When Gas Hits $4, EVs Become Cheaper Than Gas Cars

As gas edges toward $4 a gallon, the math around buying a car is changing. According to Bloomberg, that’s roughly the point at which the total cost of owning an electric vehicle drops below that of a gas-powered car. Consider what $4 gas actually costs week to week. The average American drives around 230 miles per week. In a typical car getting 28 miles per gallon, that’s roughly 8.2 gallons, or about $33 a week just in fuel. Over a year, you’re looking at spending $1,700 at the pump. Charge that same 230 miles in an EV at the national average electricity rate of around 16 cents per kWh, and you’re spending closer to $370 for the year. That’s a difference of over $1,300, every single year, that you save by going electric.

Why Gas Prices Probably Aren’t Coming Back Down

Gas prices after a major shock, whether it’s a war, a supply disruption, or a geopolitical rupture, have a stubborn habit of not fully recovering. The 1970s oil shocks rewired consumer behavior for a generation. The Ukraine invasion in 2022 briefly pushed prices past $5 and permanently shifted how a lot of people think about fuel costs. The latest price surge is being driven by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, alongside supply constraints, which have pushed the national average to $3.88 as of mid-March, nearly a dollar higher than when the conflict began. History suggests we should plan for this new floor, not hope for the old ceiling to return.

The Catch-22 That Keeps Getting Ignored

Unfortunately, the people hit hardest by $4 gas are the ones least positioned to escape it. Low-income households spend a disproportionate share of their income on fuel, and yet a new EV, even with the price gap narrowing, still carries a premium most of them can’t absorb, especially after last year’s gutting of EV tax credits. 

But there’s a window opening. The used EV market now shows only a $1,334 price gap compared to used gas vehicles, with 18 of 26 brands averaging below their gas-powered equivalents. Even better, off-lease EVs are flooding into the secondhand market and bringing prices down fast. For a regular commuter driving that 230-mile week, a used Chevy Bolt or Nissan Leaf for under $20,000 isn’t really a luxury. It’s just financial sense.