Anthony Best drives about 70 miles a day from a Bellingham suburb to Mount Vernon, where he works as a mechanical engineer at PACCAR, helping make sure Kenworth and Peterbilt big rigs meet California’s clean-air standards. In 2023, with fuel prices climbing and a home solar system already cutting his household energy bills, he decided to put that sunshine to work on the road as well.
The solar array was sized to cover the electricity for an EV that could handle the commute, so the energy for daily driving would essentially be free. He started with a fully-electric Hyundai Genesis GV60 Advanced, drawn by the incentives, the polished interior, and the performance. The car delivered the quiet acceleration and fuel savings he was after. Like many early adopters, he hit a couple of service snags—a failed 12-volt battery and a minor air-conditioning issue that required an EV-certified technician and a longer wait than expected. Those experiences didn’t sour him on electric driving, but they did make him less eager to be among the first owners of a brand-new platform.
So for his next EV he took a more calculated approach. Rather than ordering another new EV, he decided to replace his other car – a premium-fuel Subaru BRZ, which had been running about $300 a month in gas – with a used EV. He checked out an Ioniq 5 and Mustang Mach-E, but ultimately decided on a lightly used BMW i4 as his next move. Despite having only 8,000 miles on the odometer, the i4 was priced roughly $15,000 under the original sticker, so the first owner had already absorbed the steepest part of the depreciation curve.
Anthony loves his i4, and he doesn’t miss the weekly trip to the gas station one bit. At current Bellingham prices around $5 per gallon, his old Subaru BRZ cost roughly 23 cents per mile. The i4, charged from his home solar, costs essentially nothing. Even if he were charging on local Puget Sound Energy power at 12 cents per kWh, the i4 would run for around 3.6 cents per mile—far below the cost of the BRZ, representing a massive 84% savings in per-mile energy costs. Another way to think about this is that, over his annual 16,800 commute miles, he’s saving roughly $3,500 a year by driving on solar versus gas. But even if he were paying for local power rather than free solar, charging the i4 would still only cost about $600 a year. The combination of lower energy costs, no oil changes, and the i4’s quiet, refined driving has made the switch feel like a major upgrade.
Anthony still keeps an eye on the numbers – he’s an engineer, after all – but the day-to-day driving experience of his BMW i4 is what he loves most. It handles his Bellingham to Mount Vernon commute smoothly and economically, powered by free electricity generated at home. For Anthony, his second EV – and his first used one – is the one that truly clicked.