Hello.
I have just bought a cool little device that tells you how much electricity you are using & how much it is costing. I set this device up with my KWH price (15p) plugged it in, put all 5 batteries on charge left it to do its thing. When they were all charged-up I checked it & found that it had cost me 11 pence! So my commute to work & back is costing me 11p per day, that’s amazing. EGO sure weren’t lying when they said it would be cheap to run. My commute is a 15 mile round trip. I recon I save about £50 a month compered to my old car’s fuel & tax bill. If you want to see the gadget, try here:
http://www.nigelsecostore.com/acatalog/Ecosaver_Energy_Meter.html
Nick.
Nig's ego Weblog 
15/12/2008 at 9:45 pm |
Ok, let’s not get carried away here. Everyone (including me) has been looking at the cost and thinking “this is virtually free transport”. But it has occurred to me today that no-one is thinking long-term about the cost of replacement batteries, which I’ve seen it optimistically said should last about 18 months (although they are only guaranteed for 8 months).
Given that these appear to cost in the region of £130 to replace, all of a sudden the figures don’t look so good. Here’s an example:
Ego Scooter 40 miles/week over 18 months (total of 3120 miles)
1 charge at approx. 10p * 78 weeks = £7.80
1 new battery approx. £130
Total cost £137.80, over 3120 miles = 4.4p/mile
50cc petrol scooter, capable of say, 100 miles/gallon, over 18 months = 3120/100 = 31.2 gallons
31.2 gallons @ £4.08/gallon (90p/litre) = £127.30
£15 per year road tax, so £22.50 for 18 months
Total cost = £149.80, 0ver 3120 miles = 4.8p/mile
Obviously you can’t factor in other costs like maintenance or failures, but it doesn’t look quite so attractive as I’d first thought. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still cheaper (especially if petrol costs go up again), and it’s a much greener way to get around, so I’ll still be keeping and using mine (once they get around to replacing the faulty one they delivered last week).
16/12/2008 at 3:56 pm |
Hi Ian.
I can’t fault your figures, there is not much saving from a 50cc scooter (apart from maybe the inital purchase price) & a petrol scooter does generally have more poke. As you said though, the green issue tips the scales for me.
Sorry to here you got a duffen, hope your replacement scoota serves you well.
Just so every one knows though, I have been told that replacement batteries will set you back £150 + postage. I think that evens it up a bit 😦
Nick.
16/12/2008 at 4:43 pm |
Hi Nick
Thanks for the commiserations – read about my woes on http://hohisilver.wordpress.com 🙂
On the basis of 40 miles a week, as I pointed out, there’s not much in it. If you’re doing more miles than that (as you obviously are), provided the battery lasts the 18 months you should still have a good saving. I got my figure from http://www.ukecoscooters.co.uk, assuming it was the same battery (as the scooters look to be identical but without the decals).
Ian.
17/12/2008 at 10:14 am |
Just as an update, after my last reply I did the figures on what I assume to be your mileage (75 miles/week), and it’s much more impressive – 2.5p/mile! 😀