My Electric Car - The Maths

I've now sat down and done a few back-of-the-envelope calculations. I've not had anyone check them so let me know if you see any errors and I will happily discuss my assumptions and methodology.

I have tried to be conservative in my calculations and have used the latest grid electricity CO2 emissions figures for calculating the amount of CO2 emissions my driving will generate.

Headline figures:

• My electric car is over 400% more energy efficient than my diesel car was.
• I will have reduced my CO2 emissions from driving by over 25% per year
• I have reduced my fuel cost by over 70% or £2,800 per year
• If all private cars in the UK were to go electric by 2040 we would need 2 new large nuclear facilities or 16 new large wind farms at a cost of £20 - 30 billion to power them all.
• I drive over three times further than the average UK driver in a year.

We could all start driving electric cars, but we better get some new power stations under way and quick. £20 - 30 billion is only 2.5 - 3.5 % of the annual budget.

All the calculations used can be found in my Google Docs Spreadsheet