As someone who made the switch to electric vehicles in 2017 and never looked back, I’ve discovered some eye-opening truths about the real cost of car ownership that every American deserves to know.
First, let me share a startling fact: I’ve documented the money I’ve saved since switching to electric, and the total comes to approximately $30,000. For the average American family, this isn’t just savings, it’s life-changing money.
Next, I now get grumpy if “filling up” costs even $10, because for most of my driving life, plugging in and filling up has been cheaper than a latte.
Third, my monthly budget is significantly lower and more predictable. No oil changes. No timing belt replacements. No $1,500 transmission repairs. No surprise gas-price spikes on holiday weekends. Just a cheap, quiet, low-maintenance ride.
If you want to slash your transportation costs, fast and permanently, leasing or buying an electric car is a fantastic option.
The math is simple: The average American spends more than $3,000 annually on gas alone, with another $1,200 on routine maintenance. With an EV, your “fuel” comes from your wall outlet for most of your transportation needs. In most places, that’s the equivalent of paying about $1 a gallon, or less. Maintenance costs plummet because there’s no oil to change, no muffler to rust out, no gearbox to fail (there are roughly 20 moving parts in an electric vehicle versus more than 200 for most gas-powered cars).
And here’s what a lot of people don’t realize: The cheapest path to driving electric might be buying used.
You can find reliable, late-model EVs like the Nissan Leaf or Chevrolet Bolt for well under $20,000, and thanks to federal incentives, buying certain used EVs can still qualify you for up to $4,000 in tax credits. That’s on top of the fact that you’ll keep saving hundreds (or even thousands) every year on fuel and maintenance.
For new EVs, the federal government currently offers up to $7,500 in tax credits, often taken right off the sticker price at the dealership. And if your income is too high for the purchase credit? Lease it.
Because of a quirk in the law, the $7,500 goes to the leasing company, and almost every dealer passes it straight to you as an upfront discount. That means high earners, business owners and anyone phased out of the credit can still get the deal, no waiting for tax season, no complicated paperwork. Stack that with state or utility rebates, and you can easily shave $10,000 off the cost of going electric.
But here’s the urgent reality: Trump and congressional Republicans’ “One Big Beautiful Bill” includes a provision that will eliminate both the $7,500 new EV purchase credit and the $4,000 used EV credit by the end of September. Once these incentives disappear, the path to affordable electric vehicle ownership becomes significantly steeper for middle-class Americans. This is a critical moment, the window of opportunity is closing.
Imagine opening your monthly budget spreadsheet and seeing an extra $400-plus every month from fuel and repair savings. That’s over $5,000 annually — enough to pay off high-interest credit card debt, fund a family vacation or tackle home improvements. This isn’t a one-time windfall; it’s reliable savings that compound year after year. For my family, these savings helped fund the replacement of our gas furnace with a heat pump and bolster our children’s college savings accounts. What could it do for yours?
Over my eight years of driving electric, I’ve never once missed paying $70 to fill up at the pump. If you care about saving money, the time to move is now. Lease it, buy it used, grab the federal incentives while they still exist.
Your budget will thank you immediately, your future self will thank you years from now, and with the federal incentives disappearing soon, there’s never been a better time to make the switch. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.