Report shows EV savings for high-mileage drivers

In Georgia’s 1st Congressional District, about 72,000 drivers put more than 25,000 miles a year on their cars or light-duty trucks. That makes them ripe for significant fuel savings if they switch to an electric vehicle, according to a new report from Coltura, a nonprofit that aims to accelerate the switch from gasoline and diesel to cleaner alternatives.

Coltura puts the savings for these high-mileage drivers at almost $4,000 a year. Average fuel savings in the district amount to about $1,300 a year.

The nonprofit calculates the savings using localized data, including gas prices from Gas Buddy, electricity prices from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and driving habits from the data company Replica.

Rising costs were a focal point in last year’s presidential election, said Rob Sargent, policy director at Coltura. Pointing out the savings possible with a switch to electric vehicles leads to a win/win.

“The more gasoline you avoid, the more money is being saved and at the same time there’s a direct relationship between that and the avoided emissions,” he said.

The median range of 2024 model EVs was 283 miles, the Department of Energy reported. Though District 1 lags in public charging infrastructure, more than 80% of charging in the U.S. is done at home.

About 1.1% of the more than 10 million vehicles registered in Georgia are electric, with the greatest concentration in the Atlanta area, according to the Georgia Department of Revenue.

But rural and exurban areas represent the greatest opportunity for savings. “It’s where people have had to move because they can’t afford to live near where they work and and so, those are people that are going to have 40-50 mile commutes in many cases,” Sargent said.

That’s true in District 1, as Coltura shows in a map:

The average cost of an EV remains higher than that of an internal combustion engine, but that gap is shrinking rapidly, Inside EVs reports. The average EV cost about 12% more than its ICE counterpart in December. The federal tax incentive on EVs, which the Trump Administration has threatened to eliminate, remains important, Sargent said. Up to $7,500 in tax credits are available for EVs manufactured in the U.S. and up to $4,000 for used EVs. These incentives “unlock the ability for people to save money,” Sargent said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has information on which vehicles qualify for incentives here. Car and Driver lists here all the EVs eligible to earn the full $7500 credit as of April 2025.

Republican U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, who represents District 1, opposed new tailpipe emissions standards announced in 2024 calling them “Biden’s radical EV mandates.” But in March he signed a letter urging the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to make only targeted cuts to clean energy tax credits made available in the Inflation Reduction Act. The letter didn’t call out EV credits specifically, but Carter’s district is home to the new $7.6 billion Hyundai EV manufacturing plant in Bryan County, which will rely on those credits to help sell its product.

Coltura sent its findings directly to Carter and urged him to support the EV credit for the good of his constituents and for the good of the new factory.

“By making EVs more affordable, the EV tax credit is people’s ticket out of lifelong, costly gasoline dependence,” the letter states. “Switching to an electric vehicle could put over $4,000 annually back in the pockets of families burning the most gas– that’s real money for groceries, healthcare, or their kids’ education. But if the credit disappears, so does working families’ ability to access those savings. Studies show axing the credit could cause EV sales to plummet by nearly 30%. Those declining EV sales would hurt consumers as well as facilities making EVs and their components.”