The economics of electric cars

I bought a Hyundai Ioniq 6 back in March. I’d love the car even if it didn’t save me a bunch of money on fuel — but it does that, as well, especially right now.

One thing that shocks me in my conversations with other EV owners is how few of them actually bother to work out their energy costs in comparison to a liquid-fuel vehicle. I wanted very much to know that, and after tiring of computing it by hand on occasion I’ve whipped up this interface to help me out. It calculates

• the cost per mile, and
• the cost per 14,000 miles, roughly what the average American drives per year.

The main takeaway is that a lot of people who think they’re saving with an electric car are absolutely not saving on fuel costs, because public chargers owned by companies like Tesla are overcharging you: during peak usage, you’re probably paying more per mile than people who are burning gasoline even at the current price of gasoline, even in the highest-efficiency scenarios!

And Tesla’s prices are actually reasonable in comparison to others! For example, car dealerships’s chargers vary widely in price, but tend to feature the most prominent lunatic prices.

The good news is that a little bit of effort gets you much cheaper energy. A home charger will save you money, and even some commercial chargers will save you money. You can even obtain free energy if you’re lucky and willing to leave your car at a free level 2 charger at a park or something similar. There are good apps like PlugShare to help you out with that; I highly recommend it.

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Fuel cost per mile, electric vehicle

kWh / mile
$ / kWh

$/mile  ⋅  $/14,000 miles

Common electricity prices Custom Higher prices I’ve seen at Tesla chargers Lower prices I’ve seen at Tesla chargers The rush-hour prices at Coastal Electric chargers The off-rush-hour prices at Coastal Electric chargers Pearl River Valley EPA’s residential price Chargers owned by delusional lunatics
Observed efficiencies for my car and location Custom Highway driving City driving Stop-and-go driving

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Fuel cost per mile, liquid-fuel vehicle

miles / gallon
$ / gallon
$ / mile  ⋅  $ / 14,000 miles

Common energy prices Custom Lower prices in my area, before the Iran war started Higher prices in my area, after the Iran war started Lower prices in my area, at the time I write this Higher prices in my area, at the time I write this

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Costs not considered in this computation, but which you may want to consider

• Cost of installing a home charger
• Availability of free chargers near you (they do exist!)
• Savings on maintenance costs:
  • No oil changes, radiator flushes, etc.
  • No spark plug changes, fuel injection cleanings, etc.
  • Less frequent service schedule
• How much your state gouges you on registration fees, to compensate for lost gasoline taxes (“soak the not-so-rich” is alive and well)