One of the key appeals of owning an electric scooter is the massive reduction in running costs when compared to a car. But how much less do they really cost?
To answer this, we calculated the approximate running cost per 100km of an electric scooter vs a top selling car. To keep things fair, we decided to use one of the most high-performance electric scooters on the market for our comparison. The Kaabo Wolf Warrior 11 + which we will be pitting up against Australia’s bestselling small car for 2020, the Toyota Corolla. And just for fun we will also throw in a comparison with the world’s top selling petrol scooter, The Honda Activa. Let’s go!
THE CALCULATION
First thing we need to do is work out Kilowatt Hours of the Wolf Warrior’s battery. Then we can work out the running cost of electricity per 100km.
Multiply the battery voltage and amp hour rating to get watt hours. The Wolf Warrior + has a 60 volt 35 amp hour battery which has 2100 watt hours (divide by 1,000 to get Kilowatt hours) = 2.1kwh
- Multiply the Kilowatt size of your battery by the cost per Kilowatt hour electrical rate. Currently QLD has an average rate of 20.62c/kwh = $0.43 for a full charge.
- The Kaabo Wolf Warrior + has a tested real-world range of 67.5km. Divide the cost of a full charge by the km range to get the cost per km. = $0.0063 per km
- Multiply per km cost by 100 to get the cost per 100km. 0.0063 x 100 = $0.63
- The Kaabo Wolf Warrior 11 + costs $0.63 per 100km in electricity.
Next, we will work out the fuel consumption cost of a 2020 Toyota Corolla per 100km.
- According to Toyota’s own specifications, a petrol engine 2020 Corolla uses 6 litres of fuel per 100km.
- The current average price of Unleaded 91 in Brisbane is $1.30 per litre.
- 6 x 1.30 = 7.8
- A 2020 Toyota Corolla costs $7.80 in fuel per 100km
RESULT
Wolf Warrior 11 + = $0.63 per 100km
Toyota Corolla 2020 = $7.80 per 100km
That makes the wolf warrior more than 12 times cheaper to run!
BONUS ROUND
In the interest of keeping things fair, we also wanted to compare the Wolf Warrior against a petrol powered scooter. So for this we selected the highest selling petrol scooter in the world, the Honda Activa. Lets calculate!
- According to Honda’s own specification, the Activa has a fuel consumption rate of 50km per litre of fuel.
- That make 2 litres to travel 100km at $1.30 per litre
- The Honda Activa costs $2.60 in fuel per 100km
That’s just over 4 times more expensive to run than the Wolf Warrior!
REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT
Besides the cost, another good reason to jump onto an electric scooter is to help the planet. We can calculate the amount of CO2 produced by electricity and compare it to a car on a per 100km basis. While Australia has many cleaner energy options in use such as wind, hydro and solar which produce about 50g of CO2 per kWh, we will use coal for this comparison which produces about 1kg of CO2 per kWh as a worst case example. See the calculation below.
- The Wolf Warrior requires 2.1 kWh for a full charge which equals 2.1kg of CO2.
- Divide the CO2 by the tested range to get per km. 2.1 / 67.5 = 0.031kg CO2 per km
- Multiply by 100 = 3.11kg CO2 per 100km when using coal power
- Or 115.5 grams of CO2 per 100km when using wind, hydro or solar power
- A 2020 Toyota Corolla produces 8.1kg of CO2 per 100km
So, you can see here that by using an electric scooter instead of a car you can instantly cut your emissions by more than half. But when using cleaner energy solutions, such as solar, you are creating 70 times less CO2 than a small car.
In summary, we can all enjoy spending less money and taking better care of our planet, but where the electric scooter really shines is when you cut free of traffic congestion, parking fees and fines. Just jump on and enjoy the freedom.
