Thanksgiving weekend has historically been the biggest driving weekend of the year. What better time to discuss buying gasoline?
This article is intended to be a little bit of a light article, but with some food for thought included for consumption. It is not intended to be a full review of the pros and cons of buying an electric vehicle (EV) article. In short, some insights are being put forth here to contribute to the conversation about EVs. This article is a result of my own inner dialogue that has moved me in the direction of buying an EV. An EV will be my next car, but I’m still currently driving an anachronistic internal combustion engine (ICE).
Finding a Gas Station
How far out of our route do we have to drive to get to the gas station? For me, this varies from trip to trip. As an environmentalist, I do my best to get gas right on the road on which I’m already traveling, but that isn’t always possible. How many stop lights do we go through to get to a gas station while paying good money to burn gasoline, and polluting with CO2s, at those stoplights? How much gasoline do we pay for to get us to and from those gas stations? With EVs that charge at home and/or work, this issue is eliminated.
The Cost
The cost savings of using electricity instead of buying gasoline is commonly quoted as between $1,000 and $1,500 per year. This will vary based on one’s electricity rates, the cost of gasoline, and the number of kilometers (miles) someone drives per year.
Premium Gasoline
When we hear the price of gasoline on the news or radio, they are always quoting the price of regular gas as though that’s the only price of gasoline. Many cars such as all ICE Mercedes vehicles require premium petrol. The cost of premium gas varies, but is roughly 8% more costly currently and has cost as much as 20% more than regular in the past (in 1998). With EVs, this issue is eliminated.
Read more: Clean Technica