Methodology · v1.0 · published 2026-06-05

The actual rules behind every EV Quiz verdict

Why this page exists

Every EV quiz on the internet always says yes. They're funded by dealers and want a lead capture. Real-life is more textured — sometimes the answer is no, sometimes the honest answer is "wait 12 months." When the answer is "no" or "maybe," the quiz should say so plainly and explain why.

For that "no" or "wait" to be credible, you should be able to read the exact rule that fired and decide for yourself whether it applies to your life. That's what this page is — every single rule the engine uses, in plain English, with a pointer to the line of code where it lives.

1. The verdict engine — when we say YES / MAYBE / NO

Source: lib/verdict.ts

The verdict is a pure function — same inputs always produce the same output, no randomness, no marketing weighting. Rules are evaluated top to bottom; the first match wins.

Rule 1 — Hard NO: heavy towing

If the user reports they tow loads over 3,000 lbs, the verdict is NO. The reasoning: heavy towing cuts EV range by 40–60%, which makes long-haul towing painful on most charging networks. The trucks capable of it (Cybertruck, R1T, F-150 Lightning Extended Range) exist, but charging stops with a trailer attached are still a hassle.

Caveat we surface: If the towing is mostly local (under 50 miles round-trip), an electric truck can still work.

Source data on range loss: Edmunds, Car & Driver, and InsideEVs have all published independent tow-range-loss tests showing 40–60% range hit at GVWR. The 40–60% range is a conservative aggregate; specific drivetrains may do slightly better or worse.

Rule 2 — Hard NO: no overnight charging + long daily driving

If the user has no overnight charging access (street parking, no L1/L2 at apartment) AND drives 50+ miles a day, the verdict is NO. The math: 50+ miles daily without home charging means a public fast charger 2–3 times per week. That eats both the time savings AND most of the cost savings vs. gas.

Caveat we surface: If you can get a Level 2 installed at home OR at work, this flips to a strong YES.

Rule 3 — MAYBE: no charging, short commute

If the user has no overnight charging BUT a short daily commute (under 50 mi), the verdict is MAYBE. A weekly DCFC stop is workable for a 100–200 mi/week driver. We surface the asterisk: you'll depend on public charging, so verify there's a reliable fast charger within 10 minutes of home or work before committing.

Rule 4 — Contextual flag: long-trip planning required

If the user reports regular trips over 300 miles, we still return YES (assuming other rules pass) but surface a caveat: trips over 300 miles mean planning a charging stop. Tesla's network is the smoothest; others are catching up with NACS adapters in 2026.

Source on charging-network reliability: PlugShare user reports + J.D. Power 2025 Public Charging Study. Tesla Supercharger uptime hovers near 99%; Electrify America near 85%; EVgo near 80%.

Rule 5 — Default YES with reasons

If none of the hard NO or MAYBE rules fire, the verdict is YES. The engine then surfaces the specific reasons that apply:

• · If home charging: "Charging at home is the EV cheat code — you wake up with a full tank every day."
• · If workplace charging: "Workplace charging is nearly as good as home charging for daily use."
• · If daily miles under 50: "Your daily mileage fits comfortably inside any modern EV's range, with plenty of buffer."
• · If daily miles 50–100: "Even with 100-mile days, you'll only need to plug in every other night on most EVs."
• · If light towing: "Light towing (boats, small trailers) works on EV trucks and larger SUVs — just plan for ~30% less range when hooked up."

2. The recommendation engine — how we pick the 4 vehicles

Source: lib/recommend.ts

After the verdict fires, we recommend up to four vehicles from the catalog. The ranking math:

1. Hard filter 1 — body style: if the user picked sedan / SUV / truck, only that body type appears. "No preference" disables this filter.
2. Hard filter 2 — budget cap: only vehicles at or below the user's budget tier survive. (Tiers: under $35k, $35–55k, $55–80k, $80k+.)
3. Hard filter 3 — towing capacity: if the user reported any towing need, only vehicles with ≥ 2,000 lb tow rating survive.
4. Sort: ranked by range-per-dollar (EPA range / starting price). The most range-for-the-money vehicle wins each category.
5. Fallback: if the body filter wiped the pool (e.g., truck + sub-$35k = nothing), we fall back to the budget tier alone so the user still sees options.
6. Return: top 4 results.

Affiliate relationships do not influence ranking. The range-per-dollar formula is identical for every visitor and would produce the same recommendations with no affiliate partners at all.

3. The savings calculator — where the dollar numbers come from

Source: lib/savings.ts

Annual savings on the results page is computed as:

Default values

• · EV efficiency: 3.5 miles per kWh — typical sedan / crossover. Trucks and large SUVs are closer to 2.0–2.5 mi/kWh; small EVs (Model 3, Ioniq 6) hit 4.0+. User can adjust on the results page.
• · Gas mileage default: 28 mpg — close to the US average for non-truck passenger vehicles (EPA 2024).
• · Gas price default: $3.40/gal — US national average mid-2026 (EIA weekly retail gasoline price report). User can adjust.
• · Electricity rate default: $0.14/kWh — US residential average (EIA Form 861 most recent).

Annual miles inference

If the user picks a daily-miles bucket, we infer annual miles with a weighted weekday/weekend assumption — not a flat 365×daily:

• · Under 20 mi/day → 5,475 annual (15 × 365)
• · 20–50 mi/day → 12,450 annual (35 × 300 weekdays + 30 × 65 weekend equivalents)
• · 50–100 mi/day → 22,750 annual (75 × 250 + 40 × 100)
• · Over 100 mi/day → 35,000 annual (120 × 250 + 50 × 100)
• · If no bucket picked → 13,500 annual (US average)

These mileage assumptions are model-not-truth. A telecommuter who does one 200-mile road trip a week looks identical to a daily commuter in our buckets, even though their year-end mileage differs by 5,000+. Email if your real annual mileage is more than 30% off our inferred number — we'll add finer-grain inputs.

4. The incentive stack — what we count toward your purchase

Source: lib/incentives.ts

Federal new EV credit ($7,500) — ENDED Sept 30, 2025

The 30D new EV credit, the 25E used EV credit ($4,000), and the 45W commercial credit (the "lease loophole") all sunset under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025. Vehicles acquired after September 30, 2025 do not qualify. We do not add $7,500 to your savings math. Sources: HR-1 (OBBBA) full text; IRS notice on 30D sunset.

Federal home EV charger credit (30% up to $1,000) — sunsets June 30, 2026

IRC §30C, the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit, gives 30% of cost up to $1,000 for personal home charger install. OBBBA preserved this for property placed in service through June 30, 2026. We surface it on the results page when the user has home charging access. Source: IRS Form 8911 instructions; IRC §30C statutory text.

Federal auto loan interest deduction (up to $10,000/yr) — new in 2026

OBBBA created a personal-use auto loan interest deduction on qualifying new vehicle loans (applies to BOTH EV and gas vehicles). Up to $10,000/yr deductible from federal taxable income for loans originated after Dec 31, 2024. Income phaseout above $100k single / $200k joint. We show this in savings math when the user's budget tier suggests a financed purchase, but we flag the income cap. Source: HR-1 § 70203.

Manufacturer cash on hood — typical $7,500–$10,000 in 2026

Most major EV OEMs (Hyundai, Kia, Ford, GM, VW, Tesla on specific configurations) have been running $7,500–$10,000 post-OBBBA promotional discounts to offset the lost federal credit and clear inventory. We surface this as a range, NOT a guaranteed number — promos change month-to-month and vary by configuration and dealer. Verify on the manufacturer's configurator before signing.

State EV incentives — 17 states modeled

Currently mapped: CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, IL, MA, MD, ME, MN, NJ, NY, OR, PA, RI, TX, VT. Each state's entry includes the program name, the dollar amount, and a note about caps or qualifying conditions. Snapshot is late-2025 / early-2026. State programs change frequently and many have income or vehicle-price caps — we link out to the DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center in the UI for current verification. Source: each state's DEEP / DOE / environmental agency. Aggregator: afdc.energy.gov/laws.

5. Hybrid alternatives — when the verdict is NO or MAYBE

Source: lib/hybrid-alternatives.ts

If your situation genuinely doesn't fit an EV in 2026, we show the honest "if not an EV, then what" answer — a hand-curated set of 13 hybrids (HEV and PHEV) ranked by tag overlap with your answers. Tags include: no-home-charging, long-commute, tow-heavy, tow-light, budget, family, luxury.

We are deliberately NOT becoming a hybrid quiz. These exist solely as the honest fallback. The 13 picks include the Prius family, Camry / Accord / RAV4 / CR-V hybrids, Maverick & F-150 PowerBoost on the truck side, Tucson / Prius Prime / RAV4 Prime / XC60 PHEV for plug-in cases, and Lexus RX 500h on the luxury end.

Ranking: count how many bestFor tags overlap with the user's derived tags, sort by overlap score, return top 4. Body-style hard filter applies when specified.

6. What we do NOT yet model (limitations to know about)

Honest gaps that real edge cases will hit:

• · Climate / cold-weather adjustment. We do not ask your zip or climate zone. A driver in Fairbanks AK loses 25–40% of range in winter; a driver in San Diego loses essentially none. The quiz currently treats both the same. Planned for v2.0.
• · Charging-network density on your specific routes. We do not query PlugShare or look at your long-trip corridors. A "300+ mile trips" answer in California (dense Supercharger spine) is fundamentally different from the same answer in Wyoming (charging desert). Currently we surface a generic caveat for both. Planned for v2.x.
• · Time-of-use electricity rates. We use a flat $0.14/kWh default. Utility-specific TOU plans (PG&E EV2-A, Duke off-peak, Xcel CO whole-home) can drop overnight EV charging to $0.07–0.09/kWh, which dramatically improves savings. User can manually adjust on the results page but we don't auto-detect.
• · Lease vs. buy economics. The savings math assumes ownership. Leasing has a different tax + financing structure. Separate page (/should-i-lease-or-buy-ev) explains the lease analysis but isn't wired into the quiz flow.
• · Used EV market. The catalog is new EVs only. The used-EV market post-OBBBA is genuinely cheap and worth considering — we have a guide (/best-used-ev-under-25k) but no quiz integration yet.
• · State incentive eligibility caps. We show the headline incentive amount but don't model income phaseouts, MSRP caps, or program funding exhaustion (many state programs run out of money mid-year). We flag this in the state notes but don't filter recommendations on it.
• · Insurance cost delta. EVs cost 10–25% more to insure than equivalent gas cars on average (higher repair cost from battery damage). Not yet in savings math.

7. Versioning + changelog

This page URL is date-versioned. v1.0 lives permanently at /methodology/v1.0. When a rule changes meaningfully, the next version gets its own URL (v1.1, v2.0, etc.) and the changelog below lists what moved. The plain /methodology always redirects to the current version.

Changelog

• · v1.0 — 2026-06-05: initial publication. Documents all 5 verdict rules, the 5-step recommendation pipeline, the savings formula with US-average defaults, the post-OBBBA incentive stack, and the 13-vehicle hybrid fallback set. Surfaces 7 known limitations.

Tell me where this is wrong

I'd rather have you email me with a specific objection than have you trust the quiz blindly. The page above is the entire model. Where does it fail your situation?