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Total cost of ownership – electric vehicles already below…
According to the 2017 AAA study “Your Driving Costs“, an annual study which looks at the total cost of owning a vehicle, electric vehicles cost $8,439/year to own and operate and are already cheaper than the average vehicle ($8,469/year). That gap will only grow as the price of batteries and other supporting technology continues to drop.
Ordered least to most expensive, the results are:
- Small sedan – $6,354
- Small SUV – $7,606
- Hybrid vehicle – $7,687
- Medium sedan – $8,171
- Electric vehicle – $8,439
- Average vehicle – $8,469
- Minivan – $9,146
- Large sedan – $9,399
- Medium SUV – $9,451
- Pickup Truck – $10,054
To estimate the overall cost to own and operate a new vehicle, AAA evaluated 45 2017 model-year vehicles across nine categories and focused on mid-range, top-selling vehicles. AAA’s annual driving cost is based on a sales-weighted average of the individual costs for all of the vehicle types. Factors considered include: depreciation, fuel, insurance, maintenance, financing, license, taxes, and registration, and tires.
Electric vehicles have inherently lower fuel fueling costs given the lower cost of electricity (equivalent to about $1/gallon) and significantly better on-board conversion efficiency.
Without an internal combustion engine and its ~1000 moving parts, maintenance costs are also near zero. No more oil, spark plugs, timing belts, air filters, etc. to change.
Depreciation, however, is still quite high for electric vehicles. This is something expected to lower over time as electric vehicles become more accepted and make their way into the mainstream.
Electric vehicles already have many compelling benefits that an internal combustion engine can’t compete with (at-home gas station, instant torque and ludicrous acceleration, near zero maintenance, “always-on” connectivity, etc.); it will be exciting to watch their adoption explode as the economics catch up as well.
