Elderly American two years and 20,000 miles into EV ownership crunches the numbers vs a gas car and makes surprising discovery
Published on Mar 17, 2026 at 5:00 PM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson
Last updated on Mar 17, 2026 at 5:00 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
This elderly American racked up 20,000 miles over two years in his EV – but how did that compare in cost compared to a gas car?
Paul Grondal, the host of YouTube channel Life after 70, did some number crunching to lay out the figures.
This is a debate that has been raging for a long while now – is an EV cheaper than a gas car?
After two years of driving his 2023 Lucid, he decided to figure out the truth.
Click the star icon next to supercarblondie.com in Google Search to stay ahead of the curve on the latest and greatest supercars, hypercars, and ground-breaking technology
Two years and 20,000 miles later – had this EV proven to be cheaper than a gas car?
It’s a question that’s nagged at everyone who has debated whether they should buy an EV.
After all, who would want to buy a car knowing that it would cost them more than the vehicle they already had?
As such, Grondal wanted to figure out if his 2023 Lucid Air was really cheaper than the alternative.
First and foremost, he looked at charging to see if that would be cheaper.
And here we have a significant caveat, and it pertains to the difference between public chargers and home chargers.
If he were to use fast charging 100 percent of the time, he would have spent around $2,857 over the 20,000 miles.
That would be more costly than the $2,422 spent on a gas car for the same distance.
But with 100 percent home charging, the cost dropped massively to $914 – and it was even lower when both were mixed in there at $244.
It doesn’t hurt that this car came with three years of free Electrify America fast charging, meaning that Grondal only paid for his home charging.
This debate isn’t going anywhere any time soon
We’ve seen this conversation play out countless times on the internet, as owners share their savings with the world.
One Model 3 owner broke down the figures and threw in insurance and maintenance for good measure.
And even then, there’s competition among drivers about which brands are kinder on the wallet, as demonstrated when this GMC Hummer owner compared his charging costs to a neighbor’s Tesla.
Ultimately, it’s down to everyone to do their own research so they can make an informed decision.
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
Following stints at LadBible, The Sun, The New York Post, and the Daily Mail, Ben joined the team full-time in February 2025. In his role as Senior Content Writer, his sparkling copy, the ability to sniff out a good story at 100 paces, and a GSOH quickly led to him becoming an integral and invaluable member of the writing staff.
