PHOENIX — It's "National Drive Electric Week," and with high gas prices, you may be thinking about making the switch to an electric vehicle. But how much can it really save you?
Vince Kaderabek says gas prices were part of the reason why he bought a Tesla in March. While there have been dueling studies on what's cheaper to maintain: an electric car or a gas-powered vehicle, experts say it depends on a number of factors like where you live and how far you travel.
APS says their customers on average are spending an extra $30-$40 a month on their electric bills charging from home. According to J.D. Power, the average American spends $150- $200 a month on fuel.
But to reap the benefits, you need to pay attention to when you charge. Charging overnight is typically the most common and actually the most cost-effective.
"What we often encourage customers with EVs is to consider changing their home rate plan to what we call a time of use rate plan and what that allows customers to do is to take advantage of the lower-priced energy during APS's off-peak hours," said APS Program Consultant Tony Perez. "Off-peak hours are essentially hours of the day where most consumers aren't using energy. That's when electricity's going to be at its cheapest and to avoid charging their vehicles during the peak hours when most people use energy and that's typically going to be from the hours of 4 p.m. to 7 p.m."
Kaderabek says with the amount of driving he does, it costs him an extra $16 a week on his electric bill. That's saving him about $80 a week on what he used to spend on gas. But he says there is a downside. He showed us the two charging stations he got for his Tesla and his brother's Tesla. Each one cost about $500, but he says the installation cost thousands of dollars.
He says you can find cheaper chargers that plug into an outlet, but they could take up to 24 hours to fully charge your car.
"That's just not feasible for someone who drives on a regular basis," he said.
Because of that, he says it'll take him a while to get a return on his investment.
"Realistically, I'm not saving any money until about 10 years of owning these vehicles," he said. "The biggest takeaway is, it's not as easy as you think to own one and that's 100% because of the charging needs. But as far as the performance goes, the way it drives, it's much different from gasoline cars and much better."
Kaderabek says it's often difficult to find charging stations around town that are not only available but can charge your vehicle quickly.
Through a partnership with Electrify America, APS says it has installed ultra-fast charging stations near travel corridors in their service area.
The app "PlugShare" can also help you find charging stations nearest to you.
According to APS and SRP, you can qualify for rebates and discounts to install a charging station at your home.
