It might sound like an obvious thing to most people, electricity is cheaper than gas, but I find that people are not really aware of the electricity rate discrepancy around the US and the world. It’s understandable. Who has time to track electricity and gas prices outside of your own market? Plugless has time and did it.
The company came up with a neat study looking at gas prices and electricity rates – without taking into account time-of-use rates where available – in each state over the last year and came to the conclusion that electric vehicles are cheaper to fuel in all 50 states.
EV drivers can see savings between $300 and $1,300 per year. Plugless explains that the result is despite gas having a significant advantage over electricity over the time period of the study:
In many ways, the snapshot loads the deck in favor of gas cars. For one, gas prices have been very low for the past year. The national average cost of gas in this snapshot is $2.20 per gallon. Another factor […]
The problem is that most people don’t have the money to buy a $30,000 electric car. If you read up on subprime auto loans you will learn that the car financing system is about to collapse.
I agree with Mr. Hovland. And while I’m delighted that EVs and the support needed for them is coming of age, until the price goes down many of those who would choose to buy them are unable to do so. Another aspect of cars and Climate Change that isn’t discussed enough is the effects of parking lots and highways. What roads we have should be repaired but I believe we need more intentional planning when it comes to roads vs healthy land use and public transport. The pervasive attitude about land use in the US seems to be locked into the 18th century mindset – there’s a lot of land out there to be developed. That land, like materials are there to be consumed.