Cost Comparison of Ideal ONE with 30,000 Kilometers Mileage
We compare the cost of using an electric car for scenarios where a gasoline car is usually used.
Tomorrow, August 29th, is the first user day of Ideal Automobile. Unfortunately, I cannot go to Chengdu to participate in the gathering because of my child’s school.
Unknowingly, my Ideal ONE has reached 30,000 kilometers. These days, I have been thinking about writing something. I have made videos, written articles, compared multiple car models and ADAS, and made various complaints (I was one of the first to harshly criticize the seats and suspension).
This time, I will talk about something mundane — the cost of using a car that the media or advanced car owners may disdain. I will tell you the overall cost comparison of my Ideal ONE with the gasoline-powered Volkswagen Touareg I previously owned for 30,000 kilometers.
The following is the energy consumption that my Ideal ONE’s onboard computer displays as of today.
Purchase Cost
I bought the Ideal ONE in December 2019 for 328,000 yuan, with no purchase tax, a 800 yuan license plate fee, a 2,000 yuan charge for hanging the charging pile, and 6,000 yuan for insurance (self-purchased).
Total purchase cost of Ideal ONE: 336,800 yuan.
I bought the Volkswagen Touareg medium configuration in July 2013 for 740,000 yuan, with a purchase tax of 62,000 yuan, a 2,000 yuan license plate fee, and 16,800 yuan for insurance (4S shop QJ).
Total purchase cost of Volkswagen Touareg: 820,800 yuan.
Energy Cost
My Ideal ONE has driven 30,000 kilometers so far, and I installed a charging pile in my parking spot, so I use electricity in the city and gasoline on long trips.
I estimate that I drive 10,000 kilometers on electricity and 20,000 kilometers on gasoline.
For 10,000 kilometers driven on electricity, I consume around 2,700 KWh of electricity, the average peak and valley electricity price is about 0.45 yuan per KWh, and the cost is 1,200 yuan.
For 20,000 kilometers driven on gasoline, my fuel consumption is indicated to be 8.5 L/100KM, although it’s actually closer to 9 L/100KM. I consume 1,800 liters of gasoline, and the price of 95-octane gasoline is 6.1 yuan/liter. The fuel cost is 10,980 yuan.
Total energy cost for 30,000 kilometers driven by Ideal ONE: 12,180 yuan.
For my Volkswagen Touareg, I’ll just calculate based on 10,000 kilometers in the city and 20,000 kilometers on the highway.Because the car is heavy and has full-time four-wheel drive and a 3.0T turbocharged engine, the urban fuel consumption is 15-18 L/100 KM. Calculated at 16 L/100 KM, the fuel consumption for 10,000 kilometers of urban driving is 1600 L.
The highway fuel consumption is 9-12 L/100KM. Calculated at 10 L/100 KM, the fuel consumption for 10,000 kilometers of highway driving is 1000 L. The total fuel consumption for 30,000 kilometers is 3600 L. The price of gasoline with a 95 rating is 6.1 yuan/liter. The total cost for refueling is 21960 yuan.
The total energy cost for Volkswagen Touareg for 30,000 km is 21960 yuan.
Maintenance Cost
My Ideal ONE needs three maintenance visits for 30,000 km. The first maintenance at 5,000 km for the extender is free, and the second maintenance at 10,000 km, which includes a PLUS membership, is also free. The third maintenance at 20,000 km costs 599 yuan, and the air conditioning filter and air filter cost 281 yuan and 130 yuan, respectively.
The total maintenance cost of Ideal ONE for 30,000 km is 1010 yuan.
The Touareg user manual requires maintenance every 10,000 km, but the 4S store requires maintenance every 5,000 km. I have done the maintenance according to 7,500 km intervals. Because the imported Volkswagen is awesome and does not provide a free first maintenance, four paid maintenance visits are required for 30,000 km, with three routine maintenances costing about 1200 yuan each and one medium maintenance costing 2200 yuan.
The total maintenance cost of Volkswagen Touareg for 30,000 km is 5800 yuan.
Repair Cost
My Ideal ONE has a lifetime quality assurance and has not incurred any repair costs so far.
Volkswagen Touareg also has a 3-year 100,000 km quality assurance and currently does not require repair costs.
To sum up, assuming the same driving conditions for 30,000 km,
the usage cost of Ideal ONE, with a purchase cost of 336,800 yuan, is 13,190 yuan.
the usage cost of the Volkswagen Touareg, with a purchase cost of 820,800 yuan, is 27,760 yuan.
Although the usage cost of Ideal ONE is about half of that of Volkswagen Touareg for the same distance, Ideal ONE completely replaces Volkswagen Touareg’s usage scenario: urban commuting and biweekly long-distance trips of 600-1000 kilometers each, which are difficult for pure electric vehicles to complete at the current stage.
In conclusion, Ideal ONE’s competitor is not the pure electric NIO series but traditional gasoline-powered vehicles.
Ideal ONE is a great value choice and a comprehensive replacement for traditional gasoline-powered vehicles at the current stage.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.