By now, you’ve probably heard at least one person rattle off how much cheaper it is to own an electric car. One of the main reasons consumers and the commercial business owners looking to build out their fleets give for switching from gas to electric is the refueling cost. Let’s break down exactly how much cheaper an electric car is when we look only at the cost to power it, using one of the most popular vehicles in each category. This calculation does not consider maintenance or the initial purchase price.

The gas benchmark: Toyota RAV4

Starting with the gas car, we’ll use the Toyota RAV4 LE as our non-electric benchmark. It isn’t just the best-selling SUV. In 2024 the RAV4 became the best-selling vehicle in America, period, dethroning the Ford F-150. The gas RAV4 has a 14.5-gallon fuel tank and an EPA-estimated 30 miles per gallon combined, which translates to a range of about 435 miles per tank.

The average price for a gallon of regular gas in the United States in 2025 was $3.10, bringing the total cost to refuel our gas car to $44.95. Prices swing with the market, though: at today’s national average of $4.48 per gallon (AAA), that same fill-up runs $64.96.

The electric benchmark: Tesla Model Y

Now let’s dive into the electric car. Here we’ll use the Tesla Model Y, which was again the best-selling EV of 2024. The current Long Range rear-wheel-drive model carries an estimated range of about 330 miles per charge, which draws on a usable battery capacity of roughly 75 kWh. Please note this number can fluctuate depending on temperature, terrain, and driving style.

Charging will always cost less on an at-home charger than at a public station, but for this calculation we’ll use the U.S. average commercial electricity price as a stand-in for public, commercial charging. Across all census regions, that average was about 13.6 cents per kWh in 2025, and roughly 14.48 cents per kWh at the latest EIA reading.

That puts the cost of charging our electric car to its full usable capacity at about $10.20 at 2025’s average rate, and about $10.86 at today’s rate.

Gas vs. electric, side by side

	Gas: Toyota RAV4	Electric: Tesla Model Y
Range per fill / charge	~435 miles	~330 miles
Energy per fill / charge	14.5 gallons	~75 kWh
Price of energy (2025 avg)	$3.10 / gallon	13.6¢ / kWh
Cost to “fill up” (2025 avg)	$44.95	$10.20
Price of energy (today)	$4.48 / gallon	14.48¢ / kWh
Cost to “fill up” (today)	$64.96	$10.86

What the numbers mean

At 2025’s average gas price, a full charge costs only about 23% of what it costs to fill the gas tank, and at today’s prices it’s closer to 17%. And unlike a few years ago, when a popular EV went barely half as far as a tank of gas, that gap has narrowed sharply: the Model Y’s ~330 miles is now roughly three-quarters of the RAV4’s range.

To compare apples to apples, if we charged the electric car to cover the same ~435 miles the gas tank provides, we’d spend about $13.45 in electricity at 2025’s average rates, an estimated 70% savings versus the $44.95 gas equivalent. At today’s gas and electricity prices, that same range costs about $14.32 to charge against $64.96 to fuel, roughly a 78% savings.

The bottom line

Savings this significant make the argument for switching from gas to electric clear, and they scale fast across a fleet, where every vehicle multiplies the difference. Yes, there’s an up-front investment to put charging in place, but the cost savings from taking gasoline off your bottom line are well worth it.

That up-front step is exactly what we handle. Talk to EvolvedEV about designing, installing, and maintaining the EV charging that turns these per-mile savings into real numbers for your business.

Sources

U.S. average commercial electricity price: EIA Electric Power Monthly

Toyota RAV4 specifications: toyota.com/rav4

RAV4 best-selling U.S. vehicle of 2024: TFLcar

U.S. gasoline prices (2025 average): U.S. Energy Information Administration

Current U.S. gas price: AAA

Tesla Model Y: tesla.com/modely

Model Y best-selling EV of 2024: The Car Guide

When property owners start planning EV charging, the instinct is often to reach for the fastest, most powerful chargers available. But faster isn’t automatically better, and it can cost dramatically more than a site actually needs. The right choice comes down to one simple question: how long do the vehicles sit?

How the two types differ

Level 2 (L2) charging runs on the same kind of 240-volt power as an electric dryer or oven. It adds roughly 20 to 40 miles of range per hour, and a typical vehicle charges fully overnight or over a workday. L2 chargers are relatively inexpensive to buy and install, and they’re gentle on your electrical service.

DC fast charging (DCFC) converts high-voltage power to charge a battery directly, adding 100+ miles of range in as little as 20 to 30 minutes. That speed comes at a price: the hardware costs several times more, it requires substantial electrical infrastructure, and the demand it places on your utility service can trigger significant power upgrades and higher ongoing electricity charges.

Match the charger to the dwell time

The trick is to look at how long vehicles are parked at your property.

Level 2 is the right fit when vehicles sit for hours. That covers apartments and condos where residents charge overnight, workplaces where employees park all day, hotels where guests stay the night, and fleet depots where vehicles return each evening and roll out the next morning. In all of these, there’s plenty of time to charge, so paying for speed you can’t use is wasted money.

DC fast charging earns its cost when vehicles turn over quickly. Think retail centers where customers stop for 30 minutes, fleets that need a mid-shift top-up to stay in service, or travel-corridor locations where drivers won’t wait long. Here, the speed directly translates to more vehicles served and more value.

Plenty of properties end up with a mix: mostly Level 2 for the everyday charging, with a couple of DC fast chargers where quick turnaround matters.

Beyond speed: the parts people forget

Two other factors matter as much as charger type. First, your electrical capacity. DC fast charging in particular may require utility coordination and service upgrades, which affect both cost and timeline. Second, reliability. A charger that’s fast but frequently offline serves no one. That’s why we take a hardware-agnostic approach, selecting equipment based on your site rather than a single brand, and back installations with Evolved360, our monitoring and maintenance program that keeps chargers online throughout their operating life.

The bottom line

Don’t start with the charger. Start with how your property is used. Get the match right and you’ll spend less up front, avoid unnecessary electrical work, and end up with charging that actually fits the way people use your site.

Not sure which is right for you? Request a free site survey and we’ll design around how your property actually operates.