Electric Vehicles Cost Less Than Half As Much to Drive

"Electric cars are vastly better than internal combustion devices," said James Anderson, a Harvard scientist.

Electric vehicles cost less than half as much to operate as their gasoline-powered counterparts, according to a study of fuel costs released Jan 14 by the University of Michigan.

The average cost to operate an EV in the United States is $485 per year, while the average for a gasoline-powered vehicle is $1,117, according to the study by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute.

This study only examined fuel costs, but the maintenance cost for electric vehicles has also been found to be lower because they have fewer moving parts, no exhaust system, less need for cooling, less abrasive braking options, and no need to change "oil, fan belts, air filters, timing belts, head gaskets, cylinder heads and spark plugs."

In the new Michigan study, Sivak and Schoettle found that fuel costs for both type of cars vary dramatically from state to state.

In Hawaii, it costs $1,509 to fuel "a typical new gasoline vehicle" each year, and $1,106 to charge an EV.

Gasoline is cheapest in Alabama at $993 a year, but electricity is still much cheaper at $481.

The difference is greatest in Washington state, where gasoline will cost that average motorist $1,338, compared to $372 to charge up.

In no state is it cheaper to fuel up on gasoline—Hawaii comes closest to parity.

For gasoline cars to catch up to EVs, they would have to improve their fuel economy to 90 miles per gallon in Washington, to 57.6 mpg on average across the states.

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