Data continues to pile in. Consumers driving electric vehicles tend to spend significantly less than drivers of conventional gasoline vehicles — as many as nine out of every 10 drivers would save money by going from a gas car to an electric vehicle, according to a recent study.
The author of the study, Joshua Newell, said of the findings "Our results confirm the potential for widespread benefits from EV adoption."
Some of those benefits include environmental ones, too. The research suggests as much as 4.5 tons of annual polluting gases per household could be eliminated by driving an EV instead.
One reason to save may be obvious: When driving an electric vehicle (or EV), there's no need to visit the pump to buy gas, and EV owners are also less vulnerable to extreme price fluctuations on fuel (like Russia's invasion of Ukraine has caused in many regions around the world).
Another reason is that EVs tend to require repairs less often, which means spending less each year on expensive trips to the auto shop. Hertz, the international rental car giant, saw big profits upon expanding their fleet with non-gasoline options. The reduced maintenance costs were a major contributing factor.
There is, however, one catch to the data explored by the study. The poorest Americans would see no economic benefit from transitioning away from their gasoline-powered vehicles. Folks living in rural and suburban areas are subject to higher energy costs (as they tend to have to drive longer distances), and this can eat up those precious savings, especially for people living in areas that have a higher energy cost in general.
The study also found that recharging EVs in areas primarily powered by dirty energy sources also doesn't have as much of a positive impact on the warming planet as ones charged on wind, solar, nuclear, or other non-combustible energy sources.
As renewable energy continues to overtake coal and gas-powered energy grids, the negative environmental impact of charging EVs with dirty energy will also dissipate.
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