Learn about the biggest difference between EVs and gas-vehicles

Learn about EV’s biggest difference

FEATURED

Loving this road trip!

How To Take an EV Road Trip

Despite claims to the contrary, EVs are more than capable of powering your long-distance trips.

African american man inserting plug into the electric car charging socket

New Standards for Electric Vehicle Chargers

The Federal Highway Administration announced the first-ever nationwide standards for federally funded EV charges. Here's what the standards do and what they mean for you.

"a man charging a ev car"

Understanding Electric Vehicle Battery Life

Move over sedans and crossovers, electric pickup trucks are here! Get a look at the emission-free models coming soon.​

"driving on road blur"

How Far Can EVs Go on a Single Charge?

As these eco-friendly cars become more widespread, one question remains: How far can EVs travel before running out of power?

Loving this road trip!

How To Take an EV Road Trip

Despite claims to the contrary, EVs are more than capable of powering your long-distance trips.

"driving on road blur"

How Far Can EVs Go on a Single Charge?

As these eco-friendly cars become more widespread, one question remains: How far can EVs travel before running out of power?

Find chargers

There are over 50,000 public chargers across the country and more being added all the time.

Calculate eGallon

example EV
$1.20
per eGallon
(compared to $3.41 / gallon of gas)
🤔 What This Means: Charging an EV at a rate of 14.96 cents per kilowatt-hour, the average residential electricity price in the United States, is roughly equivalent to paying $1.20 per gallon at the pump.
📈 Understanding These Results: The average gas-powered vehicle can drive 22 miles on 1 gallon of gas. An average EV requires 8.03 kWh of energy to go the same distance. Paying 14.96 cents per kilowatt, it will cost you $1.20 to drive the same 22 mile distance.

Assumptions: Data is based on full-battery electric vehicles with model years of 2021 and newer. Results are based on charging at home.

 

Data Sources: FuelEconomy.gov for vehicle efficiency; U.S. Energy Information Administration for average residential electricity rates by state; U.S. Department of Energy for eGallon formula; AAA.com/gas for average gas prices by state. Results are based on the most recent data available in February 2023.

 

Disclaimer: The information provided is for educational purposes only. Actual costs will vary over time and by state.

Curious How it works?

An eGallon is defined as “the cost of driving an EV the same distance a gasoline powered vehicle could travel on one gallon of gasoline.” It was conceived by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2016 as a way for drivers to relate to the cost of electricity more easily. Through some simple math (don’t worry, our tool does all the calculations for you) and a few assumptions, it can translate the cost to charge an EV from dollars per kilowatt-hour ($/kWh) into its dollar per gallon of gas ($/gallon) equivalent.
To calculate an eGallon, multiply together the fuel efficiency of a gas-powered vehicle, the efficiency of an EV, and the cost of electricity. eGallon formula It is important to understand that eGallon results are based on electricity prices and vehicle efficiency. This means you will get different results when comparing different EVs and gas-powered vehicles. It also means you will get different results depending on where you live because average residential electricity prices vary by state. To make eGallon costs more accessible, we have setup our calculator to automatically calculate results based on average retail residential electricity prices for each state. We use data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), which provides monthly data with a three-month lag. For example, this tool was original created in February 2023, which means the latest electricity rates available at the time were from November 2022. We also simplified the process by categorizing vehicles according to their class. This helps us ensure we are making fair comparisons between vehicles. For example, eGallon prices will look cheaper when comparing a very efficient EV sedan with a gas-guzzling pick-up truck. We pull vehicle class data from FuelEconomy.gov. We also use FuelEconomy.gov as a data source for vehicle efficiency (miles per gallon for gas-powered vehicles and kWh / mile for EVs). Note 1: We combined vehicle classes together where it made sense. For example, the compact sedan class in our calculator includes subcompact and mini compact vehicles. Similarly, we group small and standard pickup trucks into a single pickup truck category in our calculator. Note 2: You may notice that smaller, more efficient EVs have a higher eGallon price than larger, less efficient EVs. For example, compact EV sedans have a higher eGallon price compared to EV pickup trucks. This is because the efficiency improvements gained in switching from an average gas-powered compact sedan to average compact EV sedan are less than switching from an average gas-powered pickup truck to an average EV pickup truck. Compact EV sedans are on average 270% more efficient than gas-powered compact sedans. EV pickup trucks are on average 274% more efficient than gas-powered pickup trucks.
There are three ways to calculate a lower eGallon price given the eGallon formula.
  1. Lower Electricity Prices: It makes intuitive sense that if you pay less for electricity then the dollar per gallon gas equivalent price will also be lower.
  2. Comparing a More Efficient EV: A more efficient EV can go further on the equivalent of one gallon of gasoline so it will have a lower eGallon cost. Said differently, a more efficient EV requires less energy (and therefore has a lower costs) to drive the same distance a gas-powered vehicle can go on one gallon of gas.Note that in the eGallon formula, a more efficient EV is represented by a smaller kilowatt-hour per mile (kWh / mile) number. This often causes confusion because we tend to think of vehicle efficiency in terms of miles per gallon with higher miles per gallon being more efficient. Kilowatt-hours per mile simply flips the fuel and distance terms. It may be helpful to think of kilowatt-hours per mile as the EV equivalent of “gallons per mile” instead of “miles per gallon”.
  3. Comparing a Less Efficient Gas-Powered Vehicle: eGallon costs are lower when comparing an EV to a less efficient gas-power vehicle. This makes sense because a gas guzzler can’t go as far on a single gallon of gas. It’s easier for a more efficient EV to cover the same distance using less energy.
0x0-Supercharger_18

Changes in Electric Vehicle Charging Are Coming

The latest developments in the battle between two EV charging systems – Tesla’s and everybody else’s.

"man charging electric car with his family"

What to Know About Charging Electric Vehicles at Home

Installation. Cost. Charging levels. There’s a lot to understand about EV home charging stations​.

0x0-Supercharger_18

Changes in Electric Vehicle Charging Are Coming

The latest developments in the battle between two EV charging systems – Tesla’s and everybody else’s.

Real Member Experiences

Where and When Do You Charge?

JV

Jon V.
24 Year Member
2020
Chevy Bolt

I drive a Chevy Bolt and my wife drives the Volvo XC60 Recharge plug-in hybrid. We have two level 2 chargers in our garage, and we both do most of our charging at home. Refueling in an EV is a different mindset. When you have a gas engine, you only fill up when it’s low. With an EV, I plug in every night when I come home. When I come back in the morning, it’s fully charged. I can also tell the car my desired charging level and when to start and stop charging.

 

I occasionally use public charging. There are two level 2 public chargers my town that I’ll use, for example, when I’m at my kid’s games. I use DC fast charging on occasion when traveling longer distances.

TW

Todd w.
14 Year Member
2019
tesla model 3
Before retiring, I had free charging at work. This was convenient and saved me money. Because most of my charging was done at work, I only needed level 1 charging at home. Last year, after retiring, I installed a level 2 charger in my garage, and that’s where I do most of my charging now. There are public chargers close to my house that I have used, but I tend to only use public chargers during road trips. Unless I’m going on a long trip, I tend to only charge my EV up to 80%, and I set it up so it is done charging by 7AM.

EC

Eileen C.
32 Year Member
2017
Nissan Leaf
I bought a Siemen (level 2) charging station and had it installed in my garage. I plug my vehicle in when it gets down to about 20 or 30 miles left on the gauge. This is generally all I need because I don’t do a lot of driving. I do occasionally use public charging when traveling for work. For these times, I check where charging stations are located in advance.
How Long does It Take To Charge?

JV

Jon V.
24 Year Member
2020
Chevy Bolt
A common misconception is that you have to have a 40A or 50A breaker. I have a 20A breaker which doesn’t charge quite as fast, but I can still charge my bolt 75% in 13 hours.

TW

Todd w.
14 Year Member
2019
tesla model 3
Charging at home, before installing my level 2 charger, I would only get about 3 miles of range per hour, but charging overnight this means you get 30 to 36 miles which is adequate. With my new level 2 charger, I can add about 29 to 30 miles of range in an hour. I can go from about 20% to 80% charge in under four hours. Using public superchargers, I only need to charge for 15 minutes before getting another 2 or 3 hours of range.

EC

Eileen C.
32 Year Member
2017
Nissan Leaf

It takes several hours to charge the car using level 2 charging, which isn’t great for long trips, but I don’t use my EV to drive long distances.

how much do you save in fuel costs?

JV

Jon V.
24 Year Member
2020
Chevy Bolt
Paying $0.185 / kWh, my average cost per mile is about $0.05. This is half as much as a gas-powered car that gets 30 miles per gallon at $3 per gallon of gas. Driving an average of 1,000 miles a month means the cost to power my EV is only $50.

TW

Todd w.
14 Year Member
2019
tesla model 3
Charging at home I pay home electric rates, which are pretty reasonable. While these rates have gone up like all fuel and utilities, they haven’t gone up nearly as much as gas. I would estimate that my fuel cost is one-third of what it would be compared to gasoline. The rates for fast charging depends on location, but I would say it is typically half the cost of gas. For fast charging, you are paying a bit more for the convenience, but it is still a good deal compared to gas.

EC

Eileen C.
32 Year Member
2017
Nissan Leaf
Using my charging station in my garage costs me about $12 to $15 a month on my electric bill.
What Do You Do For Long Road Trips?

JV

Jon V.
24 Year Member
2020
Chevy Bolt
There are resources available when planning a long trip. I always plan out primary chargers and backup chargers just in case. I keep a spare level 2 charging cable in the car just in case. The most recent long trip I took was up to Albany. I used a fast charger that charged me from 10% to 75% in 55 minutes.

TW

Todd w.
14 Year Member
2019
tesla model 3
I’ve taken a lot of long road trips in my Tesla. Recently, I drove from New York to Arkansas, and it was easy with the Tesla Supercharger network. I drive for three or four hours, and then stop to charge for about fifteen minutes. This gives me time to grab a coffee and stretch my legs.

EC

Eileen C.
32 Year Member
2017
Nissan Leaf
My vehicle is not made for long distances. It has about 120 mile range because it was one of the early models. Now they’re making them with a range of 200 to 300 miles. But a 120 mile range is good for me because I don’t do a lot of driving. When I need to go long distances, I can drive 35 miles to the airport and get on a plane.

EV Stories

0x0-Supercharger_18

Changes in Electric Vehicle Charging Are Coming

The latest developments in the battle between two EV charging systems – Tesla’s and everybody else’s.

"man charging electric car with his family"

What to Know About Charging Electric Vehicles at Home

Installation. Cost. Charging levels. There’s a lot to understand about EV home charging stations​.

0x0-Supercharger_18

Changes in Electric Vehicle Charging Are Coming

The latest developments in the battle between two EV charging systems – Tesla’s and everybody else’s.

Free Personalized Battery Reports

Sign-up for free monthly battery reports through our partner, Recurrent. Personalized reports tell you how your car is performing and what you can do to maximize battery health.