Recently, a Washington Post story and a study from a research group issued warnings that charging an EV could cost more than filling a car with gasoline. Then CleanTechnica did their own study, concluding the opposite. Since EVs tend to cost around $5,000 more to buy than similar gasoline cars, this is pretty important if cost is a key factor in your car decision. So who’s right?
The answer is, yes, you can (rarely) find cases where the electricity will cost a little more than the gasoline. If you’re in one of those situations, an EV may not be a good choice for you today. You can also find — more easily — cases where the EV will cost a lot less than the gasoline car — as little as just 1/3rd as much. If you’re in that group that will pay much less to charge than fill-up, then you will quickly make back the extra cost of the EV, so the EV turns out to be cheaper in total cost than the gas car, even in spite of the sticker shock in the dealer price. People often ask “when will EVs reach price parity with gasoline cars?” and the answer is that they did it some time ago for many drivers.
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