I agree with you, you should be able to use your truck how and when you want.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I haven't used the Ford Pass app since I purchased the truck and also sent in the requests to delete my personal data and not track me. As someone who has never used the app, I can confirm it's not really needed. It is nice to have but if it's costing you that much more in electricity cost, it might make sense to get rid of it. I agree with you, you should be able to use your truck how and when you want.

It's the FCSP that I'll get rid of once it fails.

I find the conveniences and data provided by Ford App valuable, so losing access was a concern.

3 or 5 cents a kWh off my average 35.8 cents a kWh wasn't worth losing that feature, it amounts to about $10 a month through the year.

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