Electric vehicles are surprisingly cheap to own
One of the fastest ways to accelerate your transition to an eco-friendlier lifestyle is to switch to an EV.
By Chris Johnson: Member, Electric Auto Association
Kia Niro EV
In addition to the environmental benefits and stunning performance of electric vehicles (EVs), did you know they are much cheaper to own?
Regarding the environmental benefits, one of the fastest ways to accelerate your transition to an eco-friendlier lifestyle is to switch to an EV. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions is from transportation. This accounts for 28% of emissions, coming in above agriculture, commercial/ residential, industry, and power generation.
The average North American drives approximately 10,500 miles per year. Taking a national average of 25.1 miles per gallon, that equates to close to 420 gallons of gasoline burned annually. In aggregate, this translates to approximately 1,870 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent expelled annually–a mind-boggling number.
Those are some of the environmental benefits, but what about the much cheaper cost of owning an EV over an internal combustion engine vehicle? We decided to compare costs over a five-year period.
Do you look at the price of gasoline every time you pull into a gas station?. If you drive as an average American does, you put about 10,500 miles on your odometer each year. Over five years, that is 52,500 miles. Taking a national average of 25.1 miles per gallon, that equates to 2,091 gallons of gasoline consumed over five years.
In February 2020, the national average price of gas was $2.44 for regular and $3.11 for premium. For this comparison, we use the price of regular. That means that the typical gasoline-powered car owner will pay about $5,100 for gas over five years.
To determine charging costs, we took the average cost of electricity for the home in the U.S. in February 2020, which was $0.1282 per kilowatt (kW). The average EV will use 10,900 kW to travel the American average of 52,500 miles. That means that the typical electric car owner will pay about $1,400 to charge their vehicle.
So, over a five-year period, the typical US electric car driver saves $3,700 in the cost of fuel plus saving a ton of time and some aggravation with no need to visit gas stations.
Save Money on Brake Maintenance
EVs save wear and tear on their brake pads and rotors by using the resistance of their motors to slow down and stop. This is called regenerative braking, and it drastically reduces the wear on the brakes.
EVowners can expect to get at least 150,000 miles from their brakes before they need servicing. On the other hand, gasoline-powered vehicles do not have regenerative braking. According to Kelley Blue Book (KBB), the average lifespan for brake pads on a gasoline-powered vehicle is about 40,000 miles, and the average cost to replace pads is $225 per axle. Therefore, internal-combustion engine car drivers pay an average of $450 every 40,000 miles to have all four brakes (two on each axle) serviced.
No Oil Changes
The third cost of operating gasoline or diesel-powered cars is changing the oil. The electric motors in electric cars do not require oil. For cost comparisons, we use an oil-change window of 7,500 miles. Thus, over our five-year operating-cost comparison between EVs and ICEs, the ICE owner would change oil seven times. Kelley Blue Book estimates that oil changes cost between $65 and $125. We use a midpoint cost of $95, which suggests a cost of $665 to change the oil seven times.
The bottom line is that a gasoline-powered vehicle will cost about 4.5 times more to operate and maintain than a comparable electric car.
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To read more from Chris Johnson, check out The Arrival of the Electric Car, his comprehensive, easy-to understand overview of the passenger EV universe,
