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How do you calculate the savings of an electric car?
I’ve heard a couple of times that electric cars save you a lot of money, but I just don’t understand how that an be true. Sure, you don’t pay for gas, but you still have to pay for electricity, right? My wife says we should calculate how much we’ll save. How do you calculate the savings of an electric car?
Bellina Gaskey · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
Great question! The calculation for annual savings from owning an electric vehicle is your annual gas cost minus your annual electricity cost.
If that seems oversimplified, we can go into more detail by breaking down how much you spend on gas and compare it to how much you might spend on electricity for your electric car.
To figure out how much you spend on gas per year, first figure out roughy how many miles you drive per year. Once you have that, divide it by your
mileage
, and you’ll have how many gallons you use per year. Multiply that by the average cost per gallon, which hovers around 2.3, and you’ll have your magic number.The average American spends $1,500 a year on gasoline. That’s if you drive the average of 14,000 miles a year.
Now for electric cars. If we take your mileage and divide it by the average mile per kilowatt-hour of most electric vehicles (3.5), you’ll have the kilowatt-hours used per year. Multiply that by the average cost per kilowatt-hour and you’ll have your yearly electric cost.
So to use our averages, your electric costs for your EV would be roughly $628. That’s roughly $872 in savings.
And electric cars don’t only save you money in fuel. An important part of the savings is the lack of upkeep.
Oil changes
and other routine upkeep add up in gas cars, but electric cars don’t have those issues. Whether your car runs on gasoline or electric power you always need insurance.
Jerry
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