Yves here. News you can use! I wonder if readers can point to similar petrol versus comparisons for other parts of the world. There is presumably a lot of variation in electricity costs, between how much comes from hydro, wind, solar, coal or nuclear power, as well as taxes on gas and electricity.
Readers in Northern Europe will disagree with the contention that electricity prices are not exposed to sudden and large increase, or that generating more electricity is easy-peasy if you live where there is little sun for many parts of the year, between being far north and/or regular cloud cover.
By Karin Kirk, a geologist and science writer. Originally published at Yale Climate Connections
The price of gasoline has spiked amid a U.S.-led war with Iran. It’s not uncommon for the fossil fuel economy to be disrupted by geopolitical conflicts, but now consumers have more options than ever to protect themselves from price hikes.
EVs are already putting a dent into oil consumption worldwide, and as gas prices climb higher, the simple efficiency of an EV could become all the more appealing. In all 50 states, the cost of home-charging an EV is considerably cheaper than fueling a car with gasoline.
The map above shows the cost of charging an EV at home. The price is expressed in “eGallons,” which is the cost of charging an EV by an amount equivalent to one gallon of gasoline.
I wrote about the math behind the eGallon and plotted a similar map of prices in early 2024, when gas was relatively cheap. And even then, EVs were much more economical to drive. But now, consumers have even more incentive to make the switch.
EVs Are Super Efficient
One reason EVs are a bargain to fuel is that electric drivetrains are vastly more efficient than internal combustion engines. Consider a gasoline price of $4 per gallon. In an internal combustion vehicle, around three dollars’ worth of that gasoline is lost as waste heat and friction, and only one dollar’s worth of the fuel actually moves the car down the road. The rest of the energy is lost in the process.
EVs are much simpler machines: A battery produces an electrical current that spins a rotor, which, in turn, spins the drive axle. EVs also recapture the energy that would otherwise be lost during braking, feeding electricity back into the battery as the vehicle slows down. All told, around 90% of the original energy used to charge a car goes toward propelling the vehicle.
Even in the worst-case scenario where an EV is charged on a coal-heavy grid, an EV is still more efficient than a gasoline-burning car. For a full explanation and illustrations, see “Electric vehicles use half the energy of gas-powered vehicles,” which is likely the most cited and reused work I’ve ever written.
>Electricity Prices Don’t Spike Like Oil Prices
The price of charging an EV at home is based on the residential price of electricity. Electricity rates don’t spike up and down like oil prices because electricity is regulated, and utilities must seek government approval to raise prices. Utilities are allowed to adjust their rates temporarily to account for variation in fuel prices, but even so, the effect is muted, resulting in a fairly stable price over time.
People Can’t Make Their Own Gasoline, but They Can Generate Their Own Electricity
Drivers of gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles are dependent on a single energy type, which makes them vulnerable to supply disruptions. The situation can be even more painful because a commodity like oil commands a global price regardless of where it’s produced.
But electricity can come from multiple sources, and utilities can shift the proportions of different energy sources in their portfolio in order to keep the price down. Electricity is cheaper when demand is low, so some utilities offer discounted rates for off-peak EV charging. Some people charge their EVs with rooftop solar panels, which offers even more protection from rising prices. No matter how many wars are fought over fossil fuels, sunshine remains free.
New EVs Cost More to Purchase, but Used EVs Are a Value
The price difference between EVs and gasoline-powered cars has been narrowing, but new EVs are still more expensive than their gasoline counterparts. The two types of vehicles are closer in price in the used car market. As of early 2026, buyers paid around $1,400 more for a used EV than for a similar gasoline vehicle. According to analysts at Recurrent, which tracks the EV market, used EVs are selling more quickly than used gasoline cars, and around 40% of used EVs are selling for less than $25,000. On average, used EVs have fewer miles and are newer than gasoline cars of the same price.
No, That Data Center Next Door Won’t Make EV Charging Cost as Much as Gasoline
Electricity prices are rising, but not by enough to change the basic economics of EV charging. To put things in perspective, residential electricity prices have risen by 27% over the past five years (thanks, in part, to data centers), which is certainly a problem in its own right. But for EV charging to cost as much as today’s gasoline, electricity prices would have to rise an additional 250%.
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if one is living paycheck to paycheck, tread carefully on buying a used , high-mileage EV (IMO).
the variance of reliability of a >100,000-mile mean you might own an expensive brick, moreso than a >100,000-mile gasoline engine. throw in scarcity of parts, scarcity of non-dealer EV techncians, proprietary tools/software needed for diagnostics.
and this is not me being a luddite, EVs are a great –lease– for many people. and if you genuinely know what you’re getting into, a 10-year old EV can be a great bargain. go do the research yourself
An electric drivetrain is generally going to be more reliable than gas over 100,000 miles. There is just far less to go wrong with the fundamentals; it is a simpler system at its core.
There are some cases one should look out for — such as an EV used for ridesharing that did rapid charging very frequently. That will give you battery degradation but remember that anything you read about the lifespan of a battery is treating less than 80% capacity as beyond its useful life. In reality if you can get a good price on a car that has gone from originally having 200 miles of range to 150 miles of range, that might be a good fit. It should run fine.
Having said that, when things do go wrong, probably things that are not caused by wear on the the EV drivetrain or battery, like getting in an accident, repair costs are probably going to be somewhat higher and less convenient.
Just bought a used bolt at 189k. If I can get it to go through the next 3 years of adjustment and get the youngest out of daycare to afford something else, it’s a win
A friend of mine bought one several months ago & loves it. He got a super deal on it too, used.
Then there’s tiered pricing. I had a bill $540 higher than normal because I kept forgetting to remove the plug before 7am. This is with a small plug-in hybrid not a full on Tesla or Rivian. My electric range is only 17 miles. Anyway, I no longer charge my Subaru and will continue run on gas unless I convert my home to solar.
Something isn’t adding up. Now I don’t know what you pay for electricity.
But 17 miles at ( the usual is about 3-4 miles per kWh) 3.5 miles per kWh is let’s call it 5 kWh. Say it’s at zero so the full 5 kWh for 30’day is 150 kWh. If your electricity is $.25 kWh that’s $37, definitely not $540 which means that extra bill came from some other usage.
The tiered pricing is something that’s not reflected in the price for Hawaii. From conversations with a colleague in Hawaii, the state is pushing hard for electrification and tier pricing, as most fuel is shipped from halfway across the ocean. People shift their behavoir and charge their car, run their appliances, etc., during the day.
Currently trying to sell my gas guzzler to trade in for a used EV. Here in France used EV prices are very cheap at least for now. Had a couple EVs in the past but on long term rental plans so never owned.
The drive mechanism of an EV is much simpler and more efficient than a gas engine, but the battery pack is not, and neither are the other tech gewgaws that are attached to all cars in the American market these days.
If I buy a new car, I expect to own it for 20 years or more. I’ve been very wary of EVs because I bought an early version of the Civic hybrid and had a very bad experience, replacing the extremely expensive battery pack 4 times in the 15 or so years that I owned it (although to be fair, the first time was under warranty, and the battery pack got a little cheaper each time).
I’m sure battery packs have improved considerably in 20 years, but somehow I still never see long-term durability factored into the analysis of how cost-effective electric cars are. Like everything else, all the incentives for manufacturers are to get consumers to accept the fastest possible replacement cycle.
I replaced the 2003 Civic with a used 1996 Ford Escort, which continues to work just fine and still has pretty low maintenance costs.
Americans gladly choosing form over function for things they don’t need with money they don’t have has driven the cost of transportation appliances up. Add to that the assumption that money buys immortality and any miniscule environmental benefit is worth whatever it costs the consumer. We can’t and wouldn’t buy the utilitarian appliances the rest of the world has access to.
In the real world, modern EV batteries last for hundreds of thousands of miles and their usable life often outlasts the rest of the car. They have outperformed expectations.
You can’t extrapolate from a 2003 nickel-metal hydride battery to 2020’s managed lithium battery at all.
The mechanic who bought the Civic from me said the problem was I didn’t drive it enough. The pack would discharge sitting around, but not if I drove I it more.
I am not qualified to judge these things, but I am qualified to wonder why long-term durability is never factored into the analysis of how cost-effective electric cars are. Still wondering.
I’ve owned 4 used Prius vehicles (50mpg) and am driving a 2013 with 200k and have never had a pack issue or any issue on them except for 2 wheel bearings which are on all ICE and EV machines. Friends Bolt has had the pack swapped twice in less than 80k. Anecdata but I’ll be sticking with the Prius line in the frozen North until warming catches up.
A neighbor has a Tesla and said the cost for the electricity was the equivalent of about $1 per gallon. Of course the Model 3 itself–which he had to purchase in NC because of SC dealership rules–was quite expensive but then all cars are now.
In a logical world we’d all already be driving Chinese EV and still worrying about AGW instead of bringing back the Age of Empire. We don’t live in that world.
And the illogic extends to ordinary people in my town who still favor huge trucks and SUVs. This once was justified by the safety excuse but cars with many airbags are much safer than they used to be.
I bought a used 2021 Nissan leaf with about 15k miles for $15k. It was in perfect condition. I don’t know if people think that’s cheap or expensive, to me it was a great deal.
This year there will be hundreds of thousands of used EV’s due to lease returns. I’m pretty sure mine was one of those.
I have a large solar system so essentially I charge for free.
EV’s don’t work for everyone, and most are 2nd or 3rd cars.
One big aspect is if you can charge from home because if you have to charge via commercial chargers, then it’s probably more expensive to operate vs gas. Or it was before Trump blew up the gas prices.
Yes the neighbor I mentioned charges from his house.
This is a small city. I drive every day but not even close to as much as I did in Atlanta. An EV could be quite practical here.
We do see more of them now but if the prices decline significantly I believe their popularity would explode. This of course is Detroit’s–and perhaps the UAW’s–nightmare.
It really, really, really depends on whether you are looking at a battery EV, a plug-in EV or the old-style hybrid, where the ICE charges the battery and the battery then kicks in at speeds up to 40 km/h versus your type of driving and the gas/diesel/electricity prices where you are.
Based on our personal research two years ago:
1) Old-style hybrids are great if you do a lot of city driving. If you do longer distances at higher speeds, the extra weight of the battery means you use more fuel than in a regular ICE car.
2) Plug-ins: Great if your typical round-trip is within range, which is typically between 40 and 80 km. If not, you risk having to recharge regularly at unknown, higher prices.
3) Battery EVs, which I assume this article is talking about, great if your typical round-trip is within range. When we did the math (admittedly at diesel prices 2 years ago), the lower price of charging could not compensate for the extra price of the BEV even over a 10-year life cycle with our driving (not a lot, medium to long distances). Even at current prices, I recently talked to a colleague, who was elated that she can drive 550 km from here to Berlin for EUR 100 and we could come in at that cost for that distance at the current price of diesel. Of course, this is anecdata and it assumes that diesel is available, which may cease to be the case in Europe.
There is no right and no wrong, but it is best to model your driving behavior if you can.
Finally, I found these two studies interesting, the first from a lobby group so add salt, the second from the German Fraunhofer Institute:
https://www.transportenvironment.org/articles/smoke-screen-the-growing-phev-emissions-scandal
https://publica-rest.fraunhofer.de/server/api/core/bitstreams/b483001a-f6e9-490c-a10e-24ecf8f80253/content
I have a hybrid Toyota which is a great car IMO. It gets over 40 MPG around town, on the freeway gets 32-36 MPG, depending on how you drive.
Distance driving past the battery range on a plug in hybrid will be done with fossil fuels, not electricity. Most plug in hybrids do not have the capability to fast charge, so at best you would be using a 7kw Level 2 charger at a hotel.
NC charges me $216 annually to register a 2017 Bolt EV that i drive about 7k miles annually. This is a red-state penalty ostensively to cover the gas tax i did not pay at a pump for road maintenance and will increase because …. I home charge overnight at a discount rate of 7.3 cents/kWh that gets me 4 miles in non winter. There are various monthly riders atop that.
That discount rate will increase by 20%+ over the next year due to datacenters, cost of NG (31% of Duke Carolina’s mix) rising from increased exports, and Duke’s planned new nukes 25 miles away (52% of current mix). I drive an EV because even this low-end sub-$18k model out performs gas cars i could afford with instant torque. New tires after 40k and wipers, no other maintenance.
Yeah, the tires. Our daughter, living in LA, CA, only gets 25,000 miles out of a set of tires on her 2015 Prius non-plugin. We drive a 2003 Subaru and we got 90,000 miles out of our last set of tires. I have heard similar numbers for Teslas too. I think it has something to do with the extra battery weight??
I swapped the tires on my Leaf at 64K miles, not because they needed it but because I popped one on a curb.
Anyone who is only getting 25K or 40K out of their tires is driving in a bizarre manner.
Using that Kona as a reference, the electric version would be far cheaper here. $4.86 in electricity to go 100 miles vs $21.38 in gas, which is currently $1.67 per liter, up from $1.21 a few weeks ago. I just bought a 2025 Kia Sorento Hybrid, but it’s hard to track how much it runs on the battery vs the gas engine. The computer reports fuel mileage, but not electric consumption. Still, at constant speeds under 55 mph it can stay on the electric motor until the battery drops to 20%. In town it will generally be all electric unless you goose it. Parts are getting really expensive. Three weeks ago a new steering rack was $8500. Last week, it went up to $10,000 since they have to be shipped from South Korea, there are none in North America currently.
https://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/auto/strom-vs.-benzin-und-diesel-tanken-e-autos-oder-verbrenner-guenstiger/30038270.html – aus Deutschland
I have a 2024 Chevy Equinox, time of day rates ($0.11kWh at night), Emporia level 2 Charger which gives minute by minute data. Usable range is around 260 miles (theoretical is 320 miles). I drive about 24K miles per year. About 15K of that was charged at home.
For 2025 my home electric use for the car was $366. $366/15,000= $0.024/mile. The car it replaced (2010 Dodge Caravan) was about $0.129/mile for gas and oil changes. So I’m saving about $130/mo on gas and oil.
When I charge at a Telsa supercharger, the cost is about the same as what I would spend on a similar trip with an IC car. All that was when gas was around $2.50/gallon. When I drove by a gas station today, gas was $3.90/gallon.
Bottom line: IF you can charge at home, and the electric rate is low, you can save significant money even when gas is relatively cheap. It took a year to make back the investment in electrical service upgrades and a better charger than the one that comes with the car. The Chevy Equinox allows you to set when it will charge, and it times when charging starts so it’s ready in the morning so it never charges when my rate goes up to $0.25 kWh during the day.
Lemme step in here and advocated for electric bicycles, for those who are fortunate enough to be able to use them safely in their area. We ran the numbers at the shop once, and calculated it would cost $.14 to charge the largest battery we sold from zero to full charge, and that would get you a 60-80 mile range. I don’t think there’s another electronic conveyance which comes remotely close to this.
As ever, the bicycle continues to be the single most efficient mode of transport ever measured.
On it, the best I can, at my elder age😜 Trip is 16.6 miles, RT, to get groceries. About 35 minutes each way with a climb on each leg. Thank the muses I purchased a class 3, with a huge motor. MUST pedal, no throttle. If I tip over, there I go. With a huge cargo box on the back, the weight is 68+ the “provisions”, plus… me, the elder lady attempting to stay out of erratic/busy traffic. I do drive as well. Gas: 4.79 gallon today. Only 5k miles a year in the car….getting to the place where the bus, and a rent a car “car share” program is much more my flow. Be well!😌🔥🐴❤️
I think I’ve found the same to be true here in central VA.
We got a plug-in hybrid ’17 Prius about a year ago, with 25 miles of EV range. Luckily we are able to charge at home and rarely use gas now, unless we are on a trip outside the city. We find, even though VA electricity is up about 30% (thanks data centers), we still save by charging at home. Eventually we may have some solar of our own we can use to help charge.
However when we travel (at least in NC) the cost of charging there is no different from gas (as we get 50mpg). Thus, if you can charge at home electric rates you will probably save$, plus you have less maint costs with ev i suspect. If you have to do a lot of charging away from home you might break even to the cost of a gas car… though who knows what the relative prices of gas and electricity will be in one year!
I traded in my 36K mile Bolt for a 36K mile Tesla model y a little over a year ago and think both are great if you have the ability to charge them at home. I haven’t looked recently, but last year it was easy to find amazing deals, low mileage Bolts ~$15k and Teslas $25 – $30k here in Oregon. Most chargers allow you to set when they charge so you can take advantage of reduced rates if they are available. I generally set mine to charge when the sun is shinning as I have plenty of solar. The Bolt has serious range loss in cold weather and can be a pain to travel long distances when it cold out as it charges relatively slow at supercharges especially in the cold. If you rarely drive more than 150 miles a day and you find one where the battery was replace under the recall, so that the car has 50k, but the battery only 20k, I think you will be very happy especially if you spend most of your time traveling slower than 60 mph as it can be very efficient and amazing in the city with one pedal driving.
The Tesla has better range and less loss in cold weather, though still significant 20 to 30% depending how far below freezing it is. It is much easier to travel long distances as the app directs you to an available charger along your route every 200 miles (3hrs) or so where simply plug it in and take a walk for 10 to 15 minutes while it fills back up to 80% at a cost that is typically not that much less (~ 25%) what gas used to cost per gallon. The extra time it takes on long trips is more than made up for by avoiding the weekly trip to a gas station except if you forget to clean the windshield at home. I’m not sure of actual cost because I installed ~10 kw solar 12 yrs ago so I only pay for grid connection as over the year I generate more than I use and just use the grid as backup. The car estimates I spent $265 to go a little over 12K miles last year. If you have access to
Chinese cars then you have much better selection. I’ve been eyeing the new Zeeker 007GT, though I don’t really need a station wagon that goes 0 to 60 in less than 3 secs and out performs most sports cars on the track, I keep my Tesla in chill mode as it is.
I feel like most of the EV skepticism comes from people who haven’t owned one. I have two EVs, a 2017 LEAF and a 2023 Ariya. They’re my only cars. In my experience EVs are objectively better vehicles than ICE cars in every way if you can charge at home or work. I also worked for a company that replaced their fleet of work trucks with Ford Lightenings. Those trucks were excellent at towing. I’ll never buy another ICE vehicle.
I live in a townhome which includes a parking space, but the parking lot is some distance from my unit and there are no charging facilities. There was someone several years ago who ran an extension cord from their unit to their parking space to charge the car, but as you may imagine the association frowns on this.
I don’t own an electric car but would be interested to know about townhome/apartment/condo dwellers experiences.
I purchased my 2022 Nissan Leaf just over 4 years ago. I have never lived anywhere that I could charge at home or at work during that entire time. I have been completely dependent upon the public charger network.
It works great.
For commuting, the script of “every couple of weeks go charge up” is no different than “every couple of weeks go get gas”. I mostly charge at L3 fast chargers at a local mall. I frequently charge opportunistically at L2 chargers whenever they are colocated with where I am spending time. Most frequently, that means the local mass transit park and ride lot, where I can get on a bus or a train and do other business while the car charges, or just leave it overnight.
For distance trips, yes, I wind up spending more time overall on the road, with about 25-35% of my total travel time charging. But that reflects the fact that the Leaf uses ChaDeMo not NACS or CCS which allow much faster charging rates.
Availability of EV charging is a problem and there are requirements in many localities to require dedicated EV charging and EV convertibly spaces for new build multi unit dwellings. There is an extensive literature regarding this. Progressive municipalities, for example Sterling Heights, Michigan have electrification master plans.
I prefer my lpg falcon…1 dollar a litre…last week…tank 90 litres…long run 600 klms…going like bat out of hell..Falcon green engine 2007…oil change every 3 years…{not really needed, cheap as chips on all things, keep your ice/ev etc….it is a sports model….and i have a heavy foot…so quite happy with it….can refuel from a gas tank from the bbq…!!!!!!
Very superficial take. eg: “EVs also recapture the energy that would otherwise be lost during braking, feeding electricity back into the battery as the vehicle slows down.” Quite disingenuous. EV’s have friction brakes too, so they recapture *some* of the energy; how much depends on how you drive.
Even if you use the rosy transmission loses in the linked analysis, the volitivity in electricity and gas prices make the case less of a sure thing. The much higher mass of EVs mean you have much higher tire replacement expense which (partly) offsets the cost of oil changes. Important externalities are the increased road damage from a heavier vehicle, and more pollution from rubber. Of course these are trade offs with range, but energy/kg is so much lower in batteries that gasoline that if you have a high range EV these are real issues.
Charging infrastructure is limited in some areas and charging times are still not comparable to how long it takes to fill up a gas tank. It certainly is possible to build a high quality charging (or battery swapping) system as they have in parts of China, but even there it’s quite possible to drive yourself out of range of a charger.
Unfortunately, it’s a marginal case, and it comes down to what works for your particular use cases.
This reads as an outsider’s ignorance. An EV driver could tell you that friction braking is basically ‘in case of emergency’, as normal driving becomes a one-pedal activity, and the tire hyperbole is also silly. And the same old scary warnings about refueling times or being somewhere far away from a supply of electricity (lol) hardly matter when most just wake up with a full battery every day. Fuel/maintenance costs on your wallet/time will shrink greatly, and it’s a relief.
EVs are vastly more efficient for any normal driver, and they’d still beat out archaic ICE tech if some wasteoid wanted to drag race or drive hundreds of miles a day (wouldn’t recommend). Ironic to type ‘marginal case’, since only the worst kind of car owner wouldn’t reap vast benefits from getting with the times.
Driving as little as possible is the way, whether ICE or EV. People just drive too much without even thinking about whether they should. It’s a sense of entitlement in usa.
I’m retired and my wife works from home so no commuting. I truly feel awful for everyone that must commute!
The thing is, most of my neighbors are also retired. While I drive our ICE Hyundai Tucson zero miles, 4 out of 7 days, and my wife zero miles 6 out of 7, all of our neighbors drive every * single * day, and usually multiple trips per day. At least two retired neighbors make five car trips every day…..minimum!
We have also moved house many times in the last 10 years. It’s been the same story everyplace we have lived….non-stop driving, by folks who are not working. WTAF? And this has been in the relatively “green” states of Washington & Oregon. Idaho type places must be 10x worse.
I know this because I’m almost always home, gardening, not driving, I see everything that happens.
I could not agree more – there is inherent vulnerability/impact that is directly proportional to the amount that you have to drive. And the EVs are not pushing the world into a different environmental trajectory than the one we are currently on – they are just a bit less perniciously bad. I drive my gas car about 6K miles per year and deliberately chose to live in a place where walking/biking was an option. If I had an EV, I doubt my overall costs would be much lower, considering the up front cost of the vehicle.
Also, I live where winters are long and harsh, and vehicles of all sorts rust out after 10 years of winter exposure. Buying a new EV here does not seem to make sense here unless you drive an epic number of miles a year and exhaust the vehicle before it rusts out. However, a used one that has not been exposed to winter salting perhaps yes.
We live in a recharging desert where if you live in the outskirts of the few smallish cities (there are no “housing developments” just properties strung along old colonial roads; it’s rugged land) you must have a vehicle of some sort to obtain even the basics. All types of fuel attract a premium here. We have a non chargeable hybrid sport ute AWD to combat the hilly bad roads and icy winter weather; generates its own electricity for the battery assist. Considering its size and weight it does well at 50mpg (less than 5 l per 100km). What’s notable is that this rating doesn’t vary with country/city, distance, road speed, temperature, or load (1500lb max) as long as it is operated in the selectable “no lead foot” mode*. The battery assist takes up the additional effort when needed. Our previous much smaller vehicle couldn’t attain even close to that milage and even then varied widely. While hardly a solution it at least reduces harm. (*smoothes out speed changes, not a governor nor noticeable)