With gas prices on the rise, more people are wondering if driving an electric vehicle (EV) would significantly reduce the pain at the pump.

In fact, electric vehicle registrations increased by 60 percent in the first quarter of 2022. By 2035, GM has pledged to sell only EVs and, by that same year, they will be the only type of new car available for purchase in New York State.

But what about before then? Today, is an EV cheaper to drive from point a to point b than a gasoline-powered car?

First, we need to make a few stipulations. To avoid getting too complicated, we’ll compare the average gas mileage of all gas-powered passenger vehicles on the road now to the average miles per kWh for all EVs. A more holistic comparison would have to take sticker price and maintenance cost into account, as well as different perks offered by manufacturers. (EVs tend to cost more than their gas-powered equivalents, though there are plenty of gas-powered vehicles that cost more than the lower priced EVs. Additionally, maintenance costs tend to be less on Evs, though there’s a lot of variation here too.)

CAR A

• Gasoline car: 25.7mpg (average for U.S. passenger vehicles)
• Average local gas price: $3.41 (Recent NYS average price)

CAR B

• EV: 2.83 miles per kWh (average for U.S. EV cars)
• Average local retail electricity price: 24 cents per kWh (most recent average for NYS)

So… how much would it cost to go 300 miles?

• In Car A, it would cost $39.81.
• In Car B, it would cost $25.44.

What about 15,000 miles, a little more than the typical American drives each year?

• In Car A, it would cost $1,990.27
• In Car B, it would cost $1,272.08

So in this case, comparing the average EV to the average passenger vehicle on the road right now, you’d save over $744.60 annually (or 37 percent) using electrons rather than gasoline.  

Compare for yourself

To compare specific gas-powered and electric vehicles, check out this online calculator or take a look at this Google Sheet we created (you’ll need to select “File > Make a copy” to edit it).

We included links to all the needed source info in the Google Sheet. For the online calculator, you’ll need to input the local gasoline price, miles per gallon, average NYS electricity price, and kWh per mile. We used the most recent average numbers available. You can find an updated list of gasoline prices on the AAA website, miles per gallon for various cars from the Department of Energy, and electricity prices on this state website. Here are some example miles per kWh for different EVs:

Gas and electricity prices vary by time and place, so double check these links if you’re looking at this much later than it was updated (12/28/2022).

Promoting wider EV adoption

While there are more EVs on the road than ever before, the main factor cited by those who aren’t ready to make the switch yet is range anxiety; the fear of running out of juice and being stranded on the side of the road because one is unable to find a charging station.

Most of the time, this wouldn’t be an issue. A recent study found that only about 2 percent of car trips are greater than 50 miles, while the battery capacity of EVs spans from 150-300 miles. But until charging stations are as plentiful as gas stations, this will continue to be a concern.

Central Hudson is helping to increase the number of charging stations through our EV Make Ready program, which provides incentives that can cover up to 100 percent of the costs of necessary charging station infrastructure, which can be installed at businesses and municipal parking areas. Many businesses benefit from installing EV chargers because they attract customers with above average disposable income who tend to stay at a particular location for significantly longer

To learn more about our program, visit the Central Hudson Make Ready page.

Central Hudson's EV Tour 

To demonstrate the increasing practicality of long-distance EV trips, we created the following interactive map showing area destinations of interest and nearby EV chargers. Check it out.