Click the link to read the article (and peruse the graphics) on The Washington Post website (Michael J. Coren). Here’s an excerpt:
August 14, 2023
…I asked researchers at the nonpartisan Energy Innovation, a policy think tank aimed at decarbonizing the energy sector, to help me nail down the true cost of refueling in all 50 states by drawing on data sets from federal agencies, AAA and others. You can dive into their helpful tool here. I used the data to embark on two hypothetical road trips across America, delivering a verdict on whether it costs more to refill or recharge during the summer of 2023. The results surprised me (and they might really surprise my neighbor)…The bottom line? In all 50 states, it’s cheaper for the everyday American to fill up with electrons — and much cheaper in some regions such as the Pacific Northwest, with low electricity rates and high gas prices…In Washington state, with prices around $4.98 per gallon of gas, it costs about $115 to fill up an F-150 which delivers 483 miles of range. By contrast, recharging the electric F-150 Lightning (or Rivian R1T) to cover an equivalent distance costs about $34 — an $80 savings. This assumes, as the Energy Department estimates, drivers recharge at home 80 percent of the time, along with other methodological assumptions at the end of this article. But what about the other extreme? In the Southeast, which has low gas prices and electricity rates, savings are lower but still significant. In Mississippi, for example, a conventional pickup costs about $30 more to refuel than its electric counterpart. For smaller, more efficient SUVs and sedans, EVs save roughly $20 to $25 per fill-up to cover the same number of miles…
An American driving the average 14,000 miles per year would see annual savings of roughly $700 for an electric SUV or sedan up to $1,000 for a pickup, according to Energy Innovation…
On the emissions front, EVs pulled well ahead. EVs emit less than a third of the emissions per mile than their gasoline counterparts — and they’re getting cleaner every year. America’s electricity mix emits justunder a pound of carbon emissions for every kWh generated, according to the Energy Information Administration. By 2035, the White House hopes to drive that closer to zero. This meant the conventional F-150 spewed five times more greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere than the Lightning. The Tesla Model Y represented 63 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions on the trip compared to more than 300 pounds from all the conventional vehicles…Ultimately, we may never agree on what it costs to refuel an electric vehicle. That may not matter. For the everyday driver in the United States, it’s already cheaper to refuel an EV most of the time, and it’s expected to get cheaper as renewable capacity expands and vehicle efficiency improves.