The electric car evangelist is here again ?.An article was put out recently, on why Nigerians don’t buy electric vehicles(EV) .As expected, people kept complaining about how there is no power. I still stand on my opinion that an average Nigerian has enough power to charge an electric vehicle even if its not 100%(an average EV takes about 5 hours to charge fully).But this would be an argument for another day.

The question and comment I kept getting is how much power/cost of power would be needed for each full charge of an electric vehicle.

For this article when I say “what it would cost run an electric car” I am referring to what it would cost to keep it moving, just like what it would cost to put fuel in a normal car that uses fuel, but in this case, what it would cost to keep an electric car charged. The cost analysis here does not include maintenance cost (which is very slim with electric cars, because they have considerably less moving parts).

Let’s get answers.Buckle your seat belts, its going to be a long ride ??

We would be using a Tesla Model 3 as a case study, we would also use Ikeja Distribution Company (IKEDC) as a case study to calculate electricity rates.

I am tempted to unleash the electrical engineer in me ?, but I would try to go easy on the electrical terms and calculations and make them explanatory. Please pay attention.

A wall connector charger for Tesla Model 3 consumes approx. 19.2kW(we use 240 Volts supply in Naija) and from the official IKEDC website the rate is 4 Naira per KWh(Kilowatt Hour), most Distribution Companies also charge 4 Naira for individuals in residential areas.Remember that it takes approximately 5 hours for a full charge, and each hour of charge adds about 70Km range, the distance between Sango and Ikeja is about 25Km.That means one hour charge would take you from Sango to Ikeja and back to Sango again, you would still be left with 20km range !!.

Now let’s calculate the cost for a full charge .But wait na, let’s calculate the cost to charge the car for 1 Hour first (remember how far one hour charge would take you as we calculated above).

We simply multiply 4 Naira (IKEDC’s charge per KWh) by 19.2kW = 76.8 Naira ! for one hour charge.
That means 76.8 Naira would take you from Sango to Ikeja and back almost twice , can you use 76 Naira fuel for such journey ?

Now let’s calculate how much it cost to charge the car fully. Remember it takes about 5 hours , so we simply multiply 76.8 Naira by 5 …which gives us 384 Naira for a full charge .Tesla model 3 has a range of about 354 Km .

So if you work in Lekki and live in Sango(about 70km, according to Google oo, no be me talk am), a full charge would conveniently carry you to work and back home for almost 3 days at the cost of 384 Naira.

Because in electrical systems, there are loses due to heat and other factors, no machine/system is hundred percent efficient, for argument’s sake and factoring in traffic (go slow) let’s approximate the cost to 450 Naira and beat the range of the vehicle down to 300km, it would still take you to work and and back again for two days .

Let’s take things a step further.If you use 450 Naira every two days, assuming you drive that distance everyday including weekends, if the cost of running the car is 450 every two days , divided by two is 225 Naira per day.Multiplied by 30 days is 6750 Naira per month.

I just want to remind you that fuel is almost 150 Naira per litre, use your church mind to judge this matter my country people, how many litres of fuel would you consume if you drive everyday from Sango to Lekki, oya multiply by 30 days, can you see the difference ? .

I purposely chose very far distances for my calculation so you can appreciate the advantage of electric cars. Now imagine you live and work on the Island, you most likely would charge your car just once a week, at a cost of 450 Naira.That’s about 1800 Naira per month.

My fellow engineers, if there is any mistake in my calculation, kindly draw my attention to it.
I hope this answers very well, how much it would cost to run an electric vehicle in Nigeria.

 

Please note I used the base price stated on the IKEDC website and this is for demonstration purpose, actual prices may vary depending on the size of your building or the area and other factors .
To check the full list of rates, kindly check here 

Newly Amended MYTO 2.1 Customer Tariff Classification and Energy Charges

Refrences:
Tesla offical website
IKEDC official website