Despite remarkable growth in recent years, electric vehicles remain an unknown quantity for most car buyers in the United States.
The explanation for that is that battery-electric cars make up a small portion of the U.S. new car market – 5.6 percent in 2022 (and that was the best year ever for EVs). But as the market grows, people need to become more familiar with EVs and understand their benefits, starting with costs.
One easy way to do that is to check out the new Electric Car Savings Calculator from Payless Power, a Texas-based energy solutions provider. The tool compares fuel costs of internal combustion engine-powered models with EVs' electricity costs to determine how much customers would save if they traded in their current ICE car for an EV.
After taking it for a test drive, we can say this is a useful tool for car buyers interested in how electric cars can help them save on fuel costs – that's the vast majority of buyers, by the way.
Besides including a wide variety of ICE and EV models, the calculator also allows users to input their weekly driving distance and their home state to provide accurate fuel costs for each state.
Say you live in California and you're wondering how much you could save on fuel by switching from a 2022 Honda Accord to a 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 RWD Long Range. All you have to do is fill the boxes with the car models, insert your weekly driving distance – let's say 250 miles – and your state, and you're good to go.
The result in this particular case is a total saving of $1,082, and the cool thing is the calculator also shows you detailed information including the fuel/electricity consumption of both cars, as well as the cost of energy per day, week, and year.
Chances are you won't have difficulty finding your current ICE car and the EV model you'd like to replace it with in the database, as it includes ICE vehicles from more than 100 brands spanning the 1984-2024 model years and EVs from 33 brands from 2015 through 2024 model years.
Before you start calculating how much an EV would save you on gas costs every year, you should know that this tool does not take other electric vehicle costs into account, such as the purchase price, insurance premiums, maintenance and repair bills, at-home charging installation, depreciation, and more.
Depending on the EV model you choose, these costs can vary significantly. While electric cars typically are more expensive than their ICE equivalents to purchase, federal tax credits and state-specific rebates can offset the higher price tag and even reduce the cost of an at-home charger installation in some regions.
