JUST HOW MUCH CAN YOU SAVE ON FUEL BY SWITCHING TO AN EV? THIS CALCULATOR WILL TELL YOU

Electric vehicles aren’t only good for the planet, they’re also good for your wallet. Multiple analyses in recent years have found that EVs end up being cheaper to own and operate than gas cars, thanks in part to the difference in how much it costs to fill up—or charge—the vehicles.

But just how much money you can save driving an EV instead of a car with an internal combustion engine depends on a few specific factors, including the current price of fuel, the price of electricity, the model of your car, and how much you tend to drive. Figuring all of that out can be complicated, but a new calculator from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory can help drivers do the math.

The tool, called Driving Electric: Local Fuel Savings Calculator, is now available for free on the DOE website. To use it, drivers need to enter their zip code or state, their vehicle size (a compact SUV, a pickup, etc.), the model year, tank size, and their annual mileage. How much Americans drive a year depends on things like their age and employment situation, but according to the Federal Highway Administration, the average is 13,476 miles.

In New York, for example, someone driving that average amount of miles with an EV instead of a 2023 car with a 13-gallon tank would save $0.05 per mile. And it adds up: That person would save $17.51 per tank, or $620.43 saved per year. Replacing an older or larger vehicle with an EV could mean even more savings. Say a driver upgrades from a 2015 SUV; the savings in an EV jump to $0.10 per mile, or $1,315.61 per year. Both those savings are for battery electric vehicles specifically; the calculator also shows savings for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. 

EVs can cost more up front than gas cars, but multiple EV makers have been working to bring more affordable options to market. Ford, for example, is working on a $25,000 compact EV, while Volvo recently announced that an EV with a $35,000 sticker price will hit dealerships this summer. (Overall, the average price of a new car in the U.S. is more than $47,000.) With more battery advancements, experts also expect EV prices to keep coming down. Startups are also working on how to best price and sell used EVs, which have a different value than a used gas car.

In more than 99% of U.S. zip codes, driving an EV rather than a gas car results in savings on fuel costs, plus fewer greenhouse gas emissions, says Yan (Joann) Zhou, principal transportation systems analyst in the energy systems and infrastructure analysis division at Argonne, in a statement. The calculator is based on Zhou and her team’s work on a recent report that looked at how local fuel and electricity costs can affect someone’s savings.

That report found the potential for even more savings, depending on the type of car and the local price of gas. Compared to an internal combustion car, the researchers estimated that driving a battery electric vehicle could save drivers up to $2,200 annually, while driving a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle could save them up to $1,500. EVs can also save 200 to 400 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per mile—or nearly 5 tons of CO2 for every 10,000 miles driven. That figure was calculated using a ​“well-to-wheels” approach, meaning researchers considered the entire life cycle of a vehicle’s energy consumption. 

This post originally appeared at fastcompany.com

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2024-05-03T12:36:53Z dg43tfdfdgfd