How rising gas prices are changing the EV ownership math in California

As gas prices go up, up, up during the Iran war, California drivers might be wondering: How much could I be saving if I drove an electric car?

When the Chronicle looked at EV versus gas-powered fueling costs in the state in May 2025, EVs came out ahead by $99 a month: Roughly $143 monthly to keep your electric car charged, compared to $242 a month to keep the tank full on a car with a combustion engine. 

Given the higher gas prices, how does the California EV-vs.-gas math shake out now?

On average, we found that EV drivers have significantly widened their savings advantage, to $166 a month.

Here’s how we made that calculation: 

A gallon of gas in California was about $4.90 in May 2025. Now, it’s nearly a dollar more expensive: An average of $5.83 per gallon in California as of Wednesday, with averages at or above $6 in parts of the Bay Area. Given those prices, it would now cost $287 a month to keep the average car fueled.

Meanwhile, the cost to charge an electric car has come down slightly due to two factors: The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s most recent statewide average cost per kilowatt-hour (kWh) was down 3 cents compared to February 2025. And electric car efficiency has improved in recent years: Last year, 2022 data from fueleconomy.gov indicated the average across all 2022 electric cars was 2.67 miles per kWh; using more recent EPA data on all 2025 models, that number is now about 3 miles per kWh on average.

So the typical California cost to fuel an electric car came down slightly from a little less than a year ago, to $121 per month.

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But of course this advantage will vary from driver to driver. 

That’s because the EV ownership affordability equation is complicated — starting with the price of the car itself. Electric-vehicle prices have historically been higher on average compared to gas-powered cars, but the numbers are coming closer, particularly on used options. The average used EV was listed at $34,821 in February, down 8.8% year over year, according to Cox Automotive. Kelley Blue Book reported that the average listing price for used non-EV cars (including fully gas-powered, hybrids and plug-in hybrids) was only $1,334 less.

There are other considerations in the cost of ownership. EVs require less maintenance, but owners pay higher annual registration fees and about 20% more for insurance. Many of the government incentives for EVs, like federal rebates and California toll lane stickers, have been phased out, though California still offers some. And if you want to drive an EV, you need access to a charging station, which can cost up to a few thousand dollars to install at home.

EV owners may still suffer from “range anxiety” — worrying about how far they can go before they need to find a charger — but on the flip side, they may lose less sleep over the geopolitical fuel crisis.

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The most frequent recurring cost for car owners is fueling up, and EVs consistently come out ahead — even in California, which has the second-highest electricity rates in the U.S.

The math on charging the car depends on which type of car you drive. When we crunched these numbers last year, we used the average mileage across all EVs and all gas-powered cars. But this time, we wanted to drill down what the numbers look like for people who drive different types of cars.

Here, we’ll take a closer look at specific fueling costs for real-world vehicles with similar sizes, body types and price tiers: Entry-level compact, midrange mainstream, 3-row SUV and luxury high-end. 

The results: EVs are broadly cheaper to fuel up than a gas-powered car across all categories — though less-efficient larger vehicles and higher electricity rates can tilt the equation. Under typical California electricity prices, a Nissan Leaf costs about half as much to charge compared to paying for an equivalent amount of gasoline in a Toyota Corolla. Efficiency is reduced in larger vehicles, but electric ones still come out ahead on an average per-mile cost.

To put together this comparison, we had to make some assumptions: We used the AAA California average of 1,203 miles driven per month. All vehicles are recent model years and we used overall combined fuel economy numbers from fueleconomy.gov and the EPA. 

We used the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s most recent California average of 30 cents per kWh for residential power costs. The cost of a gallon of gas is the AAA statewide average as of March 25. 

And we are assuming drivers are charging at home. Public chargers would increase the cost compared to the statewide average: In California, it’s an average of 42 cents per kWh to charge, according to AAA, though it can be as high as 60 to 70 cents per kWh depending on the location and charger type. (Jason Zimbler of CalStart told the Chronicle in 2025 that most EV owners use public chargers primarily to get enough juice to make it to their destination or the next charging station.) And some workplaces offer electric vehicle charging for free, while others implement per-kWh, per-hour or flat fees, which would change the ownership math a lot.

Also, there are some unique factors that affect EV savings calculations if you’re in the Bay Area.

If you live in the region, PG&E likely provides your power, which means monthly costs to charge an EV can vary widely depending on the time of day and time of year you hook up your car — from 23 cents per kWh overnight to 62 cents during peak times. 

For PG&E customers, that means the cost to keep your Leaf charged on a monthly basis could range from $84 to $226. Keeping your Rivian topped off with power could cost you anywhere from $120 to $324 every month. If you have no choice but to charge your car at home in the late afternoon or evening on a PG&E plan, an electric vehicle can quickly rack up higher costs than gas. 

Similar to electricity, gas tends to be more expensive in the Bay Area: Gas was $6 a gallon in San Francisco on March 25, so the monthly cost to fuel a CR-V for a month there would be $240.60. And though gas prices don’t vary as widely as electric rates can under PG&E, there is variance depending on which station you go to. On March 26, stations in San Francisco had regular gas as cheap as $5.49 per gallon and as expensive as $6.39 a gallon, according to GasBuddy. The most expensive premium gas in the city that day was $6.99 a gallon.

It’s impossible to say right now how high gas prices could go or how long the war could last. But for drivers focused on monthly fueling costs, electric vehicles are currently a much better deal for most people, no matter what size car you’re driving.