Benefits of Electric Vehicles

On average, most gas-powered vehicles have a fuel economy of 25.7 miles per gallon. Electric vehicles use an efficiency rating called MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) with 33.7 kWh being the closest measure to one gallon. Most electric vehicles using 33.7 kWh on average will go 97 miles of range.

If we were to take a gas-powered vehicle and an electric vehicle going 100 miles of range, the gas-powered vehicle would use around 3.9 gallons of gas, while an electric vehicle would use around 34.7 kWh.

To calculate the cost of this we’d do the following:

For gas cost: Take 3.9 gallons of gas and multiply by $5.00 For charging cost: Take 34.7 kWh and multiply by 15¢

To see which would be cheapest to go 100 miles of range. Here’s what we’d find the costs to be:

Gas would cost $19.45
Electricity would cost $6.03

What we can determine from the calculation above is that charging is substantially cheaper than gas.

It’s important to note that costs vary with electric charging. For example, charging at a DC Fast Charger station will be the most expensive way to charge an EV because of its convenience to charge quickly. Whereas if you do home charging during nighttime hours, you’ll save the most as most energy companies offer discount rates during this time.

As compared to gas-powered vehicles, electric vehicles are more expensive to buy overall, and they are built with specialized parts that need to be replaced in whole rather than fixed. As a result of this, most electric vehicles are more expensive to insure with costs averaging around $1600 per year, while gas-powered vehicles costs average around $1200 per year.