A month ago I would have used $4.00. Seeing as how the price of gasoline is falling, I went with $3.50. The price is lower today but it will go back up eventually; the demand from India and China is only going to grow.

MPG in the equation is 175. Golden Eagle claims a little more but I tend to discount such claims a little bit. If it's off, it's probably not off by much and the difference between 175 mpg and 200 mpg isn't all that big anyway.

IIIFFFF my estimates are anywhere near right, gasoline is cheaper by a couple cents per mile over the lifetime of the gas engine or the electric motor. Assuming that 175 mpg is correct, gas would have to go up to $7 per gallon for the two to break even.

However, there are a number of other factors that could also make a difference quite easily. If, instead of 500 cycles, new technology allowed a battery to get 1000 cycles*, the electric bike suddenly gets a whole lot cheaper.

(*This is assuming $500 for 500 (or 1000) cycles, 20 mile range, 20 mph speed)

Let me toss another non-cost factor into this discussion. From what I have read, gasoline tends to be more trouble free. I wouldn't have thought that electricity would be troublesome but there seem to be a lot of posts here from people having various difficulties. Could be just 1% of the riders and I'm aware of them only because they post their questions. Hard to tell.