I guess he didn’t know supercharging is more expensive than regular gas at this point.

Most new EV owners, Teslas included, specifically switch to electric-powered cars because they’re cheaper to “fill-up” compared to its gas equivalent. But one Tesla Model Y owner realized the hard way that that’s only mostly true if you charge at home.

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In a post shared to the Tesla Model Y owner’s group, a new MY owner (who we’re going to keep anonymous for his sake) complained how he isn’t saving as much as he thought he would. When screenshots of his charging stats other group members quickly realized he was charging only with Tesla Superchargers.

Check out screenshots of his post below.

Anon’s post on the Tesla Model Y Facebook group.
He spent $182 to drive 966 miles.
966 miles total driven.

“I’ve spent $182 for 960 miles. “the Tesla Model Y owner says.” I thought I would be saving a lot more. right now it seems like gas would be cheaper”

It’s worth noting that at one point, when Supercharging was new, the cost per kWh cost almost as much as charging at home and was way cheaper than gas.

According to a post by EnGadget in 2017, supercharging was 20 cents per kWh.

A CNBC article around that time says that Californians were paying about 17.97 cents per kWh at home.

But today, according to Inside EVs, Supercharging has increased by almost two-fold, costing around 50 cents per kWh, which is par for the course for anon’s charging experience, simple maths below.

$182/329 miles = 55 cents per kWh.

But, anyone who did even the most basic searching like, “Is supercharging cheaper than gas” on Google would’ve found out that, according to one Tesla Motors Club Forum member,My home charging is 1/3 the price of Supercharging.”

His screen shows that he would’ve saved $10 compared to the gas equivalent but, to further drive that point home let’s do our own example.

Googling around Toyota Rav4 forums like this one (linked here) and non-hybrids get around 33 MPG combined with hybrids achieving 40 mpg combined.

For a generic gas SUV from Toyota, let’s say they get 36 MPG combined.

That’s 26.8 gallons x 5.67 (the average current gas price in California.) = $151.

$151 is less than $182.

Despite California’s high gas prices, gas, at this point, is still cheaper than not charging at home.

So, if you’re planning on buying a Tesla and think that you can get away with supercharging only, if you’re willing to pay for it, you might.

Just know that your supercharging budget will end up being more than you spend if you just used/kept your regular gas car instead.

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