There are comparably priced EVs. Don't just look at the high end stuff. I got a used '22 Bolt EUV for $19k and sold my '16 RAV4 for $14k, so net $5k cost. Fueling at home costs about 20% what fueling at the pump cost me, plus I no longer need to leave early or go out of my way to get to a place to fuel. And unless you are doing a ton of driving every day as like an Uber driver or something, you really don't need more than 350km range.

My commute for work is about 90 miles (145ish km) round trip. I charge up to 75% overnight (limited for longevity), drive to work, work 12 hours, drive home, and plug it in and it still has like 33% battery, and its range when new was advertised as 250 miles (400km). I'm sure it's degraded some since new, but even if it's down to like 225 miles (360km), it's plenty.

Somebody else also pointed out maintenance costs. No maintenance except for tires, wipers, bulbs, and brakes, but also the brakes need way less servicing because they're used less since you're mostly using regen braking. This was a big factor for me because my commute has me drive up a mountain and back down each way, so controlling my speed required either extra wear on my brakes or engine braking. Now I just get some change back from the extra energy cost of going uphill lol. Just last week, I took my car in to get serviced, and all it routinely needs is tires rotated and balanced. The guy at the desk was new and he didn't know how to charge for it since they pretty much only do it for people who bought tires through them and they offer free rotations and balances for the life of the tires, so he just said eh fuck it, you're good man, it's not worth the $20 or whatever for me to figure this out right now. So my 6 month service was FREE.

It's also worth pointing out that you're expecting an EV to pay itself off due to lower fuel cost, but you're not expecting that from a gas car. You can realistically find a new EV for under $30k, and a new Corolla or Civic is like $25k. Assuming you drive somewhere around the average amount (12k miles/19km per year), then you're likely to actually spend closer to $60k on the Corolla or Civic and $45k on the budget EV.

So you save $15k over ten years of owning the car, assuming you can charge at home and you were already looking at getting a new car and were comparing which one you definitely needed to buy today. For me, it was also a question of convenience. With 12 hour shifts and an hour commute on each side, I really didn't like having to plan leaving 10 minutes early and remembering to alter my route to stop just for gas.

If it makes sense for your lifestyle, go for it. If you can't charge at home or your current car runs fine, no big deal. EVs are getting better with every iteration, so you'll probably get one eventually. The only real urgency right now is that gas prices are currently way higher than they usually have been, and right now people aren't fully aware that 5 year old used EVs are not garbage in the same way that 5 year old used smartphones are, so you can get a pretty good deal until everybody wises up on that. And with gas prices up, more people are doing that research.