One of the main benefits of electrifying transportation is lower energy costs compared to fuel costs. The cost savings potential varies between vehicle classes.
According to Argonne National Laboratory's report Adoption of Plug-in Electric Vehicles: Local Fuel Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions Across the U.S., the larger the vehicle, usually the greater the potential for fuel cost savings. That's because larger vehicles consume more fuel than smaller vehicles.
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Energy consumption matters
Electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids usually consume considerably less energy than internal combustion engine vehicles. That's primarily because electric drive units are more energy efficient than gasoline or diesel engines. This is the key feature that enables saving costs on fuel.
The DOE's Vehicle Technologies Office highlighted Argonne National Laboratory's estimated fuel cost savings potential for replacing a gasoline vehicle with the same size electric vehicle (all-electric or plug-in hybrid) on a ZIP code level in order to eliminate the difference in energy/fuel costs between the states when calculating the national average.
When summing the data to a national level, pickups had the highest potential for fuel cost savings—about $0.14 per mile when replaced with an EV. The next two vehicle types were vans and SUVs, both with $0.11 per mile.
If the vehicles were replaced by a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) for only a partial fuel cost reduction, then the cost-saving potential would be substantially lower.
Fuel Savings Potential when Switching from Conventional to Plug-In Electric Vehicles
Interestingly, ordinary cars have almost the same full cost-saving potential of $0.10 per mile as vans and SUVs. The lowest savings were estimated for crossover utility vehicles (CUV) and sports cars. By the way, according to the report, sports cars in a PHEV version "have less than $0.00 savings" (less than one cent, as we understand).
Assuming an average of at least $0.10 per mile of savings for most vehicles in the country, including cars, SUVs, vans, and pickups, we are talking about at least $30 per 300 miles or simply $100 per 1,000 miles. After 100,000 miles, the savings should exceed $10,000.
Ultimately, full electrification is needed to unleash full fuel savings potential. However, it might take time for the automotive industry to be ready to develop a full electric equivalent of all vehicle classes and offer them at an acceptable price for mass adoption. This concerns some applications more than others—for example, pickups with long-range towing capability are challenging.
