Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Table of Contents
Executive Summary

3

Key Terms

4

Chapter 1—Resale Value

5

Chapter 2—Maintenance

9

Chapter 3—Fuel Costs

12

Chapter 4—Current EV Ownership Costs

18

Chapter 5—Used EVs

26

Appendix A—Fuel-Cost Sensitivities

29

Appendix B—Fuel Costs by State

30

Appendix C—Vehicle Characteristics

33

Appendix D—Depreciation Curve

35

Appendix E—Detailed Results of New-Car Ownership Cost Analysis

36

Appendix F—Sensitivity Cases for New-Car Ownership Cost Analysis

38

Appendix G—Detailed Results of Used-Car Ownership Cost Analysis

432Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Executive Summary
Up-front purchase price is only part of the cost consumers pay to own their vehicle. Over the
lifetime of a conventional gas-powered vehicle, fuel and maintenance costs can add up to evenmore than the original purchase price. While electric vehicles (EVs) typically have higher upfront purchase prices, they can save consumers a lot on operating expenses. This study relies
on new data on electric vehicle depreciation rates and maintenance and repair costs, along withreal world average vehicle prices, to estimate how much today’s most popular EVs can saveconsumers when compared with similar ICE vehicles.
New data obtained by CR from ALG, a data and analytics subsidiary of automotive pricing andinformation website TrueCar, shows that when adjusted for federal purchase incentives, both
battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are expected todepreciate at the same rate as ICE vehicles in the same class over the first five years ofownership. In addition, new data extracted from recent Consumer Reports reliability surveys
shows that both BEV and PHEV drivers are saving 50 percent on their repair and maintenancecosts, when averaged over a typical vehicle lifetime.
Based on average driving habits, fuel costs for BEVs were estimated assuming mostly homecharging and an estimated six fast-charging sessions required per year for BEVs with a range of
250 miles. Overall, BEVs were estimated to save consumers about 60 percent on fuel costs
compared with the average vehicle in their class. Fuel costs were also analyzed by state, withthe majority of states falling within 10 percent of the national average.
The nine most popular EVs on the market under $50,000 were compared to (1) the best-selling,(2) the top-rated, and (3) the most efficient vehicles in their class. For six of the nine EVs
analyzed, the first-owner ownership costs are estimated to be lower than those of all threecomparable ICE vehicles in their class. For all nine EVs analyzed, the first-owner ownershipcosts are estimated to be lower for at least one of the three comparable ICE vehicles. In manycases, the EVs matched or exceeded the performance of some of the top-performing ICE
vehicles in their class. For all EVs analyzed, the lifetime ownership costs were many thousandsof dollars lower than all comparable ICE vehicles’ costs, with most EVs offering savings of
between $6,000 and $10,000. While new EVs were found to offer significant cost savings overcomparable ICE vehicles, the cost savings of 5- to 7-year-old used EVs was found to be two or
three times larger on a percentage savings basis.
Overall, these results show that the latest generation of mainstream EVs typically cost less to
own than similar gas-powered vehicles, a new development in the automotive marketplace withserious potential consumer benefits.

3Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Key Terms
Battery electric vehicle (BEV): A vehicle that operates only on electric power.
Depreciation: The portion of the initial value of an asset (such as a vehicle) that has been lost
after a given amount of time. Depreciation is the inverse of the residual value.
Discount rate: An interest rate used for discounting future income and expenditures relative tothe present value.
Electric vehicle (EV): A vehicle capable of operating on electricity only for an extended periodof time. Includes battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell electricvehicles1.
Internal combustion engine vehicle (ICE): A conventional vehicle fueled only by gasoline.
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV): A vehicle that can operate on either electricity or
gasoline.
Present value (PV): A sum of future income and expenditures discounted to current year using
a discount rate to take into account the fact that costs and expenditures further into the future
have a lower value in the present.
Residual value: The portion of the original purchase price of a vehicle remaining after a certain
number of years. Residual value is the inverse of depreciation.

1

There are currently no high-volume mainstream fuel cell electric vehicles.

4Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Chapter 1—Resale Value: Long-Range Electric Vehicles Expected to Hold Value As Well
As Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles
Introduction
The electric vehicle market is rapidly changing, largely because the cost of batteries has
decreased dramatically over the past decade.2 One of the most significant changes is extended
driving range. The 2011 Nissan Leaf, for example, had a single-charge range of only 73 miles,
whereas the 2019 version had three times that range, at 226 miles. As of model year 2020, atleast 11 electric vehicles on the market have a range of 200 miles or more. This sharp
improvement in range delivers far more utility for many consumers.
This increased utility is likely to be reflected in higher resale values for the current model year of
the Leaf and other higher-range EV models. The purposes of this chapter are to test thishypothesis and estimate how the values of these electric vehicles will hold up over time. The
analysis relies on data from proprietary algorithms developed by ALG based on real-world
vehicle transaction prices adjusted by CR to account for government purchase incentives.
Key Findings●●

Current longer-range battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are expected to maintain theirvalue about as well as comparable internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, on
average, over the next five years.
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are expected to hold their value about as wellas conventional hybrids of the same vehicle class, on average, over the same period.

Approach
ALG, a data and analytics subsidiary of automotive pricing and information website TrueCar
provided CR with projected residual values of all model year 2019 vehicles after five years ofownership as a percentage of the average original price for each model. These projections weremade using proprietary algorithms and data from millions of real-world new and used vehicletransactions.
These residual value estimates were then adjusted to take into account the effect of purchase
incentives available at the state and federal level on the original price of battery electric andplug-in electric vehicles. This was necessary because the net price after incentives represents
2

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-17/an-economic-crash-will-slow-down-the-electricvehicle-revolution-but-not-for-long5

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

the true price paid by consumers for these vehicles, and it is expected that both the new- andused-car markets will reflect the availability of these incentives.
ALG provided estimates of residual values based on the month of purchase, and the data were
updated every two months throughout the year, resulting in six data points per year. Because
incentives were phased out for some automakers—General Motors and Tesla, for example—atdifferent points throughout the year, the incentives were applied only for the months in which
they were offered, and the resulting residual values were averaged across the six data points foreach vehicle for the year.
The value of the federal tax credit for each vehicle model was taken from fueleconomy.gov.3 For
state incentives, a weighted average incentive for all BEVs was derived by multiplying thepercentage of EV sales in 2019 in a given state4 by the value of the state purchase incentive for
BEVs.5 Ten states provided purchase incentives for BEVs in 2019, and those states accounted
for 65 percent of national EV sales. From this, it was calculated that, on average, BEV vehicles
sold in 2019 each received $1,400 in state purchase incentives. Because vehicles are often sold
across state lines, we used this weighted average to approximate the effect of state incentives
on the overall market. State tax credits were not calculated for PHEVs because of thecomplexity of how different state incentives apply to different specific PHEV models based onbattery size.
Detailed Results
Electric vehicles were grouped into different segments, based on range and price, for analysis.
Vehicles were segmented by whether they were classified as luxury or mainstream by TrueCar,
and the mainstream EVs were divided by range: greater than 200 miles, between 100 and 200
miles, and under 100 miles. All luxury BEVs had a range of over 200 miles.
Table 1.1 shows a summary of the predicted five-year residual values for each category, withdifferent levels of adjustment (adjusted for federal tax credit, and adjusted for both federal andstate tax credits). These values are then compared with the predicted average residual values
for comparable conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle segments. The residual
values in the table represent the portion of the effective initial purchase price that is retained
after five years of ownership, which is the inverse of depreciation. For example, a residual valueof 0.45 indicates that the vehicle has depreciated by 55 percent.

3

https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/taxevb.shtml.
https://www.atlasevhub.com/materials/state-ev-sales-and-model-availability.
5
https://afdc.energy.gov/laws/state.
46

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

The data show that with the exception of mainstream BEVs with less than 100 miles of range,
all EV categories are expected to hold their value approximately as well as comparable internal
combustion engine vehicles.
It should be noted that every vehicle in the under-100-mile category is a low-volume car withsales of less than 1,000 units in 20196 and available only in states with zero-emissions vehicle
mandates. This indicates that these vehicles were likely sold largely for compliance reasons, notas mass-market vehicles that were compelling to a broad cross-section of consumers.
Table 1.1. Average Predicted 5-Year Residual Values for EVs Compared with ICE Vehicles

6

EV/PHEV
Category

Adjusted forFederal Tax
CreditAdjusted forFederal andState Tax
Credits

Comparable
ICE

ICE Segment
Comparison

Luxury EV
(n=6)

0.47

0.48

0.46

Luxury car, luxury
SUV, luxury
performance

Mainstream
200-plus-mile
range
(n=4)

0.44

0.46

0.45

Compact car

Mainstream
100- to 200-milerange (n=4)

0.43

0.45

0.45

Compact car

Mainstream<100-mile range
(n=3)

0.28

0.29

0.36

Subcompact car

PHEV(n=12)

0.47

0.48

HybridLuxury PHEV
(n=10)

0.43

0.45

Luxury hybrid

https://insideevs.com/news/343998/monthly-plug-in-ev-sales-scorecard.

7

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

The predicted residual data adjusted for federal tax credits are also shown as a scatter plot of all
vehicles in each category in Figure 1.1. ICE values are shown for comparison as the average(represented by ◆), +/- one standard deviation (+ and - symbols), and +/- two standard
deviations (*) by combining the compact car, midsized car, and compact-utility categories. Thisillustrates that, like ICE vehicles, not all EVs are expected to hold their value the same, and that
other vehicle- and manufacturer-specific factors, such as style, features, reliability, andmanufacturer reputation, still affect the relative depreciation of different vehicles.

Figure 1.1. Scatter Plot of Predicted 5-Year Residual Values for EVs by Type and Range
Adjusted for Federal Tax Credit

8

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Chapter 2—Maintenance: EVs Cost Half as Much to Maintain
Introduction
Electric vehicles (EVs) are generally expected to cost less to maintain because their electricmotors and other drivetrain components have fewer moving parts than internal combustion
engines, and they don’t require fluid changes.7 However, because EVs are relatively new, little
hard data are available to put numbers to these claims, and most estimates in the literature arebased on predicted repair and maintenance costs.8 However, each year CR surveys hundredsof thousands of our members about the reliability and maintenance costs of their vehicles. In
recent years this survey sample has included more and more electric vehicles, including
thousands of both battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).
This data was analyzed to estimate average real-world repair and maintenance costs for BEVs,
PHEVs, and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
Key Findings●

Analysis of real-world maintenance and repair cost data from thousands of CR members
shows that BEV and PHEV owners are paying half as much as ICE owners are paying torepair and maintain their vehicles.

Approach
Data for this analysis came from Consumer Reports’ 2019 and 2020 spring reliability surveys.9
This comprehensive survey is sent to hundreds of thousands of CR members and is used as
the basis for CR’s reliability ratings. Among many other questions, individual drivers are asked
to estimate how much they spent on repairing and maintaining their vehicle over the past 12
months, as well as how many miles they drove in the past 12 months, and how many total miles
their vehicle has on it.
The data were filtered to remove:● Incomplete responses.
● Vehicles that reported traveling less than 2,000 miles in the past 12 months.
● Vehicles that reported traveling more than 60,000 miles in the past 12 months.
● Vehicles that reported maintenance costs of over $20,000 over the past 12 months.
● Vehicles with more than 200,000 total miles.

7

https://www.consumerreports.org/hybrids-evs/your-ev-questions-answered-electric-vehicle-faq/#reliable
https://theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/EV_cost_2020_2030_20190401.pdf
9https://www.consumerreports.org/car-reliability-owner-satisfaction/consumer-reports-car-reliability-faq/
89

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

These filters on the data were used to eliminate outliers and keep the sample within the range ofreasonably likely consumer experience while retaining as much of the original data set as
possible. While 60,000 miles is a lot of driving for one year, it’s within the range of possibilities
for, for example, a salesman with a large territory, or someone who drives full-time for a ridehailing company, such as Uber or Lyft. Similarly $20,000 is a lot to spend on vehicle repairs but
may represent the cost of major repairs on a luxury vehicle.
The final data set was then sorted by total vehicle mileage. Average maintenance costs were
estimated in three mileage bins: 0 to 50,000 miles, 50,000 to 100,000 miles, and 100,000 to
200,000 miles. For each bin, a vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) weighted average repair andmaintenance cost per mile was calculated. To account for any bias in the data based on thebrands of vehicles purchased by CR members, for ICE vehicles the estimates were reweighted
based on calculated average maintenance costs for each automaker and the average market
share over the past five years for each brand, using data from auto industry analyst Wards
Intelligence.10 The sample size for PHEVs and BEVs was not large enough to do a similar
automaker weighted average calculation, but for ICE vehicles the difference between theautomaker weighting and the total average sample for each mileage bin was negligible.
Detailed Findings
The results of the analysis are shown in Table 2.1, binned by mileage range and averaged overa 200,000-mile vehicle lifetime. Notable results are that estimated lifetime average repair andmaintenance costs for BEVs and PHEVs are approximately half the cost for ICE vehicles. Thisis generally consistent with other sources that have estimated the relative repair andmaintenance costs of EVs at 40 percent11 and 47 percent.12
The data show that repair and maintenance costs are slightly higher for PHEVs than for BEVs
until the 100,000-mile mark, and slightly lower beyond 100,000 miles. It should be noted,
however, that there is a higher degree of uncertainty in these numbers because of a lower
sample size: A little over 200 PHEV vehicles with more than 100,000 miles, and only 55 BEVs.
Furthermore, the 55 BEVs with more than 100,000 miles were predominantly early versions of
the Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S, suggesting that our projections may overestimate the longterm maintenance costs expected from current-generation BEVs as automakers learn from theirearly models. These estimates will continue to be refined over the next few years as more data

10

Wards Intelligence, U.S. Vehicle Sales by Company, 2015-2019 data series.
https://wardsintelligence.informa.com/WI060875/US-Vehicle-Sales-by-Company-20152019.
11https://neo.ubs.com/shared/d1ZTxnvF2k.
12

https://www.2degreesinstitute.org/reports/comparing_fuel_and_maintenance_costs_of_electric_and_gas_
powered_vehicles_in_canada.pdf.

10Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

on more electric vehicles at higher mileages become available in Consumer Reports’ survey
sample.
Table 2.1. Estimated Per-Mile Repair and Maintenance Costs by Powertrain
Powertrain Type

0-50K Miles

50K-100K Miles

100K-200K Miles Lifetime Average

BEV$0.012$0.028$0.04313$0.031

PHEV$0.021$0.031$0.0335$0.030ICE$0.028$0.060$0.079$0.061

The results are put into the context of consumer budgets in Table 2.2, which shows the lifetime
repair and maintenance costs for vehicles of the different powertrain types. They show that
BEVs and PHEVs will both cost consumers about $4,600 less to repair and maintain over their
lifetimes, compared with ICE models when discounted to the present value.
Table 2.2. Lifetime Maintenance Costs by Powertrain14
Powertrain Type

Lifetime Maintenance and Repair Cost

Lifetime Savings vs. ICE

ICE$9,200BEV$4,600$4,600PHEV$4,600$4,60013
14

Lower confidence in this value because of the small sample size.
Present value at 3 percent discount rate in 2019 dollars over a 200,000-mile lifetime.

11Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Chapter 3—Fuel Costs: No More Trips to the Gas Station
Introduction
Home charging has the potential to provide several benefits for consumers, one of which issimply the convenience of not needing to stop at a gas station multiple times per month.
Further, charging a BEV at home is much less expensive than paying for gasoline. Longer trips
will still require occasional stops at stations equipped with DC fast chargers—or Superchargers,
as Tesla calls them15—which can recharge your battery in 30 to 45 minutes, or about the time ittakes to eat a quick meal.16 This chapter estimates how much of a consumer’s typical charging
can be done at home vs. on the road at a DC fast-charging station. Then it estimates the total
fuel cost savings a consumer can expect for different classes of BEVs compared with internal
combustion engine vehicles.
Key Findings●●●

EV owners will spend 60 percent less to fuel their vehicle.
While there is variability among states because of differing gasoline and electricity
prices, electric vehicle drivers will save on fuel in every state, with consumers in the
majority of states saving within 10 percent of the national average savings.
Owners of BEVs with a range of 250 miles or greater will be able to do 92 percent of
their charging at home, requiring only six stops at a DC fast-charging station per year.

Approach
The first step in this analysis was determining what fraction of a consumer’s charging could
typically be done at home. One commonly used approach is to calculate what’s called a utility
factor, which is an estimate of the fraction of total miles driven by a typical driver that could becompleted by an EV that charges only at home once a day. Using data from over 100,000
consumer trips, researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory developed an equation for a
BEV utility factor as a function of that EV’s range.17 The utility factors calculated by ANL are
shown in Table 3.1.

15

https://www.tesla.com/supercharger.
https://www.consumerreports.org/hybrids-evs/electric-car-charging-network-is-expanding.
17
Duoba, M., “Developing a Utility Factor for Battery Electric Vehicles,” SAE Int. J. Alt. Power. 2(2):362368, 2013 (https://doi.org/10.4271/2013-01-1474).
1612

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

These numbers were then adjusted to account for the fact that consumers are unlikely to drive
their BEV until its charge is fully depleted. Using a safety factor of 20 percent, we determined
the number of trips to a public charging station required for every 15,000 miles of driving.18
Table 3.1 BEV Utility Factor as a Function of BEV Range
BEV Range Utility Factor Percentage of Charging at Home19

Estimated DC Fast-Charging
Sessions for 15K Miles20

100

78%

70%

56

150

88%

84%

20

200

92%

89%

11

250

95%

92%

6

300

96%

94%

4

To estimate charging expenses, costs were split between home charging and public DC fast
charging (DCFC) based on the figures in Table 3.1.21 Home charging costs were taken from theEnergy Information Administration’s (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) 2020 baseline
scenario.22 State-by-state charging costs were also estimated, but the AEO does not projectstate-level costs, so average residential electric costs were drawn from the EIA State Energy
Data System over the past five years (2014 to 2018) of data that were available.23 For the costof DC fast chargers, a value of 40 cents per kilowatt-hour was used, based on data frommultiple sources.24 The same methodology and EIA sources were used for both national andstate gasoline prices for comparison with ICE fueling costs.
18

Approximately the average annual distance driven over the first seven years of a vehicle lifetime for an
SUV or crossover. Cars tend to be driven slightly fewer miles and pickup trucks slightly more. National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration Final Regulatory Impact Analysis, Table VI-212(https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/final_safe_fria_web_version_200701.pdf).
19
Assumes a 20 percent safety factor. For example, a 100-mile range is treated as effectively an 80-milerange for the purposes of this calculation.
20
Number of sessions is calculated by dividing the number of miles needing public charging by 80
percent of the range of the vehicle, assuming consumers charge up 80 percent of their total range at eachcharging stop.
21
This analysis assumes that consumers do not opportunistically take advantage of the over 15,000 free
Level 2 chargers that are available around the country(https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2017/11/cv-report-ev-savings.pdf).
22
https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo.
23
https://www.eia.gov/state/seds/seds-data-complete.php?sid=US#PricesExpenditures.
24
Union of Concerned Scientists found the majority of DCFCs cost between 36 cents and 48 cents perkilowatt-hour (https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2017/11/cv-report-ev-savings.pdf).
NREL found an average cost of 35 cents/kWh (https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy19osti/72326.pdf).
Tesla DCFC costs 28 cents/kWh (https://www.tesla.com/support/supercharging).
Elektrek estimate of 41 cents/kWh (https://electrek.co/2019/08/12/kwh-pricing-ev-drivers-miss-benefits).

13

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

For comparison, average vehicle efficiency levels were assumed for each of three vehicle
classes (car, crossover/SUV,25 and pickup). Efficiency levels for ICE vehicles were taken fromthe 2020 Environmental Protection Agency trends report for model year 2019 vehicles.26 These
efficiencies were then adjusted to increase them to account for the increase in fuel-economy
standards between 2019 and 2020.27 For BEVs an average efficiency level was calculated forcars based on the average efficiency of the seven BEV cars available on the market with atleast 150 miles of range and costing less than $100,000.28 Efficiency levels for BEVs in otherclasses were estimated by assuming the same relative efficiency for BEVs as ICE vehicles
between classes.29 The efficiencies used in the analysis are shown in Table 3.2.
Table 3.2. Average Vehicle Efficiencies by Vehicle Class
ClassElectric Efficiency (MPGe30)

Gasoline Efficiency (mpg)

Car

120

32

Crossover/SUV

97

24

Pickup76

20Detailed Findings
For analysis in this chapter, a single standard-range EV was selected for estimation of charging
costs. Based on the best-selling EVs on the market, a value of 250 miles was selected for therange. The numbers in Table 3.1 may help explain why many automakers are targeting EVs
with a range of around 250 miles per charge. At that range, even with a 20 percent safety factor,a typical consumer could do 92 percent of their driving with home charging and would require an
average of only six stops at a fast charger per year. This compares with around 40 stops at gas
25

Utility includes both crossovers and SUVs, given the difficulty in clearly differentiating these two vehicle
classes.
26
The utility class is based on a sales weighted average of the “car SUV” and “truck SUV” classes
defined by EPA (https://www.epa.gov/automotive-trends/explore-automotive-trends-data#DetailedData).
27
Based on the current Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) and greenhouse gas standards, anestimated improvement of 4 percent improvement in car fuel economy and 1.7 percent improvement inlight truck fuel economy was required for model year 2020 as compared with model year 2019. Based on
analysis from:https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/The-Un-SAFE-Rule-How-a-FuelEconomy-Rollback-Costs-Americans-Billions-in-Fuel-Savings-and-Does-Not-Improve-Safety-2.pdf.
28
Tesla Model 3, Tesla Model S, Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Bolt, Hyundai Ioniq, Hyundai Kona, and Kia
Nero.
29
This assumption was tested by calculating the ratio of the efficiency of Tesla Model 3 and Model S (car)to the Model Y and Model X (utility), and the results were found to be within a few percentage points ofeach other for both vehicle classes.
30
Miles-per-gallon equivalent.

14Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

stations every year for the same driving distance in an ICE vehicle. Moving from 250 to 300
miles of range per charge adds 20 percent to the cost, weight, and volume of batteries but
reduces the percentage of total annual miles that require public charging by only 2 percent. At
ranges below 200 miles per charge, the number of annual charging trips for the typical driverincreases much more quickly, potentially indicating why earlier, lower-range EVs were lesspopular.
The estimated fuel savings a consumer will experience from buying an EV is illustrated in
Figures 3.1 to 3.3. Figure 3.1 shows the fuel cost for ICE vehicles compared with BEV vehicles
over 15,000 miles, the approximate average annual mileage for owners of new vehicles.31 Thisshows that even factoring in some charging at relatively expensive DC fast chargers, BEVs are
expected to cost about 60 percent less to fuel than comparable ICE vehicles, resulting in $800
to $1,300 in annual savings, depending on vehicle class.

Figure 3.1. Estimated Fuel Cost for 15,000 Miles by Vehicle Class

31

Based on recent NHTSA VMT schedules. See Tables VI-212-214(https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/final_safe_fria_web_version_200701.pdf).

15

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Figures 3.2 and 3.3 are based on a discounted cash-flow analysis32 of typical vehicles over the
first ownership period33 and vehicle lifetime.34 These values represent the present value (at thetime of purchase) of future fuel savings from the vehicle.
A number of sensitivities were run with different gas-price assumptions, which are detailed inAppendix A. Even at fairly low gas prices, BEVs offer very large savings over comparable ICE
vehicles in all classes. Using the EIA’s low-gas-price scenario, which projects an average gas
price of $2.33 per gallon over the next 10 years, consumers can still expect to save around onethird of their fuel costs. However, the recent history of gas prices and economic activity indicatesthat dramatic gas-price declines during challenging economic times tend to be relatively shortlived, while most new vehicles last 15 to 20 years.35 Because a return to gas prices closer towhat we have experienced over the past decade is likely over the next year or two, as the
economy recovers from its current downturn, consumers are likely to save a lot more over the
first seven years and lifetime of the vehicle than estimated assuming using today’s fuel prices.
Another thing to note is that gasoline and electricity prices can vary significantly from state tostate. We analyzed costs by state; the results are summarized in Appendix B. This analysis
showed that the fuel savings for EVs for 48 of the 50 states were within 30 percent of theaverage, with the majority of states falling within 10 percent of the average. The only two statesoutside of the 30 percent range were Oregon and Washington, where consumers who switch toa BEV can expect to see increased savings of 32 percent and 38 percent, respectively,
compared with the national average. The high savings in these states result from a combinationof higher-than-average gas prices and lower-than-average electricity prices because of theabundance of cheap hydropower in the Pacific Northwest.

32

Present value at a 3 percent discount rate in 2019 dollars.
Assumed to be seven years, based on data from IHS Markit(https://news.ihsmarkit.com/prviewer/release_only/slug/automotive-vehicles-getting-older-average-agelight-cars-and-trucks-us-rises-again-201).
34
VMT schedules in Tables VI-212-214. Survival weighted average lifetime mileage in Table VI-219.
Lifetime miles rounded down to 200,000 for all vehicle classes from 210,000 for cars and 230,000 for lighttrucks(https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/final_safe_fria_web_version_200701.pdf).
35
Antonio Bento, Kevin Roth, Yiou Zuo, “Vehicle Lifetime Trends and
Scrappage Behavior in the U.S. Used Car Market” (Jan. 18, 2016). Available at
http://faculty.sites.uci.edu/kevinroth/files/2011/03/Scrappage_18Jan2016.pdf.
33

16

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Figure 3.2. Discounted First Owner Fuel Costs for Average BEV and ICE by Vehicle Class36

Figure 3.3. Discounted Lifetime Fuel Costs for Average BEV and ICE by Vehicle Class37

36

Present value at 3 percent discount rate 2019 dollars for the first seven years and 200,000-mile, 15year lifetime.
37
Present value at 3 percent discount rate 2019 dollars for the first seven years and 200,000-mile, 15year lifetime.

17Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Chapter 4—Current EV Ownership Costs: Adding Up the Savings
Introduction
This section applies the findings of the previous three chapters to estimate the relativeownership costs of currently available battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles,
and comparable internal combustion engine vehicles.
While EVs save consumers money through lower fuel and maintenance costs, most EVs on themarket today are priced higher than most comparable ICE models in their class, even after
accounting for federal purchase incentives. So this chapter compares the most popular EVs(both BEVs and PHEVs) that consumers can buy today with the best-selling, top-rated, andmost efficient non-EVs in their class to determine whether, on net, EVs will save consumers
money. It also compares high-performing EVs with the least expensive ICE vehicle in their classthat achieves the same 0-to-60-mph acceleration performance to understand the value thatcertain EVs may provide to the subset of consumers who place value on performance.38
Key Findings●●

Seven of the nine most popular EVs on the market cost first-time owners less than thebest-selling, and top-rated ICE vehicles in their class, in many cases matching or
exceeding the performance of some of the top-performing ICE vehicles in their class.
Lifetime ownership costs for all nine of the most popular EVs on the market under$50,000 are many thousands of dollars cheaper than the best-selling and top-rated ICE
vehicles in their class, with typical savings ranging between $6,000 and $10,000.

ApproachThis analysis focuses on model year 2020 and 2021 BEVs and PHEVs. It brings together
depreciation, financing, fuel, and repair and maintenance costs, and compares them with similar
ICE vehicles. It does not include other vehicle ownership costs, such as sales or property taxes,
registration fees, and insurance. These costs are also important, but they vary much more bylocation and driver demographics and history, and are more challenging to generalize.
Furthermore, the cost of installing a home Level 2 charger is also not included. Common
chargers cost between $300 and $700, with an additional $750 for installation if a 240v outlet is38

In our 2019 fuel economy survey, only 12 percent of consumers said that performance was one of the
top three attributes they wanted to see improved in their current vehicle as compared to 37 percent who
wanted better fuel economy and 26 percent who wanted lower maintenance costs.
https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Consumer-Reports-Fuel-EconomySurvey-Report-2019-1.pdf.

18

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

not available.39 This is not an insignificant cost, and it will have to be factored into a purchasing
decision, but it is a one-time cost that will not have to be repeated for future BEV purchases.
Furthermore, many utilities offer rebates to help reduce the cost of installing an EV charger, andthere is a 30 percent federal tax credit on the purchase and installation of home EV chargers.40
Also, most PHEVs have small enough batteries that they can often be charged directly from astandard wall outlet and don’t require a special charger.41
The EVs included in this analysis were selected based on popularity and price. They fall into a
few categories: BEVs and PHEVs that sold at least 10,000 units in 2019,42recently released EV
models (Tesla Model Y and Ford Escape PHEV), and models that are expected to arrive indealerships within two months and can currently be ordered (Ford Mach E and Toyota RAV4
Prime). A price cap of $50,000 was also applied, which eliminated Tesla’s Model X and Model
S. This left five BEVs and four PHEVs. These vehicles were then sorted into five vehicle
classes: hatchbacks, sedans, crossovers, luxury sedans, and luxury crossovers.
For each category, four comparable ICE vehicles were selected. For each vehicle class, threevehicles were selected: the most efficient ICE vehicle, the best-selling ICE vehicle, and the toprated by Consumer Reports. Furthermore, all five BEVs and one PHEV had near-class-leading
acceleration performance. To account for this, these vehicles were also matched against afourth vehicle, an ICE vehicle selected as having similar 0-to-60-mph acceleration performance.
For all vehicles the lowest trim was selected for comparison, except for the performance
category, where specific trims were selected to find the lowest-cost vehicle in the class thatmatched the EV performance level. A summary of the vehicles selected for analysis is shown in
Table 4.1. Detailed characteristics of the individual vehicles can be found in Appendix C.

39

https://www.consumerreports.org/hybrids-evs/how-to-choose-the-best-home-wall-charger-for-yourelectric-vehicle/
40
https://www.chargepoint.com/incentives/home.
41
https://www.energy.gov/eere/electricvehicles/charginghome#:~:text=Level%201%20adds%20about%202,even%20some%20all%2Delectric%20vehicles.
42
https://insideevs.com/news/343998/monthly-plug-in-ev-sales-scorecard.

19

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Table 4.1. Summary of Vehicles Selected for Analysis and Comparison
VehicleCategory

Hatchback

Sedan

Crossover

Luxury Sedan Luxury
Crossover

BEV

Chevy Bolt
Nissan Leaf

Ford Mach E

Tesla Model 3

PHEV

Toyota Prius
Prime

Honda Clarity

Ford Escape
PHEV
Toyota RAV4
Prime

Most EfficientToyota Prius

Toyota Camry
HybridToyota RAV4
HybridLexus LS 300h Lexus NX300h

Best-Selling

Honda Civic
HatchbackToyota Camry

Toyota RAV4

N/A43

Lexus RX350

Top-Rated

Hyundai
Elantra GT

Subaru Legacy Mazda CX5

Audi A4

Infinity QX50

Performance

VW Golf GTI

BMW 330i

BMW x3 m40i

Mazda CX5GTR Turbo

Tesla Model Y

All ownership costs were calculated as a present value at a discount rate of 3 percent. Costs
were calculated separately as capital costs (depreciation and financing) and operating andmaintenance (O&M) costs (fuel and repair and maintenance). Ownership costs were calculated
for two time periods: the first ownership period and vehicle lifetime. For the first owner anownership period of seven years was used.44 For lifetime costs a total lifetime mileage of
200,000 miles was used.45 For all ownership periods the VMT-per-year figure was determinedusing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s recently updated VMT schedules forcars, SUVs, and pickup trucks.46

43

The Tesla Model 3 is the best-selling luxury sedan. The BMW 3-series is the best selling ICE vehicle inthe class so the 330i is used as both the best-selling and performance comparison for the Model 3.
44https://news.ihsmarkit.com/prviewer/release_only/slug/automotive-vehicles-getting-older-average-agelight-cars-and-trucks-us-rises-again-201.
45
NHTSA projects survival weighted average lifetime mileage of 210,000 miles for cars and 230,000
miles for light trucks. See Table VI-219(https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/final_safe_fria_web_version_200701.pdf).
46
See Tables VI-212-214(https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/final_safe_fria_web_version_200701.pdf).

20

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

For estimating capital costs the vehicle was assumed to be purchased with a six-year loan.47
The interest rate on the loan was 4.7 percent.48 The initial purchase price for each vehicle wasobtained from CR partner TrueCar. TrueCar provides an estimated market average price, basedon recent real-world transaction prices, for any vehicle you select. This accounts for the fact thatvehicles rarely sell for their manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP). For EVs for whichfederal tax credits were available, the value of the federal tax credit was subtracted from thevehicle purchase price. Any state tax incentives were not factored into the analysis. For the firstowner, the owner was then assumed to recover the residual value of the vehicle at the time ofsale. A single depreciation curve was applied uniformly to all vehicles based on the analysis in
Chapter 1. The specifics of the depreciation curve are described in Appendix D.
Operating and maintenance costs were calculated based on the approaches laid out in
Chapters 2 and 3. Maintenance costs were calculated each year based on the per-mile
numbers in Table 2.1. Fuel costs were calculated as described in Chapter 3 for BEVs and ICE
vehicles using the EIA’s AEO 2020 baseline scenario gasoline and electricity cost projections
into the future. Vehicle efficiencies were taken from CR’s real-world fuel-economy tests, whereavailable; EPA ratings were used for vehicles not yet tested by CR.49
For BEVs the fraction of miles charged at home vs. public fast charging was adjusted for theiractual EPA-rated range, and the range was reduced by 10 percent after five years and 20
percent after 10 years to account for battery degradation.50 This results in some small increases
in average per-mile charging costs for BEVs over time. For PHEVs the average miles driven on
electricity vs. gasoline was estimated using the Society of Automotive Engineers’ Standard
J2841 Multi-Day Individual Utility Factor.51 It was developed based on real-world driving datafrom individual consumers and estimates the percentage of miles that individuals are likely todrive on electric vs. gasoline, based on the electric range of their vehicle. All charging for
PHEVs is assumed to be home charging because PHEVs can easily run on gasoline for longer
trips.
Detailed Findings
Across all ownership periods almost all BEVs and PHEVs showed significant savings over allcomparable vehicles. In general, savings were greater relative to the best-selling and Consumer
47

The average new-car loan in June 2020 was 70 months(https://www.edmunds.com/industry/press/auto-loan-interest-rates-see-a-slight-lift-in-june-according-toedmunds.html).
48
Based on rates for consumers with a credit score between 660 and 720(https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/auto-loan-rates-by-credit-score).
49
Fueleconomy.gov.
50
Based on data on battery degradation from real-world values averaging 2 percent per year
(https://storage.googleapis.com/geotab-sandbox/ev-battery-degradation/index.html).
51
https://www.sae.org/standards/content/j2841_200903.

21

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Reports’ top-rated vehicles than when compared with the most efficient vehicles. This is
expected because most fuel-efficiency technologies for ICE vehicles are known to pay forthemselves many times over in increased fuel savings, reducing the ownership costs of thesevehicles.52 Alternatively, savings really ramp up when buyers seek an ICE vehicle that achieves
the same acceleration performance as an EV. This reflects the fact that achieving highperformance in an ICE vehicle requires a larger, more expensive engine that is also much lessefficient, increasing both the capital and operating costs of the vehicle compared with a more
typical vehicle in the class. While most PHEVs are not tuned to perform better than most ICE
vehicles in their class, all BEVs had near-class-leading acceleration performance.
A summary of the present-value lifetime savings for all nine EVs compared with the best-selling
vehicle in their class is presented in Figure 4.1. It shows that in all cases the EV provides
lifetime savings worth thousands of dollars at the time of purchase. This general conclusion also
holds for comparisons with the top-rated and most efficient ICE vehicle53 in their class. Detailed
cost breakdowns, as well as sensitivity cases, are available for all vehicles in Appendix E.

Figure 4.1. Lifetime Savings From EVs vs. Best-Selling ICE Vehicles in Class54
52

On average, fuel-efficiency technology was found to provide a 3-to-1 return on investment(https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/The-Un-SAFE-Rule-How-a-FuelEconomy-Rollback-Costs-Americans-Billions-in-Fuel-Savings-and-Does-Not-Improve-Safety-2.pdf).
53
For the Ford Mach E, it only breaks even with Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, which costs over $10,000 less andis highly efficient.
54
Costs as present value at a 3 percent discount rate in 2019 dollars.

22

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Detailed results for the first owner in the hatchback and crossover class are shown in Figures
4.2 and 4.3. These figures break out the capital and O&M costs in addition to the totals. They
illustrate that while in all these cases the EVs had higher capital costs, the cumulative fuel,repair, and maintenance savings close the ownership cost gap, resulting in overall savings inmost comparisons. The two exceptions are the Toyota RAV4 Prime, which only roughly breaks
even with the base RAV4 LE and the efficient RAV4 hybrid. However the RAV4 prime iscurrently selling for an average of more than $1,300 over MSRP,55 likely indicating that demandis outpacing supply, which makes sense because it offers a higher trim level and higher
performance at roughly the same net price as the base model. The other vehicle with lower
savings is the Ford Mach E, which is available for preorder at around MSRP and expected to hit
dealer lots in the coming months.56 This vehicle is designed and marketed to be more of aperformance/semi-luxury vehicle, and its buyers are more likely to be cross shopping for otherhigher performance or luxury vehicles than for the base model crossovers it is compared with
here.

Figure 4.2. First Owner Capital, O&M, and Total Costs for Hatchbacks57

55

This higher purchase price is included in the analysis, so consumers who can buy the vehicle at MSRP
or less will see savings vs. other RAV4 trim levels.
56
Rumored preorder numbers range from fewer than 10,000 to more than 40,000 of an estimated 20,000
model year 2021 vehicles expected to be available in the U.S. (https://electrek.co/2019/11/27/fordmustang-mach-e-first-edition-sold-out-yearearly/#:~:text=All%20we%20know%20is%20that,electric%20car%20revealed%20last%20week,
https://www.torquenews.com/9539/2021-ford-mustang-mach-e-order-bank-opens-may-11).
57
Costs as present value at a 3 percent discount rate in 2019 dollars.

23

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Figure 4.3. First Owner Capital, O&M, and Total Costs for Crossovers58
CR surveys have consistently shown that most consumers are satisfied with average
performance and that more consumers would prefer increased fuel economy (37 percent ofconsumers) or lower maintenance costs (26 percent) than would prefer more horsepower (12percent).59
Automakers, however, focus most of their marketing on performance, making it a key theme inalmost half of their advertisements.60 Given this heavy industry focus on performance, highperforming EVs were compared with ICE vehicles that achieve similar 0-to-60-mph acceleration
performance. The results, shown in Figure 4.4, illustrate the first owner and lifetime savings ofhigh-performing EVs relative to ICE vehicles that achieve similar acceleration levels. The results
are stark: In most cases new-car buyers who care a lot about performance can get that
performance for around $10,000 less by buying an EV.

58

Costs as present value at a 3 percent discount rate in 2019 dollars.
https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Consumer-Reports-Fuel-EconomySurvey-Report-2019-1.pdf.
60https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/auto-ad-content-fact-sheet9.19.18.pdf.
59

24

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Figure 4.4. First Owner and Lifetime Savings From EVs vs. ICE That Matches Acceleration61
Overall, these results show that many EVs on the market today can provide consumers the two
features they say they most want improved in their next vehicle—lower fuel and maintenancecosts—in addition to the feature the auto industry advertises most often —performance—all at alower overall cost.

61

Costs as present value at a 3 percent discount rate in 2019 dollars.

25

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Chapter 5—Used EVs: A Pathway Toward More Affordable Transportation
Introduction
While new cars get most of the attention in the automotive industry, used cars account for mostcar purchases—70 percent of them in 2019.62 This is not surprising because used cars can offer
consumers tremendous value: The first owner bears the brunt of the steepest period ofdepreciation, while new vehicles today are expected to run for an average of over 200,000
miles.63 Hence, used-car buyers capture a large fraction of the lifetime utility of a vehicle while
paying a relatively low percentage of the new-car price.
For ICE vehicles this used-car savings is partially offset by higher expected repair andmaintenance costs for older vehicles, and the need to continue to pay for fuel, which makes up
a large fraction of the total lifetime ownership costs for ICE vehicles. However, as shown in theprevious chapters, EVs significantly reduce these costs, while their biggest drawback—higher
purchase prices—is partially offset by depreciation. This chapter explores how the savings
opportunities of EVs only increase for their subsequent owners, offering a potential pathway
toward lowering the cost of transportation for lower-income drivers.
Key Findings●

While new EVs offer significant cost savings over comparable ICE vehicles, the relative
cost savings of an EV purchased when it is 5 to 7 years old can be two or three times aslarge.

Approach
The same ownership cost model described in Chapter 4 was used to estimate the potential
savings for used-EV buyers—with a few modifications. Used vehicles were assumed to cost theresidual value plus a dealer markup of 15 percent for 3-year-old vehicles and 20 percent for 5year-old and older vehicles.64 The loan and ownership period were also changed to five years

62

There were 41 million used-car purchases in 2019, according to Edmunds.com, compared with 17
million new-car sales (https://www.edmunds.com/industry/press/used-vehicle-market-poised-for-recordsales-in-2019-according-to-new-report-from-edmunds.html,
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a30416492/us-auto-sales-2019).
63
NHTSA projects survival weighted average lifetime mileage of 210,000 miles for cars and 230,000
miles for light trucks, with the average vehicle surviving around 15 years. See Table VI-219(https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/final_safe_fria_web_version_200701.pdf).
64
Based on analysis of the difference between private party and dealer retail value estimates at
Edmunds.com for the vehicles in the hatchback class included in table 4.1.

26

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

each to reflect the typically shorter ownership period of used cars.65 And the interest rate wasincreased to 6 percent to reflect higher rates on used cars.66 Used vehicles were then analyzed
for vehicles that were purchased when they were 3, 5, and 7 years old.
Detailed Findings
Detailed cost breakdowns are shown in Figure 5.1 for the ownership cost of purchasing a 7year-old hatchback. It shows that operation and maintenance costs make up a much larger
percentage of the total ownership costs for used EVs when compared to the new cars analyzed
in the previous chapter. This results in even greater total savings for used EVs vs. comparable
ICE vehicles.

Figure 5.1. 7-Year-Old Used-Vehicle Capital, O&M, and Total Costs for Hatchbacks67
This increase in savings is better illustrated in Figure 5.2, which shows the percentage savings
for EVs relative to the best-selling vehicle in the class at different purchase times, from new to 7
years old. It shows that while purchasing a new EV saves consumers money, the savings
increase significantly as the vehicle’s age when purchased increases. The reason is that
depreciation reduces the capital cost, increasing the portion of the total cost of ownership from65

Average ownership period of used cars almost 66 months(https://news.ihsmarkit.com/prviewer/release_only/slug/automotive-vehicles-getting-older-average-agelight-cars-and-trucks-us-rises-again-201).
66
Based on rates for consumers with a credit score between 660 and 720(https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/auto-loan-rates-by-credit-score).
67
Present value in the year of initial vehicle purchase at a 3 percent discount rate in 2019 dollars.

27

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

operation and maintenance, where EVs have a significant advantage. In fact, the relativesavings from buying an EV are two to three times as high if the EV is a 5- to 7-year-old usedmodel, compared with purchasing a new EV.
Overall, these results show that used EVs are likely to be a major boon for used-car buyers,
especially lower-income buyers. It will take time until these savings are available to a large
number of consumers, both for the volume of EV sales in the new-car market to increase andfor new EVs to be transferred from their first owners to the secondary market. Unfortunately,
both of these factors will delay the realization of these savings to large numbers of potential
used-car buyers for a number of years.

Figure 5.2. EV Percent Savings Compared With Best-Selling ICE by Vehicle Age at Purchase28

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Appendix A—Fuel-Cost Sensitivities
Table A.1. Discounted Fuel Savings for an Average BEV Compared With Average ICE, byClass, Assuming National Average Gasoline and Electricity Prices From AEO 2020 Low-GasPrice ScenarioClass

15,000 miles

First Owner Savings Lifetime Savings

Car

$470

$3,100$5,200Utility$610$4,200$6,900

Pickup$790$5,900$9,100

Table A.2. Discounted Fuel Savings for an Average BEV Compared With Average ICE, byClass, Assuming National Average Electricity Prices From AEO 2020 Baseline and Gas Price
From AAA on Aug. 18, 202068
Class

15,000 miles

First Owner Savings Lifetime Savings

Car

$400

$2,600$4,300Utility$520$3,600$5,800

Pickup$670$5,100$7,70068

National average gas price on Aug. 18, 2020, was $2.18 per gallon (https://gasprices.aaa.com).

29

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Appendix B—Fuel Costs by State
Table B.1. Savings from an Average BEV vs. an Average ICE per 15,000 Miles of Driving, by State
Car
State

Crossover/SUV

PickupGasoline Electric Savings Gasoline Electric Savings Gasoline Electric

Relative Savings vs.
Savings National Average

Alabama$1,294$591$703$1,648$742$906$2,101$940$1,161-12%

Alaska$1,863$917$946$2,373$1,150$1,223$3,026$1,458$1,56819%

Arizona$1,499$602$896$1,909$756$1,153$2,434$958$1,476

12%

Arkansas$1,309$510$799$1,667$640$1,027$2,126$811$1,3150%

California$1,693$804$889$2,157$1,009$1,148$2,750$1,279$1,471

12%

Colorado$1,388$597$791$1,769$749$1,020$2,255$950$1,306-1%

Connecticut$1,475$914$561$1,880$1,148$732$2,397$1,454$942-28%

Delaware$1,439$638$801$1,833$800$1,032$2,337$1,014$1,323

1%Dist. of
Columbia$1,513$621$892$1,927$779$1,148$2,458$987$1,47012%

Florida$1,337$573$763$1,703$720$983$2,171$912$1,259-4%

Georgia$1,296$577$719$1,651$724$927$2,105$918$1,187-10%

Hawaii$1,863$1,327$537$2,374$1,665$709$3,027$2,110

$917

-30%

Idaho

$1,479$514$965$1,884$645$1,240$2,403$817$1,58621%

Illinois$1,378$612$765$1,755$768$987$2,238$974$1,264-4%

Indiana$1,331$587$744$1,696$737$959$2,162$933$1,229-6%30

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Car
State

Crossover/SUV

PickupGasoline Electric Savings Gasoline Electric Savings Gasoline

Electric Savings

Relative Savings

Iowa$1,354$587$767$1,725$736$988$2,199$933$1,266-4%

Kansas$1,345$624$720$1,713$783$930$2,184$993$1,191-9%

Kentucky$1,376$533$843$1,753$669$1,084$2,236$848$1,388

6%

Louisiana$1,301$497$804$1,657$623$1,034$2,113$790$1,3231%Maine$1,467$741$725$1,868$930$938$2,382$1,179$1,204-8%

Maryland$1,446$660$785$1,842$828$1,013$2,348$1,050$1,298-1%

Massachusetts$1,436$882$555$1,830$1,106$723$2,333$1,402$931-29%

Michigan$1,345$706$639$1,714$886$828$2,185$1,123$1,062-19%

Minnesota$1,382$615$767$1,761$771$989$2,245$978$1,267-3%

Mississippi$1,298$555$742$1,654$697$956$2,108$883$1,225-7%

Missouri$1,314$561$752$1,674$705$969$2,134$893$1,241-5%Montana$1,473$545$927$1,876$684$1,192$2,392$867$1,52516%

Nebraska$1,391$542$849$1,772$680$1,092$2,259$862$1,397

6%

Nevada$1,560$599$961$1,988$752$1,236$2,534$952$1,58220%

New Hampshire$1,424$847$577$1,814$1,062$752$2,313$1,346$967-26%

New Jersey$1,393$732$661$1,775$919$856$2,263$1,165$1,098-16%

New Mexico$1,350$610$741$1,720$765$955$2,194$970$1,224-7%

New York$1,425$842$582$1,815$1,057$758$2,314$1,339

$975

-26%

31

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Car
State

Crossover/SUV

PickupGasoline Electric Savings Gasoline Electric Savings Gasoline

Electric Savings

Relative Savings

North Carolina$1,396$557$839$1,778$699$1,079$2,267$886$1,382

5%

North Dakota$1,437$511$926$1,831$642$1,189$2,335$813$1,52116%

Ohio$1,389$614$775$1,770$771$999$2,256$977$1,279-3%

Oklahoma$1,317$525$792$1,678$659$1,019$2,139$835$1,304-1%

Oregon$1,600$542$1,059$2,039$680$1,359$2,599$861$1,73832%

Pennsylvania$1,477$660$817$1,882$829$1,053$2,399$1,050$1,3493%

Rhode Island$1,463$851$612$1,864$1,068$795$2,376$1,354$1,022-22%

South Carolina$1,314$616$698$1,673$773$901$2,134$979$1,154-12%

South Dakota$1,401$564$837$1,784$708$1,076$2,275$897$1,3785%Tennessee$1,336$534$802$1,702$670$1,032$2,170$850$1,3211%Texas$1,298$566$732$1,654$710$944$2,109$900$1,209-8%

Utah$1,472$545$927$1,875$684$1,191$2,391$867$1,52416%

Vermont$1,474$803$670$1,877$1,008$870$2,394$1,277$1,116-15%

Virginia$1,355$570$786$1,727$715$1,012$2,202$906$1,296-1%

Washington$1,594$490$1,104$2,031$615$1,416$2,589$779$1,81038%West Virginia$1,463$543$920$1,864$682$1,182$2,377$864$1,513

15%

Wisconsin$1,422$670$752$1,812$841$971$2,310$1,065$1,244-5%

Wyoming$1,379$556$823$1,757$697$1,059$2,240$883$1,3563%32

Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Appendix C—Vehicle Characteristics
Table C.1. Selected Vehicle Characteristics
Trim

Purchase
Price69

Fuel
Efficiency(mpg)70

Electric
Electric
Efficiency
Range(miles/kWh) (miles)

0-60
Acceleration
(s)72

71

Hatchbacks
Nissan Leaf E+

S Plus$25,398

3.2

226

7.0

Chevy Bolt

LT

$26,304

3.5

259

6.8

Toyota Prius
Prime

LE

$23,885

54

4

25

10.8

Toyota PriusLE$23,44352

10.3

Honda Civic
HatchbackLX$20,36334

7.1

Hyundai Elantra
GT

GT
Automatic$18,555

28

8.7

VW Golf GTI

2.0T S DSG$27,87927

6.6

SedansHonda Clarity
PHEV

Base

$23,345

42

Toyota Camry
HybridLE$24,846

47

7.8

Toyota CamryLE$21,69032

8.0

Subaru Legacy

2.5i$21,168

28

8.9

3.3

48

8.3

69

Based on TrueCar.com market average price for Arlington, VA in August 2020 for specified trim with nooptions.
70
Based on CR test results when available or EPA when not.
71
Based upon EPA MPGe rating.
72
Numbers from CR tests when available, but based on manufacturer spec or other automotive testing
and rating websites. In general 0-60 times are imprecise measures, with CR numbers often a little higher
than manufacturer spec when available.

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Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Trim

Purchase
Price

Fuel
Electric
Efficiency
Efficiency(mpg) (miles/kWh)Electric
0-60
Range Acceleration(miles)(s)

Crossovers
Ford Mach E

Select$36,495

3.4

230 <6

Toyota RAV4
Prime

SE

$33,105

38

2.8

42

5.7

Ford Escape
PHEV

SE

$28,087

41

3

38

8.7

Toyota RAV4
HybridLE$27,30137

7.8

Toyota RAV4

LE

$24,36927

8.3

Mazda CX5

Sport

$25,02124

8.6$34,67024

6.2

Mazda CX5 GTR
turbo
GTR Turbo

Luxury Sedan
Tesla Model 3

SR Plus$37,990

4.2

250

5.3

Lexus ES 300h

300h

$41,159

44

8.3

Audi A4

Premium 40
TFSI$35,953

27

6.3

BMW 330i73

330i RWD$39,00328

6.474

Luxury Crossovers
Tesla Model Y

Long Range$49,990

3.6

316

4.8

Lexus NX hybrid

300h AWD$38,49329

8.9

Lexus RX350 FWD$42,88522

7.5

Infinity QX50

Pure$33,918

22

7.2

BMW X3 m40i

xDrive M40i

$53,105

23

4.8

73

The model 3 is the best selling vehicle in this class, but the BMW 3 series is the best selling ICE vehicle
in the class, so it is used for both the performance and best selling category.
74
CR test result, although rated at around 5.3 seconds elsewhere.

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Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Appendix D—Depreciation Curve

Figure D.1. Depreciation Curve

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Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Appendix E—Detailed Results of New-Car Ownership Cost Analysis
Table E.1. Detailed Results of New-Car Ownership Cost Analysis for All Vehicles
Initial Ownership Period
Capital

O&M

Lifetime

Total

Capital

O&M

Total

Hatchbacks
Leaf E+$20,100$5,900$26,100$26,400$12,500$38,900

Bolt$20,900$5,400$26,300$27,300$11,600$38,900

Prius Prime$18,900$5,500$24,400$24,800$11,700$36,500

Prius$18,600$8,800$27,400$24,300$18,700$43,000

Civic Hatchback$16,200$11,600$27,700$21,100$23,700$44,900

Elantra GT$14,700$13,300$28,000$19,300$26,900$46,100

Golf GTI$22,100$13,600$35,800$28,900$27,500$56,500

SedansClarity PHEV

$18,500$6,500$25,000$24,200$12,300$36,500

Camry Hybrid$19,700$9,400$29,100$25,800$19,700$45,500

Camry$17,200$12,100$29,300$22,500$24,700$47,200

Legacy$16,800$13,300$30,100$22,000$26,900$48,800

Crossovers
Mach E$28,900$5,900$34,800$37,900$12,100$50,000

RAV4 Prime$26,300$6,900$33,100$34,400$14,300$48,600

Escape PHEV

$22,300$6,600$28,900$29,200$13,800$42,900

RAV4 Hybrid$21,700$11,300$33,000$28,300$22,600$51,000

RAV4$19,300$14,100$33,500$25,300$27,600$52,900

CX5$19,800$15,400$35,300$26,000$29,900$55,900

CX5 GTR turbo$27,500$15,400$42,900$36,000$29,900$65,900

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Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Initial Ownership Period
Capital

O&M

Lifetime

Total

Capital

O&M

Total

Luxury Sedan
Model 3$30,100$4,700$34,800$39,400$10,300$49,800

ES 300h$32,600$9,800$42,400$42,700$20,400$63,200

A4$28,500$13,600$42,200$37,300$27,500$64,800

330i$30,900$13,300$44,200$40,500$26,900$67,400

Luxury Crossovers
Model Y$39,700$5,200$44,900$51,900$11,000$62,900

NX hybrid$30,500$13,400$44,000$40,000$26,400$66,300

RX$34,000$16,500$50,500$44,500$31,800$76,300

QX50$26,900$16,500$43,400$35,200$31,800$67,000

X3 m40i$42,100$16,000$58,100$55,100$30,800$86,000

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Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Appendix F—Sensitivity Cases for New-Car Ownership Cost Analysis
This section includes three primary sensitivity cases:●●●

Gas Prices-This sensitivity case relates to the gas price assumptions. Instead of the
AEO 2020 baseline, the gas prices are changed to match the AEO 2020 low gas pricescenario.
Vehicle Ownership Period-This sensitivity case changes the initial ownership period
from 7 years to 5 years. In addition, the loan length is changed from 6 years to 5 years.
Discount Rate-This sensitivity case changes the discount rate from 3% to 7%.

Table F.1. Results of Gas Price Sensitivity, AEO 2020 Low Gas Price
Initial Ownership Period
Capital

O&M

Lifetime

Total

Capital

O&M

Total

Hatchbacks
Leaf E+$20,100$5,900$26,100$26,400$12,500$38,900

Bolt$20,900$5,400$26,300$27,300$11,600$38,900

Prius Prime$18,900$5,600$24,500$24,800$10,600$35,400

Prius$18,600$7,700$26,300$24,300$16,400$40,800

Civic Hatchback$16,200$9,800$26,000$21,100$20,300$41,400

Elantra GT$14,700$11,200$25,900$19,300$22,700$41,900

Golf GTI$22,100$11,400$33,600$28,900$23,200$52,100

SedansClarity PHEV

$18,500$6,100$24,600$24,200$11,500$35,800

Camry Hybrid$19,700$8,100$27,800$25,800$17,200$43,000

Camry$17,200$10,200$27,400$22,500$21,000$43,500

Legacy$16,800$11,200$28,000$22,000$22,700$44,600

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Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Initial Ownership Period
Capital

O&M

Lifetime

Total

Capital

O&M

Total

Crossovers
Mach E$28,900$5,900$34,800$38,900$12,100$51,000

RAV4 Prime$26,300$7,500$33,800$34,400$13,700$48,100

Escape PHEV

$22,300$7,200$29,500$29,200$13,300$42,400

RAV4 Hybrid$21,700$9,700$31,300$28,300$19,500$47,800

RAV4$19,300$11,900$31,200$25,300$23,300$48,600

CX5$19,800$12,900$32,700$26,000$25,000$51,000

CX5 GTR turbo$27,500$12,900$40,400$36,000$25,000$61,000

Luxury Sedan
Model 3$30,100$4,700$34,800$39,400$10,300$49,800

ES 300h$32,600$8,400$41,100$42,700$17,700$60,500

A4$28,500$11,400$40,000$37,300$23,200$60,500

330i$30,900$11,200$42,100$40,500$22,700$63,100

Luxury Crossovers
Model Y$39,700$5,200$44,900$51,900$11,000$62,900

NX hybrid$30,500$11,300$41,800$40,000$22,300$62,200

RX$34,000$13,700$47,700$44,500$26,500$71,000

QX50$26,900$13,700$40,600$35,200$26,500$61,700

X3 m40i$42,100$13,300$55,400$55,100$25,700$80,800

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Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Table F.2. Results of Ownership Period Sensitivity, 5 year Initial Ownership Period
Initial Ownership Period
Capital

O&M

Total

Hatchbacks
Leaf E+$16,600$4,200$20,800

Bolt$17,200$3,900$21,000

Prius Prime$15,600$4,600$20,200

Prius$15,300$6,200$21,500

Civic Hatchback$13,300$8,300$21,600

Elantra GT$12,100$9,600$21,700

Golf GTI$18,200$9,900$28,100

SedansClarity PHEV

$15,200$4,800$20,000

Camry Hybrid$16,200$6,700$22,900

Camry$14,200$8,700$22,900

Legacy$13,800$9,600$23,400

Crossovers
Mach E$23,800$4,100$28,000

RAV4 Prime$21,600$5,500$27,100

Escape PHEV

$18,300$5,300$23,600

RAV4 Hybrid$17,800$8,100$25,900

RAV4$15,900$10,200$26,100

CX5$16,300$11,200$27,500

CX5 GTR turbo$22,600$11,200$33,800

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Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Initial Ownership Period
Capital

O&M

Total

Luxury Sedan
Model 3$24,800$3,200$28,000

ES 300h$26,900$7,000$33,800

A4$23,500$9,900$33,400

330i$25,500$9,600$35,100

Luxury Crossovers
Model Y$32,600$3,700$36,300

NX hybrid$25,100$9,600$34,800RX$28,000$12,000$39,900

QX50$22,100$12,000$34,100

X3 m40i$34,700$11,500$46,200

Table F.3. Results of Discount Rate Sensitivity, 7% Discount Rate
Initial Ownership Period
Capital

O&M

Lifetime

Total

Capital

O&M

Total

Hatchbacks
Leaf E+$18,600$5,100$23,700$23,200$9,400$32,600

Bolt$19,300$4,700$24,000$24,000$8,700$32,700

Prius Prime$17,500$5,500$23,000$21,800$9,000$30,800

Prius$17,200$7,600$24,800$21,400$14,000$35,400

Civic Hatchback$14,900$10,000$24,900$18,600$17,900$36,500

Elantra GT$13,600$11,500$25,100$16,900$20,300$37,200

Golf GTI$20,400$11,800$32,200$25,500$20,800$46,200

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Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Initial Ownership Period
Capital

O&M

Lifetime

Total

Capital

O&M

Total

SedansClarity PHEV

$17,100$5,600$22,700$21,300$9,400$30,700

Camry Hybrid$18,200$8,100$26,300$22,700$14,800$37,500

Camry$15,900$10,400$26,300$19,800$18,600$38,400

Legacy$15,500$11,500$27,000$19,300$20,300$39,600

Crossovers
Mach E$26,700$5,100$31,800$33,300$9,100$42,500

RAV4 Prime$24,300$6,500$30,800$30,200$10,600$40,800

Escape PHEV

$20,600$6,300$26,800$25,700$10,200$35,900

RAV4 Hybrid$20,000$9,800$29,800$24,900$17,200$42,100

RAV4$17,900$12,200$30,100$22,300$21,000$43,300

CX5$18,300$13,300$31,700$22,900$22,800$45,700

CX5 GTR turbo$25,400$13,300$38,700$31,700$22,800$54,500

Luxury Sedan
Model 3$27,800$4,000$31,900$34,700$7,700$42,400

ES 300h$30,200$8,400$38,600$37,600$15,300$52,900

A4$26,300$11,800$38,100$32,800$20,800$53,600

330i$28,600$11,500$40,100$35,600$20,300$55,900

Luxury Crossovers
Model Y$36,600$4,500$41,100$45,700$8,300$54,000

NX hybrid$28,200$11,600$39,800$35,200$20,100$55,200RX$31,400$14,300$45,700$39,200$24,300$63,500

QX50$24,900$14,300$39,100$31,000$24,300$55,300

X3 m40i$38,900$13,800$52,700$48,500$23,500$72,000

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Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

Appendix G—Detailed Results of Used-Car Ownership Cost Analysis
Table G.1. Costs of Used Vehicles Over Five Year Ownership Period
3-year-old used vehicle
Capital

O&M

Total

5-year-old used vehicle
Capital

O&M

Total

7-year-old used vehicle
Capital

O&M

Total

Hatchbacks
Leaf E+$13,600$4,700$18,300 $11,200$5,000$16,200$8,100$5,100$13,300

Bolt$14,100$4,300$18,400 $11,600$4,700$16,300$8,400$4,800$13,200

Prius Prime$12,800$4,400$17,200 $10,500$4,700$15,200$7,600$4,800$12,500

Prius$12,600$7,100$19,600 $10,300$7,500$17,800$7,500$7,600$15,100

Civic Hatchback$10,900$9,000$19,900$9,000$9,300$18,300$6,500$9,400$15,900

Elantra GT$9,900$10,100$20,100$8,200$10,500$18,600$5,900$10,500$16,400

Golf GTI$14,900$10,400$25,300 $12,300$10,700$23,000$8,900$10,700$19,600

SedansClarity PHEV

$12,500$4,800$17,300 $10,300$4,700$15,000$7,500$4,500$12,000

Camry Hybrid$13,300$7,400$20,800 $10,900$7,900$18,800$7,900$8,000$15,900

Camry$11,600$9,300$20,900$9,500$9,700$19,200$6,900$9,700$16,600

Legacy$11,300$10,100$21,500$9,300$10,500$19,800$6,800$10,500$17,200

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Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

3-year-old used vehicle
Capital

O&M

Total

5-year-old used vehicle
CapitalO&M

7-year-old used vehicle

Total

Capital

O&M

Total

Crossovers
Mach E$19,600$4,800$24,300 $16,000$5,100$21,200$11,700$5,300$16,900

RAV4 Prime$17,700$5,600$23,300 $14,600$5,500$20,100$10,600$5,300$15,900

Escape PHEV

$15,100$5,400$20,400 $12,400$5,300$17,700$9,000$5,100$14,100

RAV4 Hybrid$14,600$9,000$23,600 $12,000$9,500$21,500$8,700$9,500$18,300

RAV4$13,100$10,900$24,000 $10,700$11,300$22,100$7,800$11,400$19,200

CX5$13,400$11,800$25,200 $11,000$12,200$23,200$8,000$12,200$20,200

CX5 GTR turbo$18,600$11,800$30,400 $15,200$12,200$27,500$11,100$12,200$23,300

Luxury Sedan
Model 3

$20,400$3,900$24,200 $16,700$4,300$21,000$12,200$4,400$16,600

ES 300h$22,100$7,700$29,800 $18,100$8,200$26,300$13,200$8,200$21,400

A4$19,300$10,400$29,600 $15,800$10,700$26,500$11,500$10,700$22,200

330i$20,900$10,100$31,000 $17,200$10,500$27,600$12,500$10,500$22,900

Luxury Crossovers
Model Y$26,800$4,300$31,100 $22,000$4,800$26,800$16,000$4,900$20,900

NX hybrid$20,600$10,400$31,100 $16,900$10,900$27,800$12,300$10,900$23,200RX$23,000$12,600$35,600 $18,900$12,900$31,800$13,700$12,900$26,600

QX50$18,200$12,600$30,800 $14,900$12,900$27,800$10,800$12,900$23,700

X3 m40i$28,500$12,200$40,700 $23,400$12,600$35,900$17,000$12,500$29,500

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Electric Vehicle Ownership Costs: Today’s Electric Vehicles Offer Big Savings for Consumers

45