Your math is slightly off but close. Lets see, The Scion has a 11.9 gallon fuel tank. Assuming that it costs you $18,000 for a fully kitted Scion xB and $55000 to make it electric and you never bought another gallon of gas, to break even (ie pay for the conversion only), it would take you (at $2/gallon) 27500 gallons of gas ($55000/$2 per gal). With an 11.9 gallon tank(lets call it 12 for ease of math), that's 2291.67 tanks of gas (27500/12). Now, the Scion xB gets an EPA rated 30 city / 34 highway mpg with an automatic transmission. Lets average your mileage out at 30 miles to a gallon. That means that your would have to drive 825000 miles to break even (27500 x 30). Upping the cost of Gas to $2.50/gallon (more like reality in DC), gives you the following mileage: 660,000 miles. Still waay too much.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Peet @ Dec 11th 2006 7:04PM
to pay for the conversion you would have to drive a little over 900k miles, the equivalent of 75,625 tanks of gas at $2 a gallon.
Luqman Mahmud @ Dec 12th 2006 1:09AM
Your math is slightly off but close. Lets see, The Scion has a 11.9 gallon fuel tank. Assuming that it costs you $18,000 for a fully kitted Scion xB and $55000 to make it electric and you never bought another gallon of gas, to break even (ie pay for the conversion only), it would take you (at $2/gallon) 27500 gallons of gas ($55000/$2 per gal). With an 11.9 gallon tank(lets call it 12 for ease of math), that's 2291.67 tanks of gas (27500/12). Now, the Scion xB gets an EPA rated 30 city / 34 highway mpg with an automatic transmission. Lets average your mileage out at 30 miles to a gallon. That means that your would have to drive 825000 miles to break even (27500 x 30). Upping the cost of Gas to $2.50/gallon (more like reality in DC), gives you the following mileage: 660,000 miles. Still waay too much.