With Labor Day behind us, the summer driving season is coming to a close. However, millions of Americans are aiming to enjoy the fall foliage, outdoor spaces, apple picking, and the open road before winter’s arrival. With many consumers taking to the highway, consumer demand for travel should remain high over the next few months.  

Each of these activities requires getting behind a wheel, and comes at a time where more and more consumers are choosing electric vehicles – albeit for different reasons. Some prefer the newer technology that comes with most EVs (such as software updates and higher tech navigation), while others prefer the way the vehicle drives -- steady and smooth with weight evenly distributed across the vehicle. 

The secret sauce for many EV owners might be the charging experience. Read that sentence again. Yes, most EV drivers are happy with the EV charging experience, especially given that 80% of all charging happens at home. While many consumers have ‘charging anxiety’ prior to their EV purchase, many owners change their tune once actually owning a vehicle. 

What’s a big factor in that transformation? We would argue it's the affordability of electricity compared to gasoline. Consumers are paying far less on a per-mile basis when driving electric, compared to a gas car owner. EVs are far more efficient at using energy when in use: they only lose about 11% of energy when propelling the vehicle forward. Cars with an internal combustion engine, meanwhile, waste on average about 80% of their fuel’s energy as heat. 

Many EV owners appreciate the convenience of home charging and treat the driving experience much as how they approach charging their cell phone. There’s fast charging that is a bit more costly, sure, but a lot of the charging experience is topping off or during the odd road trip, and slow charging is in the mix too.

The challenge has been to showcase this affordability to non-EV drivers. Thanks to a new tool that ZETA is publishing today, the Electricity vs. Gas page, users can look at the cost differences across a variety of electric vehicles and gas cars.

From my perspective, it always makes sense to compare a vehicle in a like-for-like way. Let’s take the Chevrolet Equinox for example – one of the higher selling mass market EVs that also has a popular gas-powered equivalent. 

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The average driver in the U.S. travels around 14,000 miles each year. Let’s assume that the driver purchasing the new car is based in the state of Georgia, which has seen EV adoption around the national average. By choosing the Equinox EV over its gas counterpart, that driver would save up to $756 each year by fueling with electricity. By year 10, this amounts to a large difference between electricity and gas -- reaching $7,568 in total dollars saved for fueling costs, assuming consistent pricing in fueling for both drivetrains over the time period.  

We assume that the Equinox EV driver is paying $0.16 per kWh in the state, which is the average residential rate according to EIA. This is compared to $2.88 per gallon of regular gasoline. To ensure that we are comparing apples to apples, the tool compares both vehicles on an equal mileage basis. The tool updates frequently too – so you can check back to see if the variables change over time.

Of course, every state has different gas prices and electricity prices too. How would this same comparison work across the country?

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Turns out, the electric Equinox comes out best in Washington State, where a consumer would net over $1,800 in savings each year based on our latest data. Not every state fairs as well as Georgia, but the vast majority of U.S. states will see a greater advantage for driving the EV over its gas counterpart.

Overall, the data backs up the intuition of many consumers, and their experience should continue to improve through  more favorable charging conditions, such as installing home charging that receives favorable rates at a certain time-of-use, or future programs tied to higher renewable energy generation. 

Still, there are a few common concerns around EV ownership to note that fall outside the scope of this tool.

Upfront cost of an EV versus ICE. Electric vehicles still cost more to purchase in most cases upfront, compared to an internal combustion vehicle. In our example with the Chevy Equinox, the difference in purchase price is around $3,000 - $4,000 depending on add-ons. In other cases, the differential could be higher -- depending on which vehicles you are comparing. This is even further complicated by the on-going tariff policies, which may have uneven effects across different vehicles -- regardless if they are electric, hybrid or fully-powered by gasoline. 

The higher upfront price of electric cars is not expected to be an issue long-term as battery technology and production improves. In fact, the price of battery packs globally have fallen by about 50% between 2018 and 2024, and are expected to decline moving forward. Within a few short years, price parity is expected to occur – making the fueling differential even more impressive. At the same time, with more EV leases coming to an end over the next two years, we can expect more availability of used EVs on the market.

‍Public charging costs can be higher. In most cases, public EV charging will be more expensive than the price of home charging, but that too will vary on a company-by-company basis and within each state. In most cases, whether home or public charging, the cost of EV charging is financially favorable when compared to heading to the gas station.

In general though, this tool highlights the benefit of switching to fueling with electricity. Be sure to check out the tool and go wild with comparisons. We don’t just include comparable vehicles like the Equinoxes or the F-150 versus F-150 Lightning, but vehicles of many different shapes and sizes. Maybe you’ll find a comparison between two future vehicles that you’re considering for purchases.

And let us know if there are ways to improve the tool in the future (you can always reach me at Corey@Zeta.org). 

Until then, enjoy the tool -- and planning your fall travels!

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