Gas, Electric, or Hybrid: True Costs and Savings
The national average price for gasoline in the continental United States reached $5 in mid-June. People who spend multiple hours in their cars daily were flummoxed.
No one was likely to get an increase in salary to match the increase in gas prices, so most people were forced to refigure their transportation budgets accordingly.
Meanwhile, those consumers who have already purchased electric cars are enjoying the fact that they are not screaming at fuel pumps.
Electric vehicle (EV) car owners do have to contend with the price of electricity, which varies by state.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects a 4.8 percent increase in electricity pricing for the summer of 2022 over that of 2021.
Electric car owners have other concerns as well, including the high price of paying off their cars, concern over the cost of an eventual battery replacement, and how and where to “fuel up’’ on long trips.
Then there are the hybrid owners. Hybrid cars operate on both gas and electric power. Although hybrid owners don’t need to fill their tanks on a weekly basis, they have their own headaches.
Individual drivers will have personal reasons for choosing to drive a gas-powered car versus an EV or a hybrid. This article offers alternative reasons for those readers who are on the fence.
Let’s look at each choice, and examine the positives and negatives of the three types of standard family vehicles.
Cars Powered by Gasoline
We have been driving gasoline-powered cars for over a century. When we buy gas-powered cars, we know what we are getting into.
Cars that operate on gasoline require frequent stops at the gas station for fuel and regular but less frequent stops at the dealer or repair shop for maintenance.
Pros
- Cars powered by gasoline are cheaper to purchase initially.
- Gasoline-powered vehicles have higher top speeds (for whatever that is worth).
Cons
- The price of gasoline keeps going up.
- If you are environmentally concerned, cars powered by gasoline produce more pollutants than the alternatives.
Cars Powered by Electricity
Electric cars are all the rage among young drivers, for a variety of reasons. But, the reason for the popularity of electric cars is balanced by the cost owners pay, in real money terms.
Pros
- Electric cars are more environmentally friendly because they produce fewer emissions.
- Charging an electric car is less expensive than filling up a gasoline-powered car.
- Electric cars make less noise, and they reach high speeds faster than gasoline-powered cars (for what that’s worth).
- There are federal tax credits available for the purchase of some electric vehicles.
Cons
- The initial cost is high. The average price difference for similarly equipped cars is more than $10,000 between gas and electric vehicles.
- Concerns over charging electric cars on long drives are not likely to be solved soon.
- You can charge your electric vehicle with a standard outlet, but it takes a while to get a full charge. A home charging station is an option, but that equipment is likely to cost about $2,000.
- While EV cars reach high speeds faster than gasoline-powered cars, they do not maintain the higher speed as long as gas-powered cars do.
Hybrid Cars
So you think you want to split the difference and get a hybrid vehicle? Hybrids offer the reliability of available gasoline when needed and the knowledge that for long trips, you are operating on electricity rather than emissions-heavy gasoline.
There are three types of hybrid vehicles: mild, full, and plug-in. They are different in the way the electric and gas power operate the vehicle, but they are popular for the same reasons: they reduce gasoline emissions and cost.
Pros
- Hybrid vehicles produce fewer emissions than gas-powered vehicles, but more than EVs.
- Mild and full hybrids do not need to be plugged in to recharge the battery; the internal combustion engine recharges the battery, as does any braking that is applied.
Cons
- Replacing the electric battery is expensive, although it needs to be replaced much less frequently than a gasoline engine battery.
- Like electric vehicles, hybrids are generally not power vehicles, although there are hybrids that are better suited for towing campers or trailers.
Overall Cost Comparisons
There are many estimates on the cost of owning a gas vs. electric vehicle. But those estimates apply only to average use.
If you drive your car more or less frequently than the average driver, your cost estimates will differ. If you tend to drive faster than other drivers, that will also affect your estimated costs.
Fuel Costs
In 2020, Consumer Reports estimated that EV drivers spend about 60 percent less each year on fuel costs compared to gas-powered car owners (pdf). In line with this figure, the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute found in 2018 that the average annual cost for fueling an EV car was $485 compared to $1,117 to fuel a gas-powered vehicle (pdf). However, the cost of gas-powered vehicles has obviously climbed due to recent increases in gas at the pump.
Battery and Maintenance
Two additional factors could affect these estimates: battery and maintenance.
Battery replacement may be the biggest factor in a comparison of gas versus EV costs. An EV battery can cost at least $5,000 to replace, whereas a gas-powered car battery averages $150, depending on the size of the battery required.
But, today’s EV battery runs for approximately eight years or 100,000 miles before needing to be replaced.
A gas-powered car battery is estimated to last four years, based on the chemical components of the battery, not the number of miles driven.
A 2020 study by Consumer Reports found that maintenance costs for EVs run about 50 percent lower than maintenance costs for gas-powered vehicles.
This is largely because EVs are less complex than gas-powered vehicles, with fewer moving parts.
Upfront Cost
Despite the cost savings from gas, battery, and maintenance, the upfront cost of an electric vehicle may be the biggest consideration.
As of May 2022, the average price for a new electric vehicle was over $65,000, according to a report from Kelley Blue Book, versus the industry average of about $46,000.
The Final Word
The White House wants 50 percent of all new vehicle sales to be electric by 2030. Currently, less than 3 percent of cars on the road are electric, according to Kelley Blue Book.
However, it’s likely that many of us will switch to electric or hybrid eventually. For most of us, when we make that change will be determined largely by the economics of car ownership.
source: theepochtimes
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Auntie Vaxina
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If the price of fuel keeps going up your electricity bill will also go up. A study was done by a US Senator that projected, the cost of charging your car at home will double your current electricity bill, which would also put a big strain on the grid. Are you ready to only charge your car between 10pm and 2am?
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Sine kwanon
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Much of this is besides the point.
If an EV costs 10.000$ more than GasV.
Then at 5$ a gallon one can fill the GV up with 2000 gall. If one fill up takes 10 gall one can do 200 fill ups. At one fill up per week that is 200 weeks or about 4 years of fill up. By that time the EV needs a new battery.
That is just comparing purchase prices. Thats even with these inflated gasolone prices of today.
Then consider the coming skyrocketing insurance prices for EV’s as more and more EV will go up in flames. It is just crazy to even try to compAre the costs.
Then think about the mounts of old EV batteries that cannot be recycled. Can stack them with the blades of windmills.
And the environmental damage of mining the Lithium for the batteries.
It is simply disgustingly irresponsible to buy an EV.
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Eric the Red
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That green energy has any damned thing to do with economics, is nothing but a political ruse to fool the masses. It’s all a political game of three-card monte. Green energy first and foremost depends on energy transfers as accurately predicted by the Laws of Thermodynamics, including but not limited to microsystems and their encompassing macrosystems. If the proper analysis it not done in conjunction with both contextual frameworks, then the politicians can play stupid games with energy sources all day long, and prove any damn thing they want to, all of it false.
Entropy, energy density, average energy availability throughout a full climate cycle, long-term environmental degradation, relative comparisons of the merits of solar, wind, petroleum, molten-salts nuclear power (which all governments have studiously ignored to develop for over the last 60 years)… the list is endless. And so we have today the ludicrous situation of Germany, which has poured their heart and soul into green energy over the last twenty years, only to discover that when crunch time comes, when they really really need that stuff because the nasty ol’ Russians have had arbitrary sanctions imposed on them, then the whole energy system comes crashing down. It’s Panic Time in good old Deutschland !!!
DUH! Who could possibly have predicted it ??? And you thought Germans were smart ! The Germans are getting exactly what they deserve for being so utterly short-sighted and stupid and mind-numbingly politicized.
Deutschland ist das Neue Grüne Reich. Sieg heil !
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Tom
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No mention of EV tires wearing out much quicker due to the weight of the battery. No mention of all the pollution that is caused by mining for lithium and other metals needed for the EV batteries and cars. No mention of the recycling problem of 1,000 pound batteries. No mention that using more and more accessories like A/C and heat greatly reduce the range of an EV battery. No mention that global warming being caused by humans is totally fake.
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Russ D
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ONLY a STUPID Liberal would think electric cars are saving the environment!!!!
Are Electric Vehicles The Saving Grace
By Roger Anghis July 24th, 2022
https://newswithviews.com/are-electric-vehicles-the-saving-grace/
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Hans
| #
Battery vehicles loss three to five percent annually.
Within a decade, the battery must be replaced, unless
it is driven only locally.
A vehicle is only electric, if it has a cord and or it is
connected to overhead electrified lines.
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Joao
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The article is quite incomplete, and more research on electric cars is needed.
For example:
Only the weight and mass of the vehicle is the biggest factor possible, as it is proof that it is more polluting, less economical, less safe, less performance and that more energy is needed to be produced and recycled, compared to a lighter vehicle.
Pollutant – too much weight in the batteries; Increased tire wear;
Safe – More mass to stop shows that it is more unsafe than a lighter vehicle, regardless of the braking system that is more worn out which in turn pollutes more;
Performance – more mass to accelerate, requires more energy; comparing with a fuel vehicle, where the weight of the liquid in the tank decreases during the trip and in an EV the mass of the battery remains the same;
More energy – more energy in production (E=mc2) and battery life cycle; They show that it is more polluting than a lighter vehicle.
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