How much money can you save with an electric car?

If you are curious about the cost savings provided by electric cars, below are some numbers I calculated for 100,000 miles driven.

Besides the cost savings, electric cars have other advantages that should not be overlooked. I outline some of them in this article.

Tesla Model Y and Lexus RX350

Nissan Leaf and Nissan Sentra

Assumptions

Electric car is charged at home
Cost of electricity: 10 cents per Kwh. This is a flat rate in Seattle, but it ranges from 4-30, depending on the state and time of day.
Average efficiency of Tesla Y (291 Wh/mile) and Nissan Leaf (275 Wh/mile) is 283 Wh/mile.
No unscheduled maintenance
Gas car is provided with regular maintenance (oil changes and tune-ups)
Batteries and tires are not included, as they would be the same for both types of cars
Average gas price as of Sept 2022 is $3.7
The gasoline car does not use premium or diesel fuel
Oil changes are every 5,000 miles and cost $80
Tune-ups are every 30,000 miles and cost $1000
Both gasoline and electric cars will lose the same amount (not percentage) after 100,000 miles. This assumes we are comparing cars with similar features, such as Tesla Y and Lexus RX350. We are not comparing a Tesla Y and a 20 year old Civic.

Electric car

Total kWh used: 28,300
Electricity cost: $2830
Regular maintenance costs: none
Total cost: $2,830

Gas car with 20 mpg

Fuel cost: $18,500
Regular maintenance costs: $4,600
Total cost: $23,100

Gas car with 30 mpg

Fuel cost: $12,333
Regular maintenance costs: $4,600
Total cost: $16,933

Gas car with 40 mpg

Fuel cost: $9,250
Regular maintenance costs: $4,600
Total cost: $13,850

These numbers change if:

your electricity and/or gas costs are very different from the assumptions above
you travel a lot and use on-the-road chargers
you perform your own maintenance

Comments

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