Automobile energy costs for each state / Should you buy a car that runs on gasoline or electricity?

 

https://www.chooseenergy.com/ 

https://www.chooseenergy.com/data-center/cost-of-driving-by-state/ 

Which states are the most energy-cost efficient for drivers? That depends, of course, on whether a motorist is operating a traditional gasoline-powered vehicle or an electric vehicle. Which means there are multiple answers to that question of vehicle energy-cost effectiveness, and the answers can and do change each month.

ChooseEnergy.com’s Driving Fuel Costs by State page monitors monthly costs to show you the latest statistics, trends and analysis of the costs to drive traditional vehicles and electric ones. Choose Energy analysts crunch numbers provided by AAA, the Department of Energy and other sources to measure differences by state.

Let’s start with gasoline. As of July 31, drivers in the U.S. paid an average of $2.18 per gallon for regular gasoline, according to AAA. That was 41 cents less per gallon than on Jan. 1.

Which states had the most and least expensive gasoline?

Drivers in Hawaii paid the most for their gasoline on July 31 – $3.24 per gallon. That was 0.6 percent more than they paid one month earlier but still  48.6 percent more than the national average. Drivers in Mississippi paid the least per gallon on July 31 – $1.84.

Following are the states where drivers paid the most and least for gasoline on July 31:

Most expensive states	July 31 price per gallon	Least expensive states	July 31 price per gallon
Hawaii	$3.24	Mississippi	$1.84
California	$3.18	Louisiana	$1.86
Washington	$2.80	Texas	$1.88
Nevada	$2.66	Alabama	$1.89
Oregon	$2.66	Arkansas	$1.89
Alaska	$2.53	Oklahoma	$1.90
Colorado	$2.44	Missouri	$1.91
Idaho	$2.42	South Carolina	$1.92
Pennsylvania	$2.42	Tennessee	$1.93
Illinois	$2.38	Kansas	$1.98

Regular gasoline prices in individual states are volatile. From July 1 to July 31, they increased in every state. Following are the 10 states in which prices rose by the greatest percentage from July 1 to July 31:

State	July 31 price per gallon	% change from July 1
Delaware	$2.24	4.2
California	$3.18	3.6
South Dakota	$2.16	3.3
Wyoming	$2.19	3.3
Montana	$2.25	3.2
Maryland	$2.27	3.2
Utah	$2.37	3.0
Idaho	$2.42	3.0
Maine	$2.21	2.8
Washington	$2.80	2.6

Following are the states with the biggest decreases in their price per gallon as of July 31:

State	July 31 price per gallon	% change from July 1
North Carolina	$1.98	-3.9
West Virginia	$2.15	-3.2
Wisconsin	$2.06	-2.8
Ohio	$2.11	-2.8
Kentucky	$2.05	-2.4
Michigan	$2.14	-2.3
Minnesota	$2.06	-1.9
Indiana	$2.11	-1.9
Iowa	$2.07	-1.4
Arizona	$2.34	-1.3

What are eGallons, and which states had the best prices?

The U.S. Department of Energy has developed a measure called an eGallon to compare the cost of fueling a vehicle with electricity compared with a similar vehicle that uses gasoline. The DOE calculates how much electricity the most popular electric vehicles would need to travel the same distance as similar model gasoline-powered cars. That amount of electricity is then multiplied by the average cost of electricity in the state.

So which state had the lowest eGallon price? Louisiana had the lowest eGallon rate of $0.84 as of July 25, the latest date prices were calculated by the EIA. The highest eGallon price was in Hawaii, at $2.98.

Following are the 10 highest and lowest eGallon prices as of July 25:

Highest priced states	Price per eGallon (July 25)	Lowest price states	Price per eGallon (July 25)
Hawaii	$2.98	Louisiana	$0.84
Connecticut	$2.14	Idaho	$0.86
Rhode Island	$2.13	Washington	$0.88
Massachusetts	$2.11	North Dakota	$0.93
Alaska	$2.02	Missouri	$0.94
California	$1.86	Oklahoma	$0.94
Vermont	$1.78	Utah	$0.94
New Hampshire	$1.76	Arkansas	$0.97
New York	$1.58	Tennessee	$0.99
Maine	$1.53	Oregon	$1.00

Which states are best for electric vehicle drivers?

Other than the initial cost of the purchase, nearly every state is better for electric vehicles when comparing the cost of fueling/charging – on average, the cost is about 55 percent lower for EVs. But in some states, the difference is dramatic. The widest gap between the prices using the July 25 eGallon numbers is in Washington, where it is $1.92. In Rhode Island, gasoline costs 2 cents less than the July 25 eGallon prices.

Following is a list of the 10 states where drivers could save the most on fuel by switching to an electric vehicle:

State	Gap between prices	State	Gap between prices
Washington	$1.92	Colorado	$1.34
Oregon	$1.66	California	$1.32
Nevada	$1.59	Montana	$1.23
Idaho	$1.56	Wyoming	$1.19
Utah	$1.43	Arizona	$1.18

By the numbers

Following are state-by-state numbers on the average price of gasoline per gallon of the month, the percentage above or below the U.S. average, the most recent eGallon price, and the spread between the two.

State	July 31 price per gallon	% above/below U.S. average	Price per eGallon (July 25)	Spread
Alabama	$1.89	-13.3	$1.17	$0.72
Alaska	$2.53	16.1	$2.02	$0.51
Arizona	$2.34	7.3	$1.16	$1.18
Arkansas	$1.89	-13.3	$0.97	$0.92
California	$3.18	45.9	$1.86	$1.32
Colorado	$2.44	11.9	$1.10	$1.34
Connecticut	$2.20	0.9	$2.14	$0.06
Delaware	$2.24	2.8	$1.18	$1.06
District of Columbia	$2.30	5.5	$1.13	$1.17
Florida	$2.15	-1.4	$1.07	$1.08
Georgia	$2.00	-8.3	$1.04	$0.96
Hawaii	$3.24	48.6	$2.98	$0.26
Idaho	$2.42	11.0	$0.86	$1.56
Illinois	$2.38	9.2	$1.25	$1.13
Indiana	$2.11	-3.2	$1.15	$0.96
Iowa	$2.07	-5.0	$1.16	$0.91
Kansas	$1.98	-9.2	$1.18	$0.80
Kentucky	$2.05	-6.0	$1.01	$1.04
Louisiana	$1.86	-14.7	$0.84	$1.02
Maine	$2.21	1.4	$1.53	$0.68
Maryland	$2.27	4.1	$1.20	$1.07
Massachusetts	$2.14	-1.8	$2.11	$0.03
Michigan	$2.14	-1.8	$1.47	$0.67
Minnesota	$2.06	-5.5	$1.20	$0.86
Mississippi	$1.84	-15.6	$1.06	$0.78
Missouri	$1.91	-12.4	$0.94	$0.97
Montana	$2.25	3.2	$1.02	$1.23
Nebraska	$2.12	-2.8	$1.01	$1.11
Nevada	$2.66	22.0	$1.07	$1.59
New Hampshire	$2.12	-2.8	$1.76	$0.36
New Jersey	$2.19	0.5	$1.45	$0.74
New Mexico	$2.04	-6.4	$1.15	$0.89
New York	$2.27	4.1	$1.58	$0.69
North Carolina	$1.98	-9.2	$1.09	$0.89
North Dakota	$2.10	-3.7	$0.93	$1.17
Ohio	$2.11	-3.2	$1.11	$1.00
Oklahoma	$1.90	-12.8	$0.94	$0.96
Oregon	$2.66	22.0	$1.00	$1.66
Pennsylvania	$2.42	11.0	$1.25	$1.17
Rhode Island	$2.15	-1.4	$2.13	$0.02
South Carolina	$1.92	-11.9	$1.19	$0.73
South Dakota	$2.16	-0.9	$1.05	$1.11
Tennessee	$1.93	-11.5	$0.99	$0.94
Texas	$1.88	-13.8	$1.12	$0.76
Utah	$2.37	8.7	$0.94	$1.43
Vermont	$2.17	-0.5	$1.78	$0.39
Virginia	$1.99	-8.7	$1.16	$0.83
Washington	$2.80	28.4	$0.88	$1.92
West Virginia	$2.15	-1.4	$1.07	$1.08
Wisconsin	$2.06	-5.5	$1.35	$0.71
Wyoming	$2.19	0.5	$1.00	$1.19
US	$2.18	0.0	$1.21	$0.97

Of course, having low eGallon prices does no good without a sufficient number of public charging stations. According to YourMechanic.com, California has the largest number of stations – 4,978. Which is great. But a more accurate measure may be number of people per charging station. Vermont is tops there, with a station for every 3,780 residents, while California has one for every 7,942 people.

Following are the total public charging stations for each state, the number of people per charging station, and the rank of each state by the number of people per charging station.

State	No. of stations	People per charging station	Rank (people per charging station)
Alabama	132	36,930	47
Alaska	9	82,199	50
Arizona	474	14,802	26
Arkansas	100	30,043	45
California	4,978	7,942	5
Colorado	730	7,681	4
Connecticut	339	10,585	12
Delaware	47	20,467	37
Florida	1,173	17,890	33
Georgia	771	13,527	21
Hawaii	257	5,555	2
Idaho	64	26,827	42
Illinois	816	15,689	28
Indiana	423	15,761	29
Iowa	370	8,502	8
Kansas	214	13,613	22
Kentucky	161	27,666	43
Louisiana	114	41,091	48
Maine	139	9,611	10
Maryland	592	10,223	11
Massachusetts	576	11,909	15
Michigan	666	14,958	27
Minnesota	662	8,424	7
Mississippi	58	51,450	49
Missouri	496	12,326	16
Montana	36	29,180	44
Nebraska	168	11,429	14
Nevada	236	12,704	17
New Hampshire	97	13,843	23
New Jersey	274	32,867	46
New Mexico	85	24,566	41
New York	1,115	17,802	32
North Carolina	638	16,103	30
North Dakota	58	13,024	19
Ohio	566	20,598	38
Oklahoma	207	18,990	35
Oregon	597	6,939	3
Pennsylvania	550	23,283	40
Rhode Island	83	12,767	18
South Carolina	280	17,944	34
South Dakota	105	8,283	6
Tennessee	468	14,350	25
Texas	1,351	20,951	39
Utah	224	13,847	24
Vermont	165	3,780	1
Virginia	512	16,543	31
Washington	830	8,923	9
West Virginia	95	19,114	36
Wisconsin	440	13,172	20
Wyoming	54	10,728	13

By the way, we feel compelled to point out that the YourMechanic.com page referenced has a ton of good info about EVs. You should check it out, but only after you’re done here.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

(Last updated July 4, 2020)