A recent study has found that electric vehicles (EVs) cost 63.6 percent more per 1,000 miles driven each year compared to gas-powered cars due to the combination of their higher prices and lower average usage.
Conducted by car research website iSeeCars, this study revealed that EVs are driven 20 percent less than traditional, internal-combustion vehicles.
Although hybrids and plug-in hybrids were also both found to be driven less than gas-powered cars, the difference in usage was much smaller, coming in at just 2.7 and 4.8 percent respectively.
According to the calculations provided in the report, EVs cost an average of $5,108 per 1,000 miles driven annually, compared to $4,351 for plug-in hybrids, $3,056 for hybrids, and $3,123 for gas-powered cars.
The study suggested that hybrids likely had the lowest unit cost because they are driven “at almost the same rate as gasoline cars, while their average price is slightly lower than gasoline models.”
EVs were found to be the most expensive due to the combination of their “higher list price” and “limited use.”
“Everyone knows electric vehicles cost more than gasoline, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid models,” said Karl Brauer, Executive Analyst for iSeeCars. “But when we combined their list price with the low use rate for EVs and compared those figures to other vehicle types, we were able to quantify exactly how much more electric vehicle buyers are paying, only to drive them less.”
“Range anxiety and charging infrastructure are top-of-mind for EV drivers, and those factors likely limit how far owners will drive them,” said Brauer. “Hybrids and plug-in hybrids, where all-electric battery range is limited but range anxiety isn’t a factor, are driven only slightly less than gasoline cars, as reflected in their similar yearly mileage.”
Click Here to Read the Full Study
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued updated guidance requiring that as much as 56 percent of new car sales be comprised of EVs by 2032.
In order to meet these standards, an additional 13 percent of new vehicle sales would likely need to be accounted for by plug-in hybrid cars.
Shortly before these new DEP rules were released, the Maine Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) voted to reject a proposal that would have implemented even more stringent requirements in the state.
Under these set of rules — more formally known as the Advanced Clean Cars II Program — 82 percent of new car sales in Maine would have needed to be comprised of so-called zero-emissions vehicles by 2032.
In this context, EVs were considered to encompass both EVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
This threshold would have been significantly higher than the combined 69 percent EV requirement that has now been imposed by the EPA.
[RELATED: Maine BEP Rejects Controversial EV Mandate]
Following a lengthy discussion during the BEP’s March 20 meeting, Board members voted 4-2 in opposition to these rule changes, which had been proposed by the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) via the citizens’ initiative process in 2023.
