San Diego’s gas prices set another record for the 12th day in a row, bringing the average price for a gallon of regular self-serve gas up three cents to $6.311. Filling up for gas at that price can be expensive for many people. For some electric vehicle drivers, charging their car is a fraction of the price it would be to fill up a gas-powered car.
“It was cheaper to fill up,” Ken Cadima told NBC 7 on Tuesday. Cadima says he has had his Tesla for about a year and charges it using a charging station in Clairemont.
Also at that same charging station Tuesday was Kevin Hopkins. He said it costs him around $15-$18 to fully charge his Tesla.
“Prior to buying this car, I was spending $2,000 a month in gas and that would probably be $3,500 now, I think,” Hopkins said.
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In addition to his Tesla, he also owns a Chevrolet Suburban and a truck.
”It costs over $200 to fill my Suburban up, and since I bought this, I’ve probably spent less than $500 in gas between those two cars,” Hopkins added.
The shock at the pump is something Ben Nunez knows well, especially since he's used to the prices in Georgia.
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“Gas is about the mid-threes when we left about two weeks ago and that was pretty good,” Nunez said.
He spends half the year in America’s Finest City to spend time with family, which he says you can’t put a price on.
”You can’t beat the price of being with the grandkids,” Nunez summed up.
However, the current gas prices do come with a trade-off.
”Well, we don’t eat out as much,” Nunez began. “We go shopping, we try to be really frugal in our shopping,” Nunez added.
As for Hopkins, that trade-off means going fully electric.
”I’ve ordered the Tesla truck so as soon as that comes in I’m getting rid of the other two,” Hopkins said.
