How much do you really save skipping gas with an EV?
While you will circumvent high gas prices, you’ll pay more for the car itself
Skipping the pump entirely by owning an electric vehicle may sound more enticing than ever as the cost of gas continues to skyrocket. Since the start of the war in Iran, the price per gallon of regular gasoline has pushed $4 in many locations. And with the average passenger car carrying between 12 and 16 gallons of fuel, according to online car-shopping guide Edmunds, costs can add up quickly per fill-up.
An EV, of course, allows you to avoid that cost entirely. But charging an electric vehicle is not necessarily free either, and there are other costs to consider in the overall equation, such as higher sticker price and faster depreciation.
How much can an EV save you on gas?
The answer depends largely on how and where you charge your vehicle. An analysis published by The New York Times in 2025 found that “driving an electric vehicle instead of a gas-powered car would save the average driver $8 every 100 miles” — but that’s “true only if you install a charger at home,” said Kelley Blue Book. If you plan to rely more often on public chargers, you may not see as notable of savings. In fact, some chargers can “cost more per mile than gas,” said Consumer Reports. However, “in every state, home charging is less expensive than gasoline,” said Kelley Blue Book.
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Savings can also vary from location to location. That is because gasoline prices “vary depending upon the state, partly due to state taxes and partly because of the cost of transporting the stuff longer distances from where it’s refined,” said Kelley Blue Book. Electricity rates are similarly not fixed — and in many places, they are climbing. As such, in some states, the gap between the cost of electricity and the cost of gas may be wider or narrower, and it may change over time.
What other costs factor in when comparing an electric vs. gas car?
While gas tends to be the car-ownership cost we are confronted with most often, it is certainly not the only cost associated with owning a car. Before trading in for an EV, be sure to additionally weigh:
Sticker price: “Traditional gasoline cars usually have the lowest sticker price compared to their electrified counterparts,” said CNET.
Maintenance and repair costs: “EVs and PHEVs have 80% more problems on average than gas-only cars,” said Consumer Reports, citing its surveys of “hundreds of thousands of vehicle owners.” That said, they do have fewer parts and systems involved to maintain, and some offer “generous warranties on parts like batteries and electric drivetrains.”
Insurance costs: While “insurance costs vary a lot depending on the type of car you own,” on average, EVs are the “most expensive to insure because they have the highest sticker price, and because components such as batteries are more expensive to replace,” said CNET.
Depreciation and resale value: “Historically, EVs have experienced higher and faster depreciation than gas vehicles,” in part because the “EV technology improves so quickly,” said CNET.
Carbon costs: Environmental costs are also worth considering. “Producing an EV typically emits more greenhouse gases than manufacturing a gas car, but EVs are much less carbon intensive to drive,” with average total CO2 emissions of 30 tons for an EV sedan (including manufacturing and travel) versus 70 tons for a gas sedan, said The New York Times.
