Charging your iPad every other day only costs you around $1.36 for a full year's use according to a report by the EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute). We already knew that the iPad had amazing battery life but it is always interesting to find out approximately what it costs to keep it charged for a full year. The EPRI carried out extensive tests and discovered that it only consumes 12 kWh of electricity in a year.
The analysis shows that each model of the iPad consumes less than 12 kWh of electricity over the course of a year, based on a full charge every other day. By comparison, a plasma 42” television consumes 358 kWh of electricity a year. EPRI conducted the analysis in Knoxville, Tenn., at its power utilization laboratory. Costs may vary depending on what region that a consumer resides and the price of electricity in a particular location.
The assessment was conducted to determine the load requirements – the amount of power needed to operate the devices -- of the increasingly popular iPad. According to Apple, 67 million of the devices have been purchased worldwide.
EPRI calculations show that the average energy used by all iPads in the market is approximately 590 gigawatt hours (GWh). In a scenario where the number of iPads tripled over the next two years, the energy required would be nearly equivalent to two 250-megawatt (MW) power plants operating at a 50 percent utilization rate. A quadrupling of sales in two years would require energy generated by three 250-MW power plants.
This came as a bit of a surprise to me; I assumed it would cost a lot more during the course of a year. Obviously if you use a charger in your car it will cost you nothing to charge it up but given that its only $1.36 a year it’s really not worth worrying about.
As a comparison, notebook computers use approximately 72 kWh of electricity which is six times more than the iPad. The next time you are thinking about getting your notebook out to do something that can easily be done on an iPad, think again. It could save you a few dollars each year just by using your iPad more.
Source: EPRI
Reader comments
Charging your iPad costs as little as $1.36 a year according to the EPRI
Chris, you made an incorrect assumption. If you charge an iPad in your car, you use more gas; it still costs money to recharge. If it did not, I would power my entire house off of my car with a DC/AC converter for free electricity.
Unless you're mindlessly letting your car sit idle in the driveway solely to charge your iPad, you are not "use more gas' to charge the unit. The same amount of electricity is generated by the alternator no matter what RPM the engine is operating at.
Not true. Whenever you charge, it draws current from the battery/alternator. That current draw is a load on the alternator in the form of resistance to the rotation of the engine, which must use more gas to compensate for the higher resistance.
A small load, but not free.
An alternator puts out the same voltage regardless of the RPM. Not amps. Power equals voltage times amps. If you've ever tried to jump start another car with battery cables, you rev up the engine to increase the amount of amps being transferred.
It wont cost you a dime if you go to your friends house or someone else house... also you still have to pay for electricity for using wifi so......
I find this amazing, Apple takes a lot if stick on the blogosphere for its battery life on its iPhone, I personally think for all uses of the iPhone, in everyday life it stands up well against its competitors. You do have to be patient when your down to just 2% battery life, surprisingly this little juice can go a long way.
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