Is it cheaper than a gas vehicle? Well, that’s up for debate. Clearly, there are a lot of variables to take into consideration. How often do you drive? Do you drive in the city or on the highway? Are you driving in cold or hot weather? How fast do you drive? Do you have a heavy foot?
Unlike gas-powered vehicles, you’ll get the best range by being in traffic and driving slower in a Tesla vs doing a consistent 65mpg in a gas-powered car. Tesla and most EV cars use a technology called regenerative braking. Essentially what this means is that the car will use the motor as a generator and convert that into energy.
Weather should be taken into consideration as well. As much as we’d like to say it doesn’t take a toll on electric cars, the fact of the matter is that it takes a bigger toll than most people think as the air conditioning and heater consistently use up energy.
How heavy are you on the gas pedal? Teslas are relatively fast, so one hard step on that gas pedal and a jolt of energy is consumed. The faster you drive, the more energy consumed. If you are driving closer to 80-90 mph, you will consume more power than you will gas.
At the end of the day, we do believe there are perks to an electric car vs. a gas-powered car. There are plenty of incentives that companies provide for having an electric vehicle such as carpool stickers, toll road incentives, and being able to charge virtually anywhere. Perhaps most significantly, unless gas is. 99 a gallon, chances are you’re paying less for your Tesla to charge at home than you would a gas-powered vehicle.