Switching to EVs will save nearly everyone money and reduce carbon emissions, study says
New research from the University of Michigan shows more than 90% of households with a vehicle would see a drop in the percentage of their income spent on fueling that vehicle, if they choose EVs over those that burn gasoline. That’s in addition to reducing their carbon footprint. In Michigan, the study showed that motorists could cut their transportation energy costs as much as in half. “The average car out there on the road in Michigan, when you compare it with a new battery electric vehicle, we’re going to see between 25% and 50% reduction in the in the cost of fueling,” Keoleian said. The new study published on January 11, 2023 in Environmental Research Letters, an academic journal. It is the first study to consider both EV energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions across the geography of the country. Officials said it’s also the first study to examine EV energy costs in terms of equity and distributive justice by calculating the EV energy burden for the entire United States. The study did not factor the purchase cost of EVs in the analysis. Researchers found that if cars, SUVs, and pickups across the country were replaced with new EVs, transportation energy burdens and greenhouse gas emissions would vary widely from place to place. The most challenging EV transportation energy burden, from 10% to 64%, would remain for the lowest-income households and would mostly be found in the Midwest and the two states with the costliest electricity: Hawaii and Alaska.