I charged a Kia EV9 for the first time and it was more expensive than filling up my gas-powered car

[Franco35]

As some have stated here already...there needs to be more context to this article. Very BASIC information needs to be added. If you are comparing the EV9 cost of charging to the national average cost of fuel for a comparable ICE vehicle then it is noticeably less. Comparing to the Telluride(or any 3rd row SUV) which has a 19 gallon tank and with a national average fuel cost of $3.50 per gallon it would cost you $66 to fill up. Also you should have factored in cost of L2 vs L3. When you're writing/reporting information can be added or omited to fit a narrative. Once again, context matters. Hate to say it, but this article was written lazy and with very minimal research would have had a very different narrative. Good luck with the next one.

 

[john_velasco]

Regardless of how much they cost to charge. When I stop seeing EVs burning on the side of the highway I’ll consider buying one. Wish i could post videos on here. This will be remembered as the biggest cash grab in history. Fear based Marketing. Society weaker than it’s ever been due to a chemically poisoned environment. Playing on anxiety from low Testosterone levels. So easy to trick animals into responding this way. We, as a society, have adopted the “sky is falling” mentality. I read chicken little as a kid. How has common sense been replaced by panic?

Every new technology has its barriers, but it'

Sensationalize the headline much? Is your vehicle also a 7 passenger full size SUV? How many miles do you get out of that tank?

All EV owners know that the real savings is amortized over the total number of miles driven, not one charge, since home charging is generally significantly less than public. Even if it wasn't, you are still keeping eliminate thousands of pounds of greenhouse gasses over years worth of driving.

You're correct that all EV owners should know this. But I'm taking it from the point of car shoppers thinking about buying an EV.

Sensationalize the headline much? Is your vehicle also a 7 passenger full size SUV? How many miles do you get out of that tank?

All EV owners know that the real savings is amortized over the total number of miles driven, not one charge, since home charging is generally significantly less than public. Even if it wasn't, you are still keeping eliminate thousands of pounds of greenhouse gasses over years worth of driving.

Yet this is the kind of stuff people should know if they're buying an EV and charging for the first time. I'm not even adding the

Very disappointed from Tom’s guide at putting out this sensationalistic report. You guys are supposed to cut through the bull and show honest reviews about how technology works! As was previously noted this is a sensational and misinformation article. I bet I could find a place nearby my house where I could go and spend an extra two dollars a gallon on gas as well! I will definitely be bypassing Tom’s guide articles in the future. You’re turning into just another Clickbait machine.

This is exactly what I detail in this article. TLDR: don't be surprised by prices at charging stations, but you'll save a ton more in the long run charging at home.

 

[john_velasco]

I almost never see a single comment in a Tom's Guide article, but apparently there's a group of people that take up arms the moment someone says something bad about EVs.

It happens in my YouTube videos with iPhone vs Androids. Just trying to share new experiences so that people are informed about stuff.

 

[Ned Jeeoh]

Actual EV9 owner here, SoCal.
My last L2 home charge during non-peak hours from <10% to 90% was 0.25 cents/ kwh for a whopping $14.81.
Proof: https://ibb.co/bsSNStC

Compare that to my ICE SUV which averages $70 a fill, minimum.

And to actually provide a comparison: My first (and only) go at a DC Fast public charger (also ChargePoint) during peak was $39.15.
Proof: https://ibb.co/DDSyZHZ

I'll give the author credit for engagement farming and getting my attention. Now try being objective.

 

[Jon McCarrick]

I do drive a gas powered car and hate paying for gas. But regardless of the vehicle type, most of the people I talked to who don't have an EV and thinking of buying one thought it would be MUCH cheaper to charge at a charging station vs paying for gas. That's why I point out where are the real savings.

John,

You picked a worst possible case scenario against your normal daily life. You road tripped and needed charging during peak hours in a region that has a high disparity. This is a super rare event for an EV owner. And even if it does occur occasionally, it is way cheaper on average. I pay $.12/kwh at my home and my normal rate has been $.45/kwh on roadtrips. As a Mach E owner, it will normally be $.50/kwh at Tesla stations. If I am doing my worst case scenario of being at 10% and charging to 80%, I would pay between $27 and $32 for my 64 kwh. That is less than half of what you are representing here. And even if it did happen once (like traveling through Texas during a heatwave), I would be annoyed but not place the blame on the car.

 

[rtt81]

I don't feel like you're intentionally misleading, but the article does seem like you're sensationalizing the situation. You compared a big battery to a gas tank of a civic. An expedition has a gas tank of 23 gallons compared to your economy car of 13. Not a good look. Electric charging costs different on variables just like gas. If you dry m are about to run out of gas and have to stop at a place that's .40c higher, that's what you get for not paying attention. Feel like you did a poor job comparing the situations and hourly it wasn't intentional. I don't own an EV, but i consider them when the time is right with infrastructure and my life. Posting misleading articles like this intentionally or by mistake shows spec the adoption to alternatives of ICE. We will never be fully EV with current technology but mixed adoption is great

 

[MuggleJedi77]

You can't compare this with your ICE vehicle that has a 14.2 gallon gas tank. The EV9 would be equivalent to the Telluride which would have an approximate 18.5 gallon gas tank. Therefore, at $3.50/gallon, the cost would be $64.75 so you actually saved $18.75 over an ICE vehicle comparing apples to apples. Extrapolate this over a year with an average fill up of once per week, you are saving $975/yr. Granted, this also means that you were completely empty on both vehicles.

 

[davidc22]

Made an account just to complain about how sensational this title is, not a good look at all

 

[john_velasco]

Regardless of how much they cost to charge. When I stop seeing EVs burning on the side of the highway I’ll consider buying one. Wish i could post videos on here. This will be remembered as the biggest cash grab in history. Fear based Marketing. Society weaker than it’s ever been due to a chemically poisoned environment. Playing on anxiety from low Testosterone levels. So easy to trick animals into responding this way. We, as a society, have adopted the “sky is falling” mentality. I read chicken little as a kid. How has common sense been replaced by panic?

I see more ICE vehicles burning on the road, but that makes sense since there are more of them. This has nothing to do about that though. This is about the real cost of owning an EV, which will have greater savings in the long run.

 

[john_velasco]

Why is the author comparing a huge SUV charge up cost to his gas car with a small 13 gallon tank? I'm sure the EV9 is still cheaper at peak rates than filling up any gas powered SUV of similar size.

I made an update to explain the cost more:

UPDATE: I want to take explain why this is a shock using the Kia Telluride as an example. Knowing that the $46 cost of charging gave back 180 miles of range to the EV9, the better comparison would be to know how much it would cost for the Kia Telluride AWD to presumably get the same range. It has a an 18.8 gallon gas tank, and when you factor in its abysmal combined 20 mpg fuel economy, it would take filling up 9 gallons of gas to reach the same 180 miles. With regular unleaded gas at my closest gas station at $3.31/gallon, it would cost under $30 for the Telluride to presumably get 180 miles.

 

[john_velasco]

You can't compare this with your ICE vehicle that has a 14.2 gallon gas tank. The EV9 would be equivalent to the Telluride which would have an approximate 18.5 gallon gas tank. Therefore, at $3.50/gallon, the cost would be $64.75 so you actually saved $18.75 over an ICE vehicle comparing apples to apples. Extrapolate this over a year with an average fill up of once per week, you are saving $975/yr. Granted, this also means that you were completely empty on both vehicles.

What you explain isn't a fair comparison either.

UPDATE: I want to take explain why this is a shock using the Kia Telluride as an example. Knowing that the $46 cost of charging gave back 180 miles of range to the EV9, the better comparison would be to know how much it would cost for the Kia Telluride AWD to presumably get the same range. It has a an 18.8 gallon gas tank, and when you factor in its abysmal combined 20 mpg fuel economy, it would take filling up 9 gallons of gas to reach the same 180 miles. With regular unleaded gas at my closest gas station at $3.31/gallon, it would cost under $30 for the Telluride to presumably get 180 miles.

 

[ChrisP74]

What you explain isn't a fair comparison either.

UPDATE: I want to take explain why this is a shock using the Kia Telluride as an example. Knowing that the $46 cost of charging gave back 180 miles of range to the EV9, the better comparison would be to know how much it would cost for the Kia Telluride AWD to presumably get the same range. It has a an 18.8 gallon gas tank, and when you factor in its abysmal combined 20 mpg fuel economy, it would take filling up 9 gallons of gas to reach the same 180 miles. With regular unleaded gas at my closest gas station at $3.31/gallon, it would cost under $30 for the Telluride to presumably get 180 miles.

It's still disingenuous because you are assuming you left your home with 0% charge. Normally you wouldn't - you'd leave with 100% and about 280 miles. So in essence you have traveled a similar distance to the Telluride, and still costing less. Overall trip costs are reflective of the true cost of EV ownership.

Many folks I know bought EV's to be environmentally conscience, not necessarily to save money.

 

[cngma]

Absolutely terrible titles terrible article. Shane shame shame. A valuable article by a person that can offer some value to the reader would include math, you know, 10th grade math to teach them how to compare cost and what is the break even points. Make clear assumptions such as mpg and mp kwh.. cost per x. This was sloppy embarrassing and please just delete this.

 

[BoneDoc]

Very disappointed from Tom’s guide at putting out this sensationalistic report. You guys are supposed to cut through the bull and show honest reviews about how technology works! As was previously noted this is a sensational and misinformation article. I bet I could find a place nearby my house where I could go and spend an extra two dollars a gallon on gas as well! I will definitely be bypassing Tom’s guide articles in the future. You’re turning into just another Clickbait machine.

Agreed. This article was a waste of time.

 

[CommodoreChungus]

All EV owners know that the real savings is amortized over the total number of miles driven, not one charge, since home charging is generally significantly less than public.

But not even that. There's not "real savings" for EV purchasers once we really tally up all the costs, and if there is, it's really so small it's totally possible to get lost in the wash of the variability of the ownership of particular cars.

Take the purchase price premium of your EV. Add in the cost of installing a level 2 charger. Add in the annual cost of registering an electric vehicle. Now add the additional insurance premium. And the incredible vehicle depreciation. Now, assume someone buys a gas car and invests everything not spent on an EV in index funds yielding 7% on average (or hell, 5% if it's got to be an FDIC backed CD) . When are you breaking even, if ever? When are you breaking even if you're part of the half of the population driving less than the average mileage? When are you so far ahead you're just laughing at how great an investment it is?

The answer is "basically never" to "well if I pretend like I was going to buy some high performance luxury BMW for whom the purchasers would casually drop $10k on a nice stereo upgrade option then in 12 years at 15k miles a year paying for high octane gasoline.... in California..."" to which the response is "if you actually were sensitive to the price of gas you wouldn't be considering that particularly inefficient BMW in the first place" and "Ok, how about for the rest of ordinary folks not buying high end luxury BMWs?"

For ordinary folks it's "keep driving your current car, even if it's some 20mpg Chevy Suburban and you're coming out ahead, because you're not spending even $20k on gas anytime soon" and "if you're really bothered by the price of gas, buy a used Prius, a new prius or some hybrid SUV". This is where the reality comes out- EVs aren't for people actually bothered by the price of gas, EVs are opportunities for consumption by people who like to pretend like they care about the price of gas.

 

[mlambert890]

"Some people are like sheep"

Oh the irony 🤣🤣

So clever!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Unfortunately, really unfortunately, there is no irony.

The fact is anyone who continues to:

1) ignore the obvious impacts of climate change and...
2) the outsized impact human behavior has on above and...
3) the significant contribution gas cars have on above....

Is simply delusional.
But hey keep guzzling gas and loving your vroom vroom sounds. I'm sure your grandkids will fix it. Just don't look up!

 

[mlambert890]

But not even that. There's not "real savings" for EV purchasers once we really tally up all the costs, and if there is, it's really so small it's totally possible to get lost in the wash of the variability of the ownership of particular cars.

Take the purchase price premium of your EV. Add in the cost of installing a level 2 charger. Add in the annual cost of registering an electric vehicle. Now add the additional insurance premium. And the incredible vehicle depreciation. Now, assume someone buys a gas car and invests everything not spent on an EV in index funds yielding 7% on average (or hell, 5% if it's got to be an FDIC backed CD) . When are you breaking even, if ever? When are you breaking even if you're part of the half of the population driving less than the average mileage? When are you so far ahead you're just laughing at how great an investment it is?

The answer is "basically never" to "well if I pretend like I was going to buy some high performance luxury BMW for whom the purchasers would casually drop $10k on a nice stereo upgrade option then in 12 years at 15k miles a year paying for high octane gasoline.... in California..."" to which the response is "if you actually were sensitive to the price of gas you wouldn't be considering that particularly inefficient BMW in the first place" and "Ok, how about for the rest of ordinary folks not buying high end luxury BMWs?"

For ordinary folks it's "keep driving your current car, even if it's some 20mpg Chevy Suburban and you're coming out ahead, because you're not spending even $20k on gas anytime soon" and "if you're really bothered by the price of gas, buy a used Prius, a new prius or some hybrid SUV". This is where the reality comes out- EVs aren't for people actually bothered by the price of gas, EVs are opportunities for consumption by people who like to pretend like they care about the price of gas.

You've clearly convinced yourself here, but none of above maps to reality. And that's even if you pretend that just continuing to guzzle gas forever is beautiful and wonderful for the environment and the climate (ie remain in denial)

The actual data shows the average price people are really paying to buy and maintain PoS ICE cars. Not what they "pretend to buy", per your odd thesis, what they actually buy.

The average US car buyer is spending $48k on new gas burners, that barely break 24MPG, and then keeps these monstrosities on the road about eight years before dropping that money again.

They complain about the "price of gas" every minute of that ownership, as the dinosaur gets less and less efficient, and burns more and more gas, its entire life since people (also statistically), generally don't do well keeping up on the endless ICE maintenance after the first few years are up. Certainly never replacing the fuel injectors as long as they remain even semi functional.

70% of them also have access to a garage, drive less than 40 mi a day, take one "road trip" per year that is less than 500 miles, tote around three people, and never tow or haul a damn thing (once again, all proven by actual data). But of course they are all convinced that an "EV can't possibly fit their lifestyle". Only a gigantic 18MPG SUV/truck can. Plus "EVs catch fire, don't work in winter, are impossible to charge, and are worse for the environment". All laughable lies, yet taken as gospel thanks to the human need to confirm bias when faced with change, and the medias voracious appetite for feeding it if there's money to be made.

Claiming that switching from buying a gallon or two of gas a day, every day, in addition to all of the other ICE maintenance over eight years, would "never end up more expensive" than plugging the car in over night, never buying gas again, and switching to the statistically lower EV maintenance, is delusional.

The content of the article and any merits of the piece are irrelevant. It's a terrible, deliberately sensationalist, headline designed to monetize the bias of the ICE fanatics you see posting here.

You can make reasonable points about the reality of the potential costs of DC fast charging without feeding the fossil industry FUD machine! The headline will now be used as "proof" that "EVs are a scam" by all of the right wing rags. The actual content won't be quoted or read. Incredibly disappointing from Tom's Guide especially.

 

[bazeemuth]

But not even that. There's not "real savings" for EV purchasers once we really tally up all the costs, and if there is, it's really so small it's totally possible to get lost in the wash of the variability of the ownership of particular cars.

Take the purchase price premium of your EV. Add in the cost of installing a level 2 charger. Add in the annual cost of registering an electric vehicle. Now add the additional insurance premium. And the incredible vehicle depreciation. Now, assume someone buys a gas car and invests everything not spent on an EV in index funds yielding 7% on average (or hell, 5% if it's got to be an FDIC backed CD) . When are you breaking even, if ever? When are you breaking even if you're part of the half of the population driving less than the average mileage? When are you so far ahead you're just laughing at how great an investment it is?

The answer is "basically never" to "well if I pretend like I was going to buy some high performance luxury BMW for whom the purchasers would casually drop $10k on a nice stereo upgrade option then in 12 years at 15k miles a year paying for high octane gasoline.... in California..."" to which the response is "if you actually were sensitive to the price of gas you wouldn't be considering that particularly inefficient BMW in the first place" and "Ok, how about for the rest of ordinary folks not buying high end luxury BMWs?"

For ordinary folks it's "keep driving your current car, even if it's some 20mpg Chevy Suburban and you're coming out ahead, because you're not spending even $20k on gas anytime soon" and "if you're really bothered by the price of gas, buy a used Prius, a new prius or some hybrid SUV". This is where the reality comes out- EVs aren't for people actually bothered by the price of gas, EVs are opportunities for consumption by people who like to pretend like they care about the price of gas.

Show me the numbers, Chungus. My 2023 Bolt EUV (which, yes, got a $7500 federal tax credit) has a much lower lifetime carbon footprint than a typical ICE vehicle (not sure about a 50-mpg hybrid) and that's why I bought it:

My commute is only 18 miles so I charge it overnight on 120v.

 

[RichieTee757]

Yes, fast charging at public chargers on the go can be more expensive than gas. But most EV owners are going to have a home charger installed. You wake up every morning with a full tank, at 1/5 the cost of gas, or less. This article is so misleading about the costs of charging an EV.

 

[RichieTee757]

I almost never see a single comment in a Tom's Guide article, but apparently there's a group of people that take up arms the moment someone says something bad about EVs.

It’s not about saying something bad about EVs. It’s a very misleading article regarding the real life overall costs of charging an EV.

It’s like complaining about the cost of a charging stick at the airport because you forgot to charge your phone at home. Unless you drive long distances frequently, this article doesn’t apply.