Discover Your Path to Success, Register For The MTN Career Fair ...
The 10 Most Expensive EVs And PHEVs To Operate For 5 Years
Some EVs are ridiculously expensive to own
Electric vehicles might be an attractive alternative to gas models, especially as fuel prices rise. That said, EVs are generally more expensive to buy, and many can be costly to run, extending the period of time it takes to recoup the extra purchase costs in gas savings. MarketWatch Guides recently studied the running costs of several EVs, finding that some models are approaching gas vehicles' operating costs.
MarketWatch considered purchase price, fuel/charging costs, insurance, and financing to calculate its list of the most expensive EVs to run. The Porsche Taycan was the most expensive over a five-year period, averaging $53,065 in running costs.
The 10 most expensive EVs to operate over 5 years:While some of the models on the list are plug-in hybrids and not fully electric, the rankings illustrate how difficult it can be to overcome high purchase prices with gasoline savings. Additionally, MarketWatch found that running the Porsche Taycan is only slightly less expensive than the Porsche Cayenne, a powerful SUV with performance gas powertrain options.
The Nissan Leaf was the cheapest EV to operate for five years. MarketWatch estimated that the car would cost just $18,509 over a five-year period, and the Hyundai Elantra Hybrid was second, with $20,735 in running costs. Financing and insurance were the two most significant costs associated with owning these EVs.
MarketWatch didn't use depreciation to calculate running costs, but it did compare gas and electric vehicle value changes. EVs are more expensive up front but lose more on depreciation over five years, dropping an average of $16,430 compared to gas models' $11,722.
The 10 Cheapest EVs, PHEVs And Hybrids To Operate For 5 Years
These are the best electrified vehicles for saving money on ownership costs
Buying an EV, plug-in hybrid or even a conventional hybrid can save you thousands on gas over its lifetime, but there are other costs involved in owning a car that can either keep them cheap, or make them comparably expensive to normal gas cars. MarketWatch Guides recently ranked the least expensive EVs to own over a five-year period, and there are several great options on the list.
The Nissan Leaf was the least expensive EV/electrified vehicle to run after five years, averaging $18,509 in ownership costs.
The 10 least expensive electric cars to operate over 5 years:MarketWatch didn't include depreciation to calculate these costs, leaning on gas/charging costs, insurance, and finance costs to come up with its numbers. Adding in depreciation could result in significant changes to some of the cars on this list.
And while these are the cheapest, MarketWatch also looked at the other end of the spectrum. The most expensive EV to run was the Porsche Taycan, which cost $53,065 over five years, almost three times the cost of the Nissan Leaf. It was followed closely by the Audi E-Tron GT, at $48,886, and the BMW iX, at $45,076.
Rivian's Next-Gen EVs Are Now Here. I Went Inside The Labs Where They Came Together
I'm in the driver's seat of the coolest car I've ever been in, but even though there's a steering wheel, it doesn't drive. There's no motor or exterior panels and the entire guts of the vehicle – wires and all – are exposed around the frame. It's a lab car and it could be straight out of a Transformers movie. It's one of the main ways EV maker Rivian tests new software features before they make their way to an actual vehicle.
Rivian invited CNET to see inside two key labs at its Palo Alto, California, campus, where it worked out out much of the electrical hardware and software development on the second-generation R1T pickup truck and R1S sport utility vehicle. We're the first members of the media to tour these labs ahead of the new-vehicle launch. The second-generation R1S and R1T are just now becoming available, with prices starting at $75,900 for the R1S and $69,900 for the R1T.
Most drivers will never see the inner workings of their cars, let alone tour an automaker's test lab, so this feels like I'm being let into a secret world.
The Palo Alto campus also houses an enormous garage where I get to see how Rivian's software-driven approach comes to life in the new R1S – I'm one of the first from outside the company to drive it. This is the first time I've been behind the wheel of an EV, and at first I was intimidated by just how much there was to learn, like regenerative braking and one-pedal driving.
Watch this: See Inside Rivian's Electric Vehicle Test Labs
10:48But as soon as I set up the sport drive mode on the display and adjust my mirrors and steering position, I put my foot down and feel how responsive the vehicle is – and how much fun it is to drive. As my colleague Antuan Goodwin wrote about the first-gen R1T, which shares the same powertrain, battery and many of the same specs with the R1S, "it's a really good truck. Full stop."
You can find more of my first drive experience in the video on this page.
It's certainly a unique experience.
"We have created both our electronics and our own software," says Wassyd Bensaim, chief software officer at Rivian, as he shows me around the new vehicle.
The new headlights and taililghts have RGB lights in the horizontal bars. RivianAs is the case with Apple, Samsung or Google updating your phone, automakers can introduce new features to your car over the air. But beyond changing basics like the infotainment system, Bensaim says, Rivian's in-house development platform means the company can also update things like battery management and vehicle performance.
Rivian is an American electric vehicle manufacturer that focuses on trucks and SUVs. While rival vehicles like Ford's F-150 Lightning are work trucks, the R1T targets the adventure market, and the company is working on a more compact and affordable SUV called the R2 that will hit the market in 2026.
Like Tesla, Rivian has its own charging network, known as the Rivian Adventure Network. In April, the company announced a new reliability score that rates fast chargers on any network, including Tesla Superchargers, so drivers can find reliable locations. Rivian delivers over-the-air updates roughly every month that add new features and updates to its vehicles.
I got to see how many of these updates start out in a series of test labs at Rivian's campus.
Getting into the zoneRivian's electrical hardware lab feels like any other you might find in Silicon Valley. An engineer is busy soldering components at the bench, and I get to see how tests are carried out on another board responsible for self-driving. This lab is where many of the electrical components were designed for the second-generation R1.
Sitting on a desk in the middle of the lab are a number of thin metal boxes, called electrical control units, similar in size to a hardcover book. Found in all modern vehicles, each ECU is responsible for tasks like autonomous driving, navigation and cabin temperature control.
"They're really the brains behind all the operations of the vehicle," says Vidya Rajagopalan, senior vice president of electrical hardware at Rivian.
All these boxes are connected through a wire harness. I try to pick up a segment of harness from the first-generation R1 that's sitting on the desk and struggle with the weight. Rajagopalan tells me this entire bundle is now gone on the new vehicle because Rivian redesigned the entire electrical system.
Instead of grouping individual ECUs by function, the second-generation R1 vehicles consolidates ECUs into zones based on their location in the vehicle. Corresponding to the points of a compass, there's one in the west, one in the east and one in the south of the vehicle.
"It's like if you think about post offices," Rajagopalan says. "If you decided that I didn't need one post office per city, you'd put the post offices for neighboring cities together and consolidate them."
Some of the components of Rivian's new zonal architecture. Lexy Savvides/CNETRivian says that redesigning the entire electrical system helped remove 1.6 miles of wiring and reduced the number of ECUs from 17 to seven in the new car, which reduces weight by 44 pounds. That's important for EVs because a lighter car can improve range, but it may also improve reliability as there are fewer components that might fail.
Many EV makers, including Tesla, are moving to a zonal system as it's easier to manufacture, but also allows automakers to more easily push over-the-air updates with new features.
Rivian's lab carWe walk across the hall to another brightly lit room filled with lab cars for each of Rivian's vehicles, including its delivery van. This is where engineers do integration testing, putting all the components together in the lab car to make sure it all works as expected.
"You can actually look at the electrical signals, and with an oscilloscope, you can monitor everything to make sure it's really performing at spec," Rajagopalan says.
Celso Bulgatti/CNETShe shows me the two lab cars for the first- and second-gen R1 vehicles, and I get to see the physical differences in wiring and controllers. It took about two and a half years to redesign the vehicle architecture between generations. The wire harness I saw in the electrical lab is completely gone on the new car. It's fascinating how many electronic components exist in an EV, including the autonomy experience module, which has between six and 12 times the AI compute power of an Apple M4 chip, according to Rajagopalan.
Rivian also added ultra wideband to the new R1, a technology used in the iPhone, Android phones and AirTags. Ultra wideband uses radio signals to help determine an item's location and lets you unlock your vehicle with a compatible phone or a watch. You can even share digital keys with others. Other automakers like BMW, General Motors and Mercedes also offer ultra wideband on some cars.
Engineers test over-the-air software updates on the lab car before deploying them on the company's internal fleet. Once an update passes, it's released to all vehicles.
A Rivian engineer works on the R1S lab car. Celso Bulgatti/CNETInside Rivian's EV garageFor all the serious development that goes on behind the scenes, there's a real playfulness to Rivian's EVs that I wasn't expecting in the production vehicle. Bensaid shows me a new charging animation on the front lights of the R1S that fills up the row of LEDs like a battery bar when the car is plugged in. He mentions that there will be more lighting Easter eggs later on, and I ask about a Halloween theme. Bensaid all but confirms it: "Coming soon," he says.
Then there's the vehicle's new user interface,
Comments
Post a Comment