Is now a good time to buy an EV in SC after weeks of soaring oil prices? Here’s what we found

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for gas car owners, due to gas prices that keep on rising from the Iran war. Right now, putting a full tank of gas in your car probably hurts your soul just as much as it’s hurting your wallet.

On Tuesday, the nation’s average gas price reached $4.02, which is the highest it’s been since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, back in 2022. South Carolina’s average gas price reached $3.70, which is a $1 more than it was just a month ago.

Gas prices aren’t expected to go down anytime soon either. According to Marketplace.org, a nonprofit media outlet, it will likely take months before prices return to February’s baseline.

So what options do you have to save yourself from paying more at the pump? Besides traveling less, purchasing an electric vehicle might interest you.

Here are the pros and cons of owning an EV in SC:

Long-term savings on fuel

Obviously, EV owners don’t need to worry about increasing gas prices because their cars don’t run on gasoline. Additionally, the average cost to fuel an electric car is significantly cheaper than fueling a gas-powered vehicle.

According to The New York Times, it costs, on average, $4.60 to drive an electric car 100 miles, if you charge at home. Based on a gas efficiency of 25 m.p.g, it costs $6.56 more to drive a gas-powered car 100 miles. This data was published months ago, before the Iran war started.

Electricity prices are also more stable and predictable than gasoline prices, so EV owners don’t have to change their budget every time a world-changing event happens.

However, recently proposed legislation from SC lawmakers might make fuel costs more expensive for EV owners in the future. Because they don’t pay any gas tax that goes toward the state’s road and bridge repairs, the legislation would make EV owners contribute.

A $0.045 per kilowatt-hour sales tax on public electric vehicle charging stations was included in the proposed bills that were introduced in February.

Regardless of whether the legislation passes, it will still be cheaper to fuel an EV in the state.

Initial EV costs are more expensive

While the cost to purchase an EV has gone down substantially in recent years, the sticker price on new and used EVs scares people away.

The average cost of a new electric vehicle is around $2,800 more than the average paid for a new gas-powered vehicle, according to the National Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit international environmental advocacy group.

As the EV market continues to grow, the price gap will likely go down, but the current price is still high enough to make people choose gas-powered vehicles instead.

Additionally, SC has a $120 fee for registering an electric vehicle every other year. The proposed legislation that was mentioned earlier would make this fee go up to $400.

EV charging ports found more in the city, less in smaller towns

SC doesn’t have the most EV charging stations or charging ports in the country, but it doesn’t have the fewest number either. EV charging station and port numbers are increasing quietly in the state.

There are 648 EV charging stations and 2,034 charging ports throughout SC, according to a recent report from The Motley Fool, a worldwide financial services company.

SC ranks 30th out of 50 states, as well as Washington D.C., for its number of EV charging stations. The Palmetto State also ranks 29th out of 51 in the country for its number of EV charging ports.

If you live in a city and want to purchase an EV, then you are in luck. Cities have the greatest concentration of EV charging stations and ports.

These are the SC areas with the most EV charging ports, according to PlugShare:

• Charleston-North Charleston have a total of 478 EV charging ports
• Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin have a total of 447 EV charging ports
• Columbia has 306 EV charging ports
• Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach have a total of 260 EV charging ports

Outside the city, it’s a little more difficult to find EV chargers, but you can find the nearest EV charging port by searching on Google or Apple Maps. Mobile apps like PlugShare and ChargeHub can also find the nearest charging port for you.