Man couldn’t believe it when someone pointed out he was paying twice as much to charge Rivian as he would be paying if he was driving a gas vehicle

This Rivian R1T owner was left stunned when he realized he was paying twice as much to charge his electric car as he would if he was driving a gas car.

It’s no secret that when it comes to switching to a EV, price is a consideration all drivers take into account.

But for a clear assessment of the price, it often helps to draw a direct comparison.

This is what YouTuber The Duke of Middleville decided to do.

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How pricey is it to charge a Rivian?

R1Ts are something of a wonder truck – being vital to have around in towing emergencies, as was the case when this much heavier truck needed towing out of a ditch.

But as cool as that is, how much does it cost to charge one of them?

The Duke did some math to get the answer.

Right off the bat, the Duke admitted that using public charging ports can hit the pocket quite significantly.

He cited a Evo charging station costing 59 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and a relatively cheaper Tesla Supercharger setting prices at 49 cents per kWh.

By way of comparison, gas stations were charging $2.49 per gallon.

Obviously, to the naked eye, there’s no easy way to draw a direct comparison when you’re talking about gallons and kilowatts.

But fortunately the Duke has the answer for us.

He said: “I ended up paying twice as much to fuel my Rivian than I would if I was putting gas in it.”

Pulling up a calculator, he did the number crunching.

On his most recent charge, he put in 43 hours of kilowatt electricity at a rate of 59 cents per kWh.

That came out at $25.37.

For that same amount of money, he could have gotten himself 10 gallons of gas.

When you put it like that, you realize what a stark difference the pricing makes.

This amount of gas would give him 150 miles.

How much would the equivalent have gotten him on his Rivian R1T?

When he pulled up the charging point, his truck had 123 miles left.

By the time he’d left, he had 219 – a gain of 96.

So he got 96 miles for $25.37, compared to 150 miles for the same amount of cash.

A pretty stark difference, right?

To further drive the point home, driving 150 miles in the R1T would have ended up costing him $39.53.

Gas versus electric – the ongoing debate

The Duke concluded: “With these high prices at these charging stations, it makes it very expensive to charge a vehicle.

“Say you’re an average income earner, say you’re making $30k to $40k a year, this is a lot of extra money to pay.

“I just want everyone to keep this in mind – the people who are going to need to use a public structure are the ones who can least afford it.”

He repeatedly stressed that these high costs wouldn’t be as apparent to those who filled up at home.

But obviously, not everybody has the luxury of their own charging point, particularly if they live in an apartment building.

The Duke called upon policy makers and industry leaders to tackle this issue, arguing it would deter people from adopting a EV.

This isn’t the first time that a EV owner has been floored by the costs that come with the cars.

A Porsche Taycan owner has repeatedly railed against the pricey aspects of owning a EV, and being told that his car was essentially ‘worthless’ didn’t help things.

To see the number breakdown for yourself, head over to The Duke of Middleville’s YouTube channel.