Overview
- The University of Michigan study, published Jan. 27 in Environmental Research Letters, combined 260,000 2024 Craigslist listings with Argonne National Laboratory models and price data from 17 U.S. cities.
- Across body styles, three-year-old battery electric vehicles were found to have the lowest total ownership costs versus internal combustion, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid models.
- Example finding: compared with a new midsize gasoline SUV, a three-year-old EV version delivers about $13,000 in lifetime savings, versus roughly $3,000 for a three-year-old gasoline version of the same model.
- The study identifies faster initial depreciation as the main source of EV savings, with lower maintenance and fueling costs providing additional benefits.
- Savings vary by circumstances: home charging boosts value, high electricity prices can flip the result in Boston and San Francisco, and used EVs typically offer reduced battery range for long trips; researchers are monitoring 2026 resale trends.