Owning an electric car really does save money, Consumer Reports finds

If you bought a Tesla Model 3 instead of a BMW 3 Series or Audi A4, you'd probably save $15,000 over the total lifetime of the vehicle. That's according to a new analysis from Consumer Reports, which examines the total cost of ownership for electric vehicles—both battery EVs and plug-in hybrid EVs—versus comparable internal combustion engine vehicles.

CR found that much lower maintenance costs and the lower price of electricity compared to gasoline more than offsets the higher purchase price of a new BEV compared to an ICE.

Operating and maintenance costs were calculated using data from annual reliability surveys conducted by CR in 2019 and 2020. Among other data collected, the survey asked CR members to estimate their automotive maintenance and repair costs and driven mileage over the previous 12 months, as well as total mileage of their vehicle. (CR filtered out outliers who drove fewer than 2,000 miles (3,200km) or more than 60,000 miles (96,560km) in 12 months, as well as vehicles with more than $20,000 in maintenance costs or vehicles with more than 200,000 miles (322,000km) on the odometer.)

BEVs and PHEVs really do cost less to maintain

As expected, CR's data confirms earlier work—lifetime maintenance costs for BEVs and PHEVs really are about half the cost for an ICE vehicle. For the first 50,000 miles (80,500km), the maintenance and repair costs for a BEV are just $0.012 per mile; for a PHEV it's $0.021, and $0.028 for ICE. For the next 50,000 miles, the gap between BEV and PHEV closes, at $0.028 and $0.031 respectively—you can expect to pay twice as much, or $0.06 per mile, for ICE.

CR's data for maintenance and repair costs between 100,000-200,000 miles is a bit weaker because of a smaller sample size—only about 200 PHEVs and 55 BEVs, mostly older Nissan Leafs and Tesla Models S. However, the costs over this period were calculated at $0.043 for BEVs, $0.033 for PHEVs, and $0.079 for ICE. The lifetime average was $0.031 per mile for BEVs, $0.030 for PHEVs, and $0.061 for ICE.

As you might expect, there are plenty of savings to be had driving a vehicle that uses less energy to travel a given unit of distance, particularly when that energy is cheaper than the alternative. CR found that fuel savings vary by vehicle class but calculate that a BEV car will save $790 over 15,000 miles (24,000km) compared to an ICE car. For an SUV the savings is $1,020, and for a pickup truck it estimates it to be $1,310.

Another interesting finding is that owners of BEVs with at least 250 miles (402km) will be able to do 92 percent of their charging at home and will only need to use DC fast chargers an average of six times a year. (CR did not factor in the burgeoning emergency coast-to-coast trombone delivery business into its calculations.) Switching to a BEV to save money per mile makes the greatest sense in Oregon and Washington thanks to a combination of high gas prices and cheap hydroelectricity prices.

CR decided to look at new BEVs and PHEVs with a price cap of $50,000 and then split them into five vehicle categories, with comparisons to the most-efficient, best-selling, and top-rated ICE vehicles, as well as an ICE vehicle with similar performance to the BEV and PHEV in each category (because EVs have good acceleration).

CR calculated costs for the first seven years of ownership, and also costs over 200,000 miles (322,000km). It based the purchase price for each vehicle on real-world data from TrueCar and assumed a six-year loan at 4.7-percent interest. For BEVs and PHEVs, it subtracted the applicable IRS tax credit from the purchase price but did not factor in any state or local incentives. It also assumed a uniform depreciation curve for all of the vehicles, having found that, once adjusted for tax incentives, BEVs and PHEVs depreciate at an almost-identical rate to ICE vehicles.