Electric Vehicles - Comparison and Electric Car Guide

Shopping for any vehicle can be challenging, but for first-time electric car buyers, it can be a whole new world. To help make the experience easier, we’ve created a helpful guide that allows car shoppers to learn about electric vehicles in the most simplistic and comprehensive manner available.

Compare electric vehicles

Types Incentives Go Green Performance Range Maintenance Compare

Types of electric vehicles

ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEVs)

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) run only on electricity from batteries charged by plugging into an outlet or charging station. BEVs have no gasoline engine and don’t produce tailpipe emissions.

Electric-only motor

No emissions

Does NOT require gasoline

Requires plug-in charging

Some electric vehicle models are:

Tesla Model S

Nissan LEAF

Fiat 500e

See all electric vehicles

CONVENTIONAL HYBRIDS

Hybrids combine a gasoline engine with an electric motor, but they can’t plug-in because their batteries are charged from capturing braking energy that converts kinetic energy into electricity.

Gasoline engine and electric motor

Some emissions

Requires gasoline

Does NOT plug-in

Some conventional hybrid models are:

Toyota Prius

Honda Accord

Toyota Highlander

See all hybrid vehicles

PLUG-IN HYBRIDS (PHEVs)

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are similar to conventional hybrids, except PHEV batteries can be charged by plugging into an outlet and PHEVs can substitute plug-in electricity for gasoline.

Gasoline engine and electric motor

Some emissions

Requires gasoline

Requires gasoline and plug-in charging

Some plug-in hybrid models are:

Chevy Volt

Hyundai Ioniq

Toyota Prius Prime

See all plug-in hybrid vehicles

Tax incentives

Depending on your location, and your personal tax situation, you may qualify for Federal, state, and local tax incentives for driving an electric vehicle.

Federal incentives

$2,500 - $7,500 Federal Tax Credit

Tax Credit for the purchase of a new plug-in electric drive motor vehicle. Credit amount depends on the car’s battery capacity.

Up to $1,000 Federal Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Tax Credit

state incentives

Arizona

Reduced Vehicle License Tax and Carpool lane access.

California

$5,000 grant (based on income eligibility)*

*Review eligibility prior to applying

$1,500 California Clean Fuel Reward for all new electric vehicles registered in California.

Colorado

$2,500 tax credit for purchase of a new vehicle.

$1,500 tax credit for lease of a new vehicle.

Connecticut

$1,500 rebate for new vehicles with a base price under $42,000.

Exemption from state emissions testing.

Reduced vehicle registration fee.

Delaware

$2,500 rebate for new vehicles with a purchase price under $60,000

Florida

Funding may be available for home charging installation assistance.

Hawaii

Carpool lane access and reduced rates for electric vehicle charging.

Idaho

State exemption from vehicle inspection & maintenance program.

illinois

EV exemption from state emissions testing; reduced registration fees.

Louisiana

$2,500 income tax credit.

Maine

$2,000 rebate for new vehicles with a base price under $50,000.

Maryland

$700 rebate on wall connectors and installation.

Qualified vehicles are exempt from emissions testing.

HOV lane access.

Massachusetts

$2,500 rebate for new vehicles with a purchase price under $50,000.

Nevada

Reduced rates for electric vehicle charging.

AFV Parking Fee & state emissions testing exemptions.

New Jersey

Sales tax exemption.

10% discount on off-peak toll prices on NJT & GSP through EZ-Pass.

New York

$500 rebate for new vehicles with a base price over $60,000.

$2,500 rebate for new vehicles with a base price over $60,000.

State emissions testing exception.

North Carolina

State emissions testing exemption & HOV lane access.

Rhode Island

State emissions testing exemption.

Vermont

Depending on income level, up to $5,000 rebate for purchase or lease of a new vehicle with a base price under $40,000.

Washington

A retail sales tax reduction is available on the purchase or lease of a new vehicle.

Washington DC

Excise tax exempt.

Reduced vehicle registration fees.

Tax credit for 50% of costs of home charging installation, up to $1,000.

Local incentives

Arizona

SRP & APS offer reduced electricity rates based on time-of-use charging for EV owners.

Phoenix & Tucson offer exemptions from emissions testing for all-electric vehicles.

California

PG&E, SCE, SMUD and SDG&E all offer reduced electricity rates based on time-of-use for EV owners.

Anaheim Public Utilities offers up to $1,000 for residential EV charging and $2,000 for EV infrastructure.

Antelope Valley Air Quality Management offers a $1,000 EV purchase rebate for eligible customers.

The City of Burbank offers a $500 rebate for home EV charging installation.

The City of Glendale offers a $500 rebate for home EV charging installation.

Los Angeles Department of Water & Power offers a $500 rebate for home EV charging installation.

Pasadena Water and Power customers can receive up to $1,500 in incentives for buying/leasing an EV, and businesses

can receive up to $50,000 for installing public EV chargers.

Sacramento Metro Air District offers up to a $9,500 rebate for eligible customers.

San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District offers a rebate up to $3,000 for eligible customers.

Hermosa Beach, San Jose, Santa Monica and San Anselmo offers free parking at all city metered parking, participating garages, parks and recreation centers.

SDG&E offers a rebate up to $1,000 for teachers and first responders who purchase an EV.

Sonoma Clean Power offers up to $4,500 in rebates.

South Coast Air Quality Management offers rebates up to $800 for EV home charging installation.

Connecticut

City of New Haven offers free public parking.

Delaware

DEC offers customers a $200 credit and $5/month credit for EV charging in off hours.

Florida

Jackson Electric Authority (JEA) offers a rebate up to $1,000 for the purchase or lease of an EV

Hawaii

HEC Maul Electric and Hawaii Electric Light Company offer reduced electricity rates based on time-of-use for EV owners.

EV owners are also eligible for a number of other benefits including emissions test exemptions, free parking, HOV lane access.

Indiana

Indiana Power & Light offers reduced electricity rate plans for EV charging.

Illinois

ComEd offers 3 EV rate plans for residential customers

Illinois Electric Co-op members may be eligible to finance their EV at 0.5% interest.

McLean County residents are eligible for a rebate of 1% of the local share of state sales tax.

Maryland

PEPCO & Baltimore Gas & Electric offer reduced EV rate plans on time-of-use.

Michigan

Consumers Energy & DTE & Indiana Michigan Power & LBWL offer reduced EV rate plans based on time-of-use.

Minnesota

Dakota Electric & Connexus offer reduced EV rate plans based on time-of-use.

Nevada

NV Energy offers reduced EV rate plans based on time-of-use.

New Jersey

PSE&G offers reduced EV rate plans based on time-of-use.

New York

ConEd offers reduced EV rate plans based on time-of-use.

Oregon

Several municipalities & utilities offer rebates for customers who install home charging equipment including Central Lincoln PUD, City and Ashland, Emerald PUD, Eugene Water & Electric Board, Pacific Power and Portland General Electric.

Pennsylvania

PECO offers a $50 rebate to customers who purchase an EV.

Rhode Island

Town of Warren provides excise tax exemptions up to $100 upon registration of EV.

Utah

Salt Lake City EV owners have access to free metered parking & free public charging.

Vermont

Green Mountain Power offers a $1,500 rebate towards the purchase of an electric vehicle with a base price under $60,000.

Virginia

Virginia Dominion Power offers reduced electricity rates based on time-of-use for EV owners.

Wisconsin

Alliant Energy is offering a $500 rebate for EV home charging installation.

Go green

Electric vehicles significantly reduce a driver’s tailpipe emissions and therefore his or her personal impact on our environment. Reducing your impact on the planet will allow future generations to enjoy our blue planet to the fullest.

Reduce pollution, produce zero emissions

Electric vehicles are significantly cleaner and much safer for people & our environment than traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. By driving electric, you’re helping to reduce air pollution from traditional exhaust systems; the type of pollution that can irritate and even cause severe health issues like asthma and bronchitis.

Reduce dependency on fossil fuels

Solving climate change is one of the most important challenges of our time, and driving an electric vehicle is one of the ways you can take action. Since fully electric vehicles use energy efficiently, they don’t consume any fossil fuels whereas a traditional internal combustion engine relies on gasoline made from fossil fuels pulled from the earth.

Performance

In the last few years, e-vehicles have set a high bar for performance and technology. With unbeatable built-in features and instantly available torque, you’ll have difficulty finding a traditional vehicle that can keep up.

State-of-the-art technology

Electric vehicles often come with tons of exciting features.

Pedestrian Detection

Adaptive Cruise Control w/Stop and Go

In-Car WiFi

Remote Engine Start

Forward Collision Warning

Front and Rear Parking Sensors

Lane Keep Assist

Power Trunk/Liftgate

4 yr / 50K mi Basic Warranty

8 yr / 100K mi Hybrid/EV Warranty

Android Auto and Apple CarPlay

Spacious, Quiet, smooth, Green

Electric vehicles have more space available due to having fewer components than traditional vehicles.
Electric vehicles have quieter engines since there are less mechanical parts moving.
Phone calls, conversations with passengers, music, and podcasts are all much more enjoyable.
Fully electric vehicles don’t have any tailpipe emissions, however, plug-in hybrids and conventional hybrids do — although it is much less than the emissions of a traditional vehicle.

The safest option

Electric vehicles are often at the top of their class in terms of crash and safety ratings.
Electric vehicles have fewer components than traditional vehicles so there’s less opportunity for anything to break or go wrong.
Battery packs lower the center of gravity and offer additional rigidity to the frame.
Since electric vehicles are powered by batteries as opposed to traditional gas engines, they are less prone to fire.
Electric vehicles are federally mandated to carry separate warranties for their battery packs (8 years or 100,000 miles at least).

Quick acceleration

Even lower-cost electric vehicles are fun to drive due to the instant torque and handling of electric engineering. In fully electric vehicles, all of the torque is readily available at 0 RPM.
The Tesla Model S Performance is the third fastest accelerating production car ever built reaching 60 mph in just 2.4 seconds. Only two other vehicles are faster, however, both cost over a million dollars and can no longer be purchased new.

Range & charging

Wait less, drive more, and save an average of $4,500 in fuel over 5 years. No more lines, dirty pumps or gassy fumes. With an electric vehicle, your peace of mind and extra time are priceless.

Further than ever

There are lots of mix-ups about electric vehicles, but the main one is the fear that you can’t drive very far, known as range anxiety. In fact, many electric vehicles can go over 200 or 300 miles on a single charge and the ongoing build-out of the national EV-charging network should help reduce any fears of running out of charge.

Easily find charging

There are 21,000+ public charging stations with 65,000+ individual charging outlets in the United States, as of late July 2019. But EV and plug-in hybrid owners don’t need charging stations the same way traditional vehicles need gas stations, because most of the time they’re charging at their own garage or workplace.

Try the US Department of Energy station finder

Charge from home

EV and plug-in hybrid owners can charge at home by plugging in the charging cord that comes with the vehicle to any standard three-prong outlet. It takes a while, but you can charge anytime in the convenience of your own home. Alternatively, owners can install a wall charger for a much quicker charge.

Try our Charging Time Calculator

Maintenance

A vehicle without all of the complicated moving parts in a traditional combustion engine doesn’t need all of the maintenance of a vehicle with a traditional combustion engine. Less moving parts with electric vehicles means less maintenance with electric vehicles.

Less maintenance means Lower costs

Fully electric vehicles don’t have a traditional combustion engine. As a result, 24+ mechanical components that would ordinarily require routine service are no longer a problem because EVs don’t have them. Choosing EV means bypassing oil changes, cooling system flushes, transmission servicing, and air filter, spark plug, and drive belt changes.

Lithium ion battery warranty

Whereas the standard warranty coverage for a traditional vehicle is 3 years or 36,000 miles with 5 years or 60,000 miles for the powertrain, electric vehicle’s lithium ion batteries are under warranty for at least eight years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first.

Compare electric vehicles

Reference the table below to compare the key statistics of some of the most popular electric vehicles.

Model	Year	Range	MPGe	Battery	Power	0-60	MSRP
Audi e-tron	2021	222 mi	76/78	95.0 kWh	402 hp	5.5 sec	$65,900
BMW i3	2021	200 mi	124/102	42.2 kWh	168 hp	7.2 sec	$44,450
BMW i3s	2021	153 mi	124/102	42.2 kWh	181 hp	6.8 sec	$47,650
Chevrolet Bolt EV	2021	259 mi	127/108	66.0 kWh	200 hp	6.5 sec	$36,500
Honda Clarity Electric	2021	340 mi	110/97	17.0 kWh	212 hp	8.2 sec	$33,400
Hyundai Kona Electric	2021	258 mi	132/108	64.0 kWh	175 hp	7.4 sec	$37,390
Nissan Leaf	2021	226 mi	123/99	40.0 kWh	147 hp	8.4 sec	$31,620
Nissan Leaf S Plus	2021	226 mi	118/97	62.0 kWh	214 hp	8.4 sec	$38,220
Tesla Model 3 Standard	2021	263 mi	138/124	50.0 kWh	258 hp	5.3 sec	$30,190
Tesla Model 3 Long Range	2021	353 mi	120/112	75.0 kWh	346 hp	4.2 sec	$39,190
Tesla Model 3 Performance	2021	315 mi	120/112	75.0 kWh	450 hp	3.1 sec	$47,190
Tesla Model S Long Range	2021	412 mi	101/102	100.0 kWh	518 hp	3.1 sec	$72,990
Tesla Model S Plaid	2021	390 mi	115/107	100.0 kWh	518 hp	1.99 sec	$112,990
Tesla Model S Plaid+	2021	520 mi	104/104	100.0 kWh	518 hp	1.99 sec	$132,990
Tesla Model X Long Range	2021	360 mi	91/95	100.0 kWh	518 hp	3.8 sec	$83,190
Tesla Model X Plaid	2021	340 mi	86/89	100.0 kWh	518 hp	2.5 sec	$113,190