---
title: 'Gas vs EV: Is It CHEAPER to Buy a Hybrid, PHEV or EV With Gas Prices Skyrocketing?'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=4pv_i-TuB68'
video_id: '4pv_i-TuB68'
date: 2026-06-30
duration_sec: 521
---

# Gas vs EV: Is It CHEAPER to Buy a Hybrid, PHEV or EV With Gas Prices Skyrocketing?

> Source: [Gas vs EV: Is It CHEAPER to Buy a Hybrid, PHEV or EV With Gas Prices Skyrocketing?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=4pv_i-TuB68)

## Summary

The video compares the 5-year fuel costs of an electric vehicle (Tesla Model Y), a plug-in hybrid (RAV4 Prime), a hybrid (RAV4 Hybrid), and a gas car (Honda CRV) using current gas prices of $4.52/gallon and home electricity at $0.19/kWh. It calculates total ownership costs including purchase price and fuel/charging expenses to determine which type saves the most money.

### Key Points

- **Gas price baseline** [0:31] — Average gas price is $4.52/gallon for regular.
- **Tesla Model Y specs** [1:01] — Tesla Model Y purchase price ~$50,600, range 327 miles, battery 81 kWh, home charging $0.19/kWh.
- **Tesla 5-year charging cost** [2:45] — 5-year home charging cost for Tesla: $3,462.
- **RAV4 PHEV specs and cost** [3:07] — RAV4 plug-in hybrid (Prime) purchase ~$49,295, 5-year fueling cost $6,681.
- **RAV4 Hybrid 5-year cost** [4:32] — RAV4 Hybrid (non-plug-in) 5-year fuel cost: $7,441.46.
- **Honda CRV specs and cost** [5:00] — Honda CRV (gas) purchase $38,350, 5-year fuel cost $10,520.
- **Overall savings comparison** [6:30] — Tesla saves ~$7,000 over 5 years vs gas CRV, but upfront cost is ~$12,000 more.
- **PHEV vs hybrid difference** [6:59] — Plug-in hybrid not much cheaper than regular hybrid over 5 years.
- **Key takeaway** [7:31] — Higher gas prices increase savings for EVs; also maintenance savings.

## Transcript

Hey, Andre, with the price of gas
through the roof, have you ever
considered how much money you would save
if you went all electric versus a
traditional internal combustion car, a
hybrid, or plug-in hybrid? I wonder it
every day because the price of gas and
also diesel is going through the roof,
like you said. And does it make sense to
buy electric right now or not?
>> Yeah, and at the end of this video,
you're going to know exactly over 5
years how much money you would save if
you did buy one or all four of those
cars. So, let's start with some basic
caveats because there are a lot of
caveats here, and that is that the
average price of gas as of this video is
$4.52 a gallon. That's for the regular
gas, not even premium.
>> Right. Right. So, that's the number that
we're going off of. Now, what we're
going to do is we're going to look at
the 5-year cost of driving these
different kinds of cars and see how much
it would cost you in terms of fueling
them up. So, let's start with uh the
electric car. We picked the Tesla Model
Y because it is the most popular car
in the world, at least as far as
electricity Yep. Yep. Yep. Uh so, the
cost of the vehicle, uh we're picking a
premium cuz it's all-wheel drive, and
all these cars are going to be all-wheel
drive, is uh $50,000.
>> Okay. 6 $50,600.
>> About 50. Yep. The range is 327 miles.
Uh
battery capacity is 81 kWh.
Uh and it charges up to 250 kW on a V3
or V4 supercharger. Uh and the running
cost, now this is where it gets really
caviati, uh depends on how you charge
it. So, if you charge it at home, we're
going with $0.19 a or 19 cents a kWh.
>> And that's kind of a national average
based on some Federal Reserve data. Yep.
If you're supercharging it, it would be
30 cents a kWh. Electrify America, 48
cents a kWh. And EVgo, 25 cents a kWh.
But, for the purpose of this video and
this calculation, we're going for home
charging cuz I think most people charge
at home. Yeah, because you're not doing
a road trip every day, right? But,
you're mostly commuting. So, home
charging, I think, makes a lot of sense.
All right. so just some quick number
crunching that Zach did here and that is
using an efficiency of 27 kilowatt hours
per 100 miles and that's an EPA number.
Okay, for the Model Y. Yep, and the
average miles driven once again is
13,500
or in other words 3,645 kilowatt hours.
This is based on the Federal Highway
Administration. So this is not the
numbers we're making up. It's based on
some data. Okay, so let's talk about
5-year charging cost. If you charge it
at a supercharger for 5 years, it would
cost you $5,467.
Okay. Um, if you use some of the
competitors, it would be up to $9,112
and if you charged it at home, $3,462.
For 5 years, I really like the last
number you said, $3,462
to run a car for 5 years. That sounds
incredible. So the total purchase cost
plus running charge is $54,092
and some cents. Okay. Let's go from most
electric to least electric. So the next
one that has the most electrification
would be a pure plug-in hybrid and for
that one we're going to use the RAV4 XSE
plug-in hybrid starts at about 49,295
or about the same as a Tesla. I know it
is quite pricey but also the RAV4 is one
of the most popular vehicles right now.
It's actually for 2025 was the most
popular car. Yeah, so it's it's you
know, all-wheel drive versus all-wheel
drive.
So they are very comparable in price,
very comparable in terms of their number
of wheels being driven. The driving
range on the plug-in hybrid used to be
called the prime is 650 miles.
>> That's huge.
>> That's a Toyota estimate. Electric range
is 52 miles, once again a Toyota
estimate. Battery capacity is 22.7
kilowatt hours.
Uh, and the average efficiency is 43.65
kilowatt hours per 100 miles based on
the manufacturer. Fuel tank size 15
gallons or 14.5 and charging capability
up to 50 kilowatts on a DC fast chargers
at 11 kilowatts on a level two or home
charger. All right, so let's talk about
running costs. That's the more important
one. Yeah, exactly. And after 5 years
and using once again all the assumptions
that we have made already. So a 5-year
fueling cost including electricity would
be $6,681.
Um, actually so that's almost double
what a Tesla would be.
>> Yeah, because now you're figuring the
price of gas. Yeah. All right, Andre,
assuming the same numbers so we're going
to get out of the weeds a little bit
here. Let's go to the next least
electric one which would be a RAV4
Hybrid. How much would that cost to run
for 5 years? And now it does not have an
electric plug. That's the difference,
right? So there's no way to plug it in.
It's just a hybrid. Um, so after 5 years
according to our data here, $7,441.46.
So that's about well, about $800
over 5 years than a plug-in hybrid. And
then finally Zach threw in just because
most people are still buying traditional
ice engines the Honda CRV EXL which is a
regular gas-powered car. This is cheaper
of course 38,350
driving range 406 miles average fuel
economy according to the EPA 29
MPG and fuel tank size 14 which means in
terms of numbers Andre Overall after 5
years and this is no electricity
involved in this particular CRV, 10,520
dollars
over 5 years in fuel costs according to
today's price. All right, Andre, let's
wrap this up and do kind of the
takeaway. How much would you save if you
went all electric? So let's start with
the Tesla Model Y. Purchase cost like I
said is about $50,000 and the cost of
running that for
a 5 years would be? 3,462
bucks. Okay, now if you decided to go
plug-in hybrid with the RAV4, which
actually as tested would also cost
around $50,000, how much would that be?
$6,681
or about $3,200
difference.
Yeah, it's substantial. All right, and
then how about the regular old RAV4
hybrid, the one that everybody knows?
Yes 7,441.
So, actually not that much different
from a plug-in hybrid, actually. Yeah,
so you're not getting that much by going
plug-in hybrid. Once again, lots of
caveats here. And finally, if you went
with the cheapest car, uh the CRV Oof,
uh you're you're you're spending $10,520
on fuel. So, compared to the Tesla, it's
almost 7,000 more. Yeah.
Yeah, that's a huge difference. Yeah, so
there you have it. Over a five-year
period, you will save money. Now, of
course, the purchase price of these cars
varies greatly. So, for instance, the
CRV is 38,000. Uh so, you're going to
spend
almost 12,000 more by buying the Tesla.
Exactly. So, the money you spend
initially to buy the Tesla is actually
what you would be spending on fueling
the Honda. So, it could actually break
even in the end. But, I'm wondering,
dude, is a plug-in hybrid really worth
it? Because there's not a huge
difference between that and the regular
hybrid. I would just go regular hybrid,
maybe. Yeah, or you can go the other
way. I mean, you don't have to get the
Model Y. You can get a Nissan Leaf SV.
Uh those start uh uh you know much less
than the Tesla.
>> Yeah, about $35,000. And if you want
all-wheel drive, you can go with the
Hyundai Ioniq 5 SEL, uh which is still
$9,000 less than a Tesla Model Y. So,
there are a lot of different choices
here, but I think
the the takeaway for me, Andre, is that
the higher the price of gas, the more
money you save by going all-electric,
which I think is pretty much what we had
assumed at the beginning of this video.
Yeah, and an electric vehicle versus an
internal combustion vehicle, if the
technology gets to the point where
they're the same price, the electric
vehicle wins on on cost.
>> And also on maintenance. Yes. Because
there are certainly no oil to change,
less brakes to change,
and then of course the question is how
much is the range anxiety,
you know, playing into your calculation.
Do you have a place to charge it? In
other words, are you living in a house
where you can plug it in at home, or are
you living in an apartment? Do you have
to go public charging? So, like I said,
this video has so many caveats, but I
think if you kind of look at it,
it makes sense that the more electric
you go, the more money you save on fuel
at least over a 5-year period. And if
they want to see more videos, Andre,
alltfl.com.
And thank you, Zach, for putting this
together. My mind is reeling with all
these numbers. I hope we didn't confuse
you too much. We'll see you guys next
time. Ciao.