r/EVRoutine

Ran the numbers on whether "EVs save you money" holds up across the whole ownership timeline, fuel and maintenance AND depreciation, not just the part everyone leads with.

Fuel and maintenance favor EVs. Home charging costs about a third of gas per mile right now (gas is at $4.09/gal, unusually high this year), and EV maintenance runs roughly 40-50% less per DOE and Consumer Reports data.

but Depreciation favors gas cars. Average EV loses 58.8% of its value in 5 years vs 45.6% for a comparable gas car (iSeeCars, 800k+ vehicles analyzed). On a $40k car that's over $5,000 more lost, which works out to more than 4 years of the fuel savings you banked getting there.

Where it nets out depends entirely on how you own the car. Finance new and trade every 2-3 years, the depreciation math wins. Buy used or hold long term past 5+ years, the fuel and maintenance savings win, since someone else already ate the depreciation or you're not selling into it. Tesla's also a genuineexception, Model 3/Y hold value close to gas cars, so the calculus shifts again there specifically.

Full breakdown with sources if you want the deep dive: https://youtu.be/n1ceHZ9rmTg

Curious how people here actually approach this, buy new and trade often, buy used and hold, or does it depend on the specific car for you?

What you get right now at no cost:

• Full risk verdict
• Battery health assessment
• Deal quality score + price vs. market
• Open NHTSA recall check
• Negotiation insights and seller questions
• Pre-purchase inspection checklist
• Ownership & accident history (when VIN is available)
• Deep dive analysis
• EV Routine Fit, a personalized match to how you actually drive

No account needed. Paste a listing URL from CarGurus, Cars.com, AutoTrader, Carvana, CarMax, or paste listing text directly and get your analysis in ~30 seconds.

Why now? The used EV market is genuinely moving. Prices are up 5% since January, 500,000+ lease returns are hitting the market this year, and more than half of used EV inventory is now under $30k. More buyers are looking seriously for the first time, and most of them have no way to know if the battery they're about to buy is healthy or cooked.

We're building toward a bigger update focused on full ownership history integration and deeper battery verification. While that's in progress, we'd rather have people actually using the tool than sitting behind a paywall. So, free until the next update drops.

offolab.com

If you're shopping right now, drop your listing in the comments and I'll run it through and share what comes back.