SHOPSMART AUTOS – CUSTOMER INFORMATION – JANUARY 29, 2021
Electric vs. Gas: Is It Cheaper to Drive an EV? There are plenty of climate and air quality reasons to buy an electric vehicle (EV), but are they cheaper to drive? It’s the deceptively complicated question that has befuddled car shoppers for years. The average sticker price on an electric car is $19,000 higher than an average gasoline-powered vehicle, so consumers want to know how much of that cost will be recouped in fuel savings over the life of the vehicle. The difference is due in part to the fact that many EVs are luxury vehicles but, still, the numbers have historically been very fuzzy. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Idaho National Laboratory give us the most comprehensive picture yet in a recently released study published in the journal Joule. Going state by state, they broke down the lifetime fuel costs of battery-powered electric vehicles versus internal combustion engine cars. Here are the highlights. Electric car aficionados in Washington State can make the best case for the big purchase. Over the anticipated 15-year life span of a vehicle, the electricity required to run a battery-powered electric car can be as much as $14,480 cheaper than fueling up an internal combustion vehicle. On the other end of the spectrum is Hawaii. In a worst-case scenario, charging up your electric car could ultimately cost $2,494 more than topping up a gas tank over 15 years. (Note: Plug-in hybrids, which can run on electric battery or gasoline, further complicate the financial picture. For the sake of simplicity, we’re focused here on electricity-only vehicles.) How can such a wide variation be possible? A surprising number of variables affect the cost of operating a car. The most obvious is the regional variation in gasoline prices. Last year, for example, the average cost of a gallon of gasoline on the West Coast was 46 percent higher than in communities around the Gulf of Mexico. Then there are electricity costs, which make the notoriously unstable costs of gasoline look simple by comparison. While the average cost of a kilowatt-hour doesn’t change dramatically year to year, the specific cost of electricity can vary by the hour. Where, when, and how you choose to charge your electric car generates wide swings in charging costs. For example, if you relied exclusively on state-of-the-art fast-charging stations, your costs for charging would increase by more than 70 percent compared to just parking the car in your home garage and hooking it up to the slow-charging equipment that came with the vehicle. Charging the car overnight, when electricity demand drops and prices are low, can also save you 30 percent compared to charging at whatever time of day your car runs a little low. Make It A Champion Day!Tags: 2019 Subaru Forester Touring, 2020 BMW iX3, 2020 Chevrolet Suburban, 2020 dodge charger, 2020 EQC, 2020 Ford Super Duty, 2020 Honda Pilot, 2020 Kia Optima, 2020 Mercedes Benz, 2020 Nissan Versa, 2020 Subaru WRX STI, Audi SUV, BMW, Brandon K. Hardison, Chevrolet Car, Chevrolet Sonic, Dodge charger, electric vehicles, honda, Honda Pilot, Hyundai SUV, Mercedes Benz, Nissan Rogue, SUV, upcoming car, Volkswagen, Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium R-Line, Volvo Car
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