---
title: 'TESLA vs GAS: TRUE Costs After 50k Miles'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=bLiKEY7i1g4'
video_id: 'bLiKEY7i1g4'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 0
---

# TESLA vs GAS: TRUE Costs After 50k Miles

> Source: [TESLA vs GAS: TRUE Costs After 50k Miles](https://youtube.com/watch?v=bLiKEY7i1g4)

## Summary

This video details the actual costs of owning a Tesla Model 3 over 52,000 miles, comparing them to the estimated costs of a gasoline car. The creator breaks down expenses for charging, maintenance, and insurance, revealing total savings of nearly $8,000.

### Key Points

- **Total Charging Cost** [0:42] — Over 52,000 miles, total charging cost was $2,840, split between home ($1,335) and Superchargers ($1,505). Home charging was cheaper overall, but road trips increased Supercharger usage.
- **Savings on Fuel vs Gas** [2:58] — Using the Tesla app's calculation based on Nevada gas prices, the equivalent gas cost would have been $7,296. This translates to a fuel savings of $4,456 over 52,000 miles.
- **Maintenance Costs (Very Low)** [5:02] — Total maintenance cost was only $158, including air filters ($30), tire rotations and balances (3 times, $40 each = $120), and windshield washer fluid ($8). The car still has its original tires.
- **Gas Car Maintenance Estimate** [5:53] — ChatGPT estimated maintenance for a gas car over 50k miles ranges from $1,920 to $4,600, highlighting significant potential savings for the Tesla.
- **Insurance Cost with Tesla Insurance** [7:01] — Monthly premium is around $93.79 (with a 99 safety score). Over two years, this totals about $2,251, but the owner warns that Tesla Insurance is slow with claims despite being cheaper.
- **Insurance Savings vs Gas Car** [7:39] — Assuming an average gas car insurance of $150/month, the Tesla owner saves about $56.21 per month, totaling $1,349.04 over two years.
- **Total Costs and Savings** [8:59] — Total Tesla cost (charging + maintenance + insurance) = $5,245. Estimated gas car cost (using conservative estimates) = $13,235. Net savings = $7,990.04.

### Conclusion

Driving a Tesla is not cheap, costing around $5,245 over 52,000 miles, but it saves a significant amount compared to a gas car. The owner plans to drive it to 100,000 miles and will provide another cost update.

## Transcript

my longrange model 3 has hit 50,000
miles in a little over 2 years I'm going
to go through all the costs which
include charging maintenance and
insurance and compared them to what an
average gas car would have cost me over
those miles I did a whole 50,000 Mi
review which included cost and a bunch
of other things that's on my channel but
in this video I'm just talking about the
costs so let's go ahead and talk about
my main expense first which has been
charging and technically I'm just a hair
over 52,000 Mi you can see my total
spent charging over the life of my car
in 2022 was
$689 in 2023 was
$1,679 and in 2024 so far it's been
$472 and that all adds up to a total
charging cost of
$2,840 and the app is pretty cool
because it actually shows you how much
you spent at home versus at
superchargers so at home over that time
in 2022 I spent
$276 in 202 three I spent $718 and so
far in 2024 at home I spent $341 for a
total at home charging cost of
$1,335 and on the other hand
supercharging in 2022 I spent $413 and
2023 I spent $961 and so far in 2024 I
spent $131 for a grand supercharging
cost total of
$1,505 which I actually found kind of
interesting because we charge at home
pretty much all the time except when we
go on road trips which kind of makes
sense because on road trips although
we're only gone for a weekend or a week
or two at most we do rack up a lot of
miles and superchargers are quite a bit
more expensive than at home charging so
just keep in mind if you're somebody who
doesn't road trip as much as we do your
cost for charging can be a lot less than
what ours is but anyways
$2,840 to go a little over 52,000 Mi may
or may not sound like a lot so let's see
what it would have cost us if we were in
a gas car and what's cool about the
Tesla app is that when calculating these
savings it takes into account the
average gas prices in your state and I
think gas is a little more expensive
here in Nevada so anyways 2022 like I
said I spent $689 charging gas would
have cost me
$1,771 so I saved a total of
$1,082 that year in 2023 I spent $1,679
gas would have cost me
$4,240 so that year I saved
$2,565 and this year so far like I said
I spent $472 charging gas would have
cost me
$1,474 and this year I have saved
$102 so far so adding it all up like I
said I spent
$2,840 charging gas over the last 52,000
mil would have cost me somewhere around
7,29 $6 so in total by not having to get
gas I have saved
$464 which is a pretty good chunk of
change and that's only for charging
let's go ahead and talk about
maintenance next and spoiler alert this
will be a short section because I have
not done much to my car because I
haven't had to maintenance wise the
things I've done so far I've put in air
filters I've put air in my tires I've
done tire rotations three times and I
bought a gallon of windshield wash fluid
and that's it the air filters I
installed myself and listen I'm not very
handy so if I can do it you can
definitely do it I bought these air
filters from Amazon from a company
called the basor they're very easy to
put in they kit comes with everything
that you need I'll leave a link down
below if you're interested and these
cost me $30 I have put air in my tires a
few times it doesn't cost me anything
but it is maintenance and something that
I can do myself I've also rotated and
balanced my tires three times I think
Tesla recommends specifically every
6,250 miles to rotate your tires so
maybe over the last 52,000 miles I
should have done it more often but I've
done it three times so far for a total
of $40 each which adds up to a total of
$120 by balancing and rotating my tires
and yes I did have to buy a gallon of
windshield washer fluid even living here
in Vegas although it was not from Vegas
it was from our cross country road trip
we got stuck in Colorado in a snowstorm
so I went through a ton of the
windshield washer fluids I had to refill
it I sat at a local gas station there
and that cost us a total of $8 and
technically I had this maintenance as
well this literally happened the morning
after I got my car I had 17 freaking
miles on the odometer and while it
sucked it was 100% the other driver's
fault obviously so this actually didn't
cost me anything except for some severe
heartbreak for a while so between the
air filters rotating my tires and the
windshield washer fluid maintenance has
cost me a total of
$158 and you may notice that I didn't
include tires and well that's because
I'm still on the original tires people
say that Tesla tires tend to wear much
quickly but at 52,000 Mi mine are still
looking pretty good and I do have the
acceleration boost and while I do enjoy
that from time to time I generally don't
drive like a maniac so maybe that's
helped preserve the life of the tires so
my maintenance cost is $158 which is
super low but how much would I have
spent if I was driving a gas car so
obviously I couldn't find exact stats of
how much maintenance costs for 50,000 mi
in the gas car so I asked chat GPT after
52,000 Mi on a typical gasoline car how
much would a person spend on average in
maintenance costs and it told me the
first 50,000 mi in a gas car includes
these things and cost somewhere between
1,920 and
$4,600 so how much have I saved well
pick whatever number you want between
1920 and 4,600 and subtract 158 and
that's about how much I saved which is a
lot now let's talk about insurance and I
do have Tesla insurance and to be honest
I don't recommend Tesla Insurance when
something happens it is impossible to
get a hold of an adjuster or anybody at
the Tesla insurance company but they are
the cheapest for Teslas at least by a
pretty good amount compared to other
companies I've gotten quotes from so
Tesla Insurance monitors your driving
habits it gives you a safety score
depending on how safe you drive and then
it gives you a rate based on your safety
score and I think I saw somewhere a
safety score of 90 is average but my
fiance and I drive normal I would say
and we have no issue getting in the high
90s for our safy score so I feel like 90
is not hard to do but I just wanted to
clarify that because based on our safety
score our insurance premium does go up
or down a few dollars a month depending
on our score that month and also I do
have pretty decent insurance coverage
much more than the minimum so keep that
in mind so anyway my upcoming premium
for this month here in October is
$93.7 and that's based off a safety
score of 99 and like I said it does go
up or down a few dollars month per month
but let's use this number and compare
insurance premiums to a gas car so again
I asked chat GPT what does an average
driver pay per month for car insurance
and an average gas car it gave me
somewhere between 125 and 175 so we'll
use 150 just for an estimate so doing
some quick math let's do 150 minus what
I pay $
9379 equals $
5621 which is about how much I'm saving
per month by using Tesla insurance and
like I said I've had my car for a little
over two years so if we take that number
that I'm saving per month at 5621 and
take it over two years I saved
$1,349 and4 cents on car insurance over
2 years and I know some people actually
say that Teslas are more expensive to
ensure but most Tesla owners I talk to
are actually saving money on their car
insurance especially those who also have
Tesla insurance and yes again even with
that much savings we still wouldn't
recommend Tesla Insurance the model 3
collision went okay but we got an
accident in our model y back in February
and it is now October we are still
waiting for our deductible because they
guy didn't have insurance but it's long
story but things just move super super
slow with Tesla insurance so let's go
ahead and wrap up all up what you've
been waiting for how much I've spent in
total versus how much I have saved in
total so my total cost including
charging maintenance and insurance total
charging cost at home and supercharging
combined
$2,840 maintenance
$158 and insurance to use an estimate
9379 would I spend over two years so
let's just say I spent about
$2,250 196 adding all that up that
brings me to a total cost of
$5,245 sounds like a lot let's go ahead
and see how much I saved using math from
before the amount of money I saved
charging was
$464 the amount of money I saved on
maintenance so the cost for maintenance
in a gas car we said was between 1920
and
4,600 let's just say like 2,000 for a
super conservative estimate I guess so
2,000 saved on maintenance and insurance
I saved a total of like we said
$1,349 4 which brings me to a total
amount saved of
$7,990 4 which if you ask me is quite a
bit a chunk of change which my takea
away from this is that driving a Tesla
is not super cheap $5,000 still a quite
a bit amount of money even over 52,000
miles but driving a gas car can be a lot
more expensive so there you have it all
my cost over 52,000 Mi I posted my
50,000 Mi review video and I had people
tell me despite all the stuff that I
showed you that my costs were wrong so
if you think I'm wrong I'm sorry but I I
showed you how I got my numbers but I do
love this car and I plan to drive it for
a very very long time so I'll make
another video just like this one once I
hit 100,000 miles so stay tuned for that
but between now and then we'll continue
to take our car and a bunch of camping
trips road trips and other fun
adventures so if you want to see all
that make sure you subscribe and and as
always thanks for watching catch you in
the next one