Gas Prices Driving More Consumers To Consider An Electric Vehicle
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Electric vehicle sales appear to be revving up as the average price of a gallon of regular gas approaches $6. But is an impulse purchase of an electric vehicle the right turn for everyone?
Sales of electric vehicles have been steadily increasing in California thanks to more carmakers offering them, and more infrastructure being built to support them. Gov. Gavin Newsom is also pushing California's drivers toward electric vehicles after issuing an executive order for all new cars to be zero emission by 2035.
"Electric is about to go through a big boom," said Scott Painter, the founder and CEO of car subscription service Autonomy. "One of the big benefits of going electric of course is saving money on your gas bill, especially as prices go from $4 to $5 to $6 up to $7."
The average consumer drives about 1,000 miles a month, spending about $3,000 monthly on fuel, he said. But a similar electric car costs about 3 cents a mile for electricity, which would cost that same consumer between $30 and $40 a month, Painter said.
"A big incentive, so that's going to be a big reason why people right now given gas prices climbing so quickly," he said. "Every 50 cents is going to mean another $25 a month at the pump."
Consumers in the market for a new vehicle now have a wider variety of choices, too – Tesla may be the most well-known and successful electric vehicle company today, but more companies are coming to market such as Fisker, Lucid, and Rivian.
"Lots of new choices for the consumer," Painter said. "But as cars become more autonomous, more connected, and certainly more electric, the cost of batteries means that the cost of the vehicle tends to be on average 20% and 40% more expensive than their internal combustion engine counterpart."