Sources

Fuel Savings: $834 avg. per year

Electric vehicles are less expensive to fuel than gasoline vehicles. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the average American drives 13,500 miles per year. Assuming a 28 mpg gas-powered vehicle and $2.85/gallon, the average gas vehicle costs $1,374 per year to fuel. For an average electric vehicle, we’ve used Energy.gov’s assumptions of $0.13 per kilowatt-hour and 33 kilowatt-hours to travel 100 miles to arrive at an average EV cost of $0.04 per mile. At 13,500 miles per year, electric vehicle charging costs around $540 on average. Therefore, switching from a gas to an electric vehicle could save you up to $834 per year versus a gas vehicle.

Maintenance Savings: $405 avg. per year

Electric vehicles have less moving parts than gasoline vehicles, which means you stand to save big on repairs and maintenance. According to a Consumer Reports Study, the lifetime average gasoline vehicle costs $0.061 cents per mile to maintain versus an electric vehicle which costs $0.031 cents per mile. Therefore, EV drivers save an average of $0.03 cents per mile.

According to the Department of Transportation, the average American drives 13,500 miles per year. By saving $0.03 cents per mile, the average EV driver saves around $405 per year, every year.

Environmental Benefits: CO2e reduced per year

To estimate average carbon emission reductions from switching from a gasoline vehicle to an EV, we use data from the Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center for each state, subtracting “All Electric” or “Plug-in Hybrid” from “Gas” vehicle emissions.

For example, in the United States, the average gas vehicle emits 11,435 lbs of CO2e per year. If a person switches from gasoline to an electric vehicle in California, they emit only 2,182 lbs of CO2e, a reduction of 81% or 9,253 lbs per year versus a gas vehicle.

“If every American followed your lead, we'd reduce our country's total carbon emissions by X%” is calculated by using Nature.org data that the average American emits 16 tons of carbon. In the above California example, the reduction of 9,253 lbs is equal to 4.32 metric tons reduced. By reducing their footprint from 10 tons CO2e to 5.68 tons, the average American would reduce their individual carbon emissions by 22%.

For average US emissions, we use the following: US_AVG_GAS_EMISSIONS = 11,435 US_AVG_EV_EMISSIONS = 3,774 16_TONS_AS_POUNDS = 35,274 ((US_AVG_GAS_EMISSIONS-US_AVG_EV_EMISSIONS) / 16_TONS_AS_POUNDS) * 100