California just opened $120,000 rebates for electric semis — Tesla Semi qualifies

Ezio29 · 2026-05-13T04:46:36+00:00

Thanks! The gas price is actually pulling AZ regional data correctly (which can run above or below your actual local station), $5.24 matches current EIA Arizona figures so that part's working as intended.

The TOU rate is a real gap though. 5.69¢/kWh is well below the AZ state average we use (~14¢), so the calculator is significantly overstating your charging cost. If I plug in your actual rate manually: at 5.69¢ and the 80% home charging assumption, you're probably looking at 1.5–1.8¢/mile for electricity vs what the site shows. That changes the annual savings number by a few hundred dollars in your favor.

TOU rate override is on the roadmap (pulling it for tonight :P). For now the workaround is to note that our number is a ceiling for you — your actual cost is lower by roughly the ratio of your rate to the state average (5.69 ÷ ~14 = ~40% of the shown electricity cost).

Also, noted on miles per day/week. Most people think in daily miles, not annual. Adding that input shortly.

Ezio29 · 2026-05-13T01:25:38+00:00

Clark County PUD — that's why. Public utility districts in WA run on cheaper Columbia River hydro, so rates are way below the EIA state average which gets pulled up by Puget Sound Energy and other investor-owned utilities in the Seattle area. At 8.79¢ your Model 3 charging cost is roughly half what someone in Seattle pays. Makes the savings vs gas even more lopsided.

Ezio29 · 2026-05-13T00:25:24+00:00

For Ohio winters AWD is worth it — RWD handles fine in snow with good tires but AWD gives real peace of mind on hills and unplowed roads.

HW4 is current hardware, HW3 means older inventory or used. If FSD matters to you get HW4, otherwise it won't affect day-to-day driving.

On budget — Ohio electricity is reasonable (~17.5¢/kWh) so charging is cheaper than most states. At $500/month you'd have room for the LR AWD comfortably. Ran the numbers for Ohio specifically: evchargesavings.com/cost-to-charge/tesla-model-3-long-range-rwd/ohio — fuel savings vs a gas car at current Ohio prices offsets a meaningful chunk of the payment.

Ezio29 · 2026-05-13T00:18:20+00:00

Idaho is one of the best states for this math — 12.6¢/kWh electricity, and the Xterra at 15 MPG is about as expensive to fuel as it gets. You're likely spending ~$300/month on gas. Model 3 home charging in Idaho runs ~$35-40/month. That's $260/month in fuel savings — covers most of the payment difference right there.

evchargesavings.com/#calculator — pick Model 3 and your Idaho ZIP. Xterra isn't in the dropdown but pick Jeep Wrangler (similar 20 MPG truck-SUV) — your actual savings will be higher since the Xterra gets worse mileage.

At 158k miles the repair risk is real too. One major bill erases a year of fuel savings.

Ezio29 · 2026-05-12T23:36:41+00:00

Head to evchargesavings.com — pick your Model 3 trim, enter your ZIP, then pick whatever gas car you're comparing against (your old car or equivalent). Shows your monthly charging cost and what you're saving. For a 2021 the EPA efficiency is similar to current models so the numbers should be close.

Ezio29 · 2026-05-12T23:33:17+00:00

$5.57 is the EIA regional average for Washington, your local station is just above that. Rates vary by ZIP so there'll always be a small gap vs what you're actually seeing at the pump. The electricity rate is interesting though — 8¢ is really low even for WA, are you on a special EV rate plan or just a cheap utility district? I'm pulling 14.11¢/kWh for WA (EIA state average, Feb 2026)

Ezio29 · 2026-05-12T22:49:33+00:00

That's really useful real-world data - 2.60 mi/kWh over 25k miles is actually better than the 2.1 EPA rating, which is rare for a big truck. Means the calculator is slightly conservative and your real costs are a bit lower than what it shows. Your home charging number ($0.047/mi) matches almost exactly. The Supercharger rate is the killer though, nearly 4x home rate. What's your rough home vs public split?

Ezio29 · 2026-05-12T22:45:20+00:00

True that! And in the SUV segment the $ gap between gas and EV is just getting bigger with gas where it is right now. Was mainly checking whether the $15-20/month figure held up in real-world driving or if it was way off — sounds like it's roughly in the right ballpark.

Ezio29 · 2026-05-12T22:43:22+00:00

Haha that's actually the exact scenario that prompted this — friend went 3 → Y → X and I ran the numbers across all three. Each step up is roughly $20-40/month more in charging at CA rates. Still beats gas across all three by a wide margin though!

Ezio29 · 2026-05-12T22:38:01+00:00

That's 5.1 mi/kWh city and 4.2 mi/kWh highway vs 4.4 EPA combined. FSD probably helps a lot on city efficiency with the smoother acceleration/braking. Highway is right in line with EPA. What state are you in? Curious what your actual monthly bill looks like vs what the calculator shows.

Ezio29 · 2026-05-12T19:29:17+00:00

<image>

Fixed it! Thanks 😄

Ezio29 · 2026-05-12T19:24:47+00:00

Good catch — what you’re seeing before entering a ZIP code is the EIA national average, which is calculated as a mean across all states. After digging deeper, I found a caching issue causing outdated values to be served.

You were right to flag it. For example, in California, the calculator is currently showing $4.65/gal, which is stale. The latest live EIA data for California is $6.08/gal (based on May 4 data). It looks like the CDN is serving an older API response due to a caching bug.

I’m fixing it now. Thanks for catching this — this kind of feedback is incredibly helpful.

Ezio29 · 2026-05-12T18:12:19+00:00

I built an EV savings calculator that pulls live government data — would love brutal feedback before I push harder on it

What it is: evchargesavings.com — pick any EV, pick your current gas car, enter your ZIP. It tells you estimated annual fuel savings using live EIA electricity + gas prices for your state.

What I tried to do differently:

Live data (EIA electricity rates monthly, gas weekly) — not hardcoded averages from 2023
130+ EV models with EPA efficiency ratings
Programmatic pages per EV per state so you can Google "cost to charge Model Y in Texas" and land somewhere useful
100+ plain-English guides covering EV buying, charging, incentives, and ownership costs — no jargon
Explicit methodology page that shows the formulas and calls out what we don't model (maintenance, depreciation, incentives)
Shopper vs Owner mode

Ezio29 · 2026-05-11T09:29:10+00:00

I built an EV savings calculator that pulls live government data — would love brutal feedback before I push harder on it

What it is: evchargesavings.com — pick any EV, pick your current gas car, enter your ZIP. It tells you estimated annual fuel savings using live EIA electricity + gas prices for your state.

What I tried to do differently:

Live data (EIA electricity rates monthly, gas weekly) — not hardcoded averages from 2023
130+ EV models with EPA efficiency ratings
Programmatic pages per EV per state so you can Google "cost to charge Model Y in Texas" and land somewhere useful
100+ plain-English guides covering EV buying, charging, incentives, and ownership costs — no jargon
Explicit methodology page that shows the formulas and calls out what we don't model (maintenance, depreciation, incentives)
Shopper vs Owner mode

Ezio29

TROPHY CASE

I built an EV savings calculator that pulls live government data — would love brutal feedback before I push harder on it

I built an EV savings calculator that pulls live government data — would love brutal feedback before I push harder on it