Car Calculations
Posted under: A group that I worked with at Bren recently pushed a website out to the world that lets you compare car value (economic and environmental). It delivers the payback period (net present value calculation) of any cars you choose. You can modify the mpg, driving style and price you pay for the car, gas or electricity.
It may still have some bugs, so PLEASE let me know about them if you run across any.
Our project revealed some things that may seem evident, but deserve to be emphasized:
1) Driving styles (distances and speeds) really make a financial difference
2) Efficient cars are worth their weight in Lithium: they pay off their initial price relatively quickly
3) “No Emitting” plugins do emit: they displace the emission to an electric generating facility. The footprint is determined by the fuel source of that facility (This is why electric cars could play a crucial role in the storage of renewable energy)
Have fun with it!
My thanks to:
Jake “windproof undies” MacArthur
Ryan “I’m bringin scarvies back” Smith
The Chenerator (thanks for makin it happen!)
Zack “we ain’t missin you at all” Donohew
and, of course, Professor Sangwon Suh
Very thorough, detailed, and well done! However, it doesn’t consider how rad the car is, which has to be worth a few kg CO2e. Does the calculator pull real emissions data and factor in recommended fuel octane specifically for each car make/model?
Oh man! I wish it calculated radness of a car, but who would ever buy a Suzuki if it did? We just pull in EPA MPG (which obviously has some issues around it, just ask Honda). I am actually uncertain how octane recommendations effect EPA MPG. The whole deal was really trying to determine how much the efficiency of hybrid technology was costing people who bought them. Hope things are great with you guys in Denver! Thanks for checkin out the website!
The octane comment pertains to how much gas costs, thus how much it costs to own the car, since higher octane gas is about $.30 to $.50 per gallon more than lower octane gas. Some cars, like mine, require high octane fuel. Hope you are living the dream in Cali.