Comparative Costs to Drive an Electric Vehicle

On average, it costs about three times less to drive an electric vehicle than a conventional gasoline-powered vehicle. The Department of Energy has created a new term, called the eGallon, to allow for a more direct comparison of the fueling costs from conventional vehicles to electric vehicles. Many consumers know the price for a gallon of gasoline. With the eGallon website, they can see the price of the electricity that would take them the same number of miles as a gallon of gasoline. For instance, the national average of a gallon for gasoline is $3.65; to go the same number of miles on electricity, the national average price for an eGallon is $1.14. The map below shows the difference in prices among the different states, using residential electricity rates by state as the basis.