Electric vehicles (plug-ins) constitute a very small share of the total cars sold in the U.S., but they are already saving 45 million gallons of gasoline per year, says a new report from Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
Around 96,000 electric cars were sold in the US last year, almost 100 percent increase from 2012 and five times increase from the total for 2011.
Through plug-ins, Americans can save around $100 million a year compared to using fossil fuels, UCS said.
California ranks no.1 in terms of electric vehicle adoption. Residents here reportedly save $40 million in fuel costs and 140,000 tons of carbon-dioxide emissions per year, the study said.
Popular electric vehicle models include Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model S, and the range-extended Chevrolet Volt.
However, it is to be noted that higher costs of electric vehicles lessen the financial benefits on customers. Fall in vehicle price may boost the adoption further.
Many companies are keen to offer cheaper electric vehicles to capture greater share of the market. Recently Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, in an interview with ecomento.com said the new 2017 Tesla Model E will be 20 percent smaller than Model S and at half the price of the original model.
Hybrid models like Toyota Prius are also gaining wider adoption among environmental conscious users.