How We Turned Public Energy Data into a Dashboard with LogSheet

Public data is everywhere. Insights are not.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration publishes electricity rates and gasoline prices for every state, every month. The data is free and well-structured, but gasoline and electricity use different units. Dollars per gallon versus cents per kilowatt-hour. Comparing them takes more than a quick glance at a spreadsheet.

The conversion: from kilowatt-hours to gallons

To compare fuel costs on equal terms, we picked two vehicles from the same manufacturer and class: Hyundai Elantra (gasoline) and the Hyundai Ioniq 6 (electric). Closest thing to a direct swap available on the market.

• The Ioniq 6 consumes 24 kWh per 100 miles according to EPA testing.
• The Elantra — 36 miles per gallon.

To cover the same 36 miles, the Ioniq 6 needs:

36 miles × 0.24 kWh per mile = 8.64 kWh.

That gives a single conversion factor. Take any residential electricity rate in cents, multiply by 0.0864, and the result is the dollar cost of an EV "gallon": the price of enough electricity to drive the same distance as one gallon of gasoline.

For example, the U.S. average residential rate in 2024 was 16.48 cents per kWh. The EV gallon-equivalent: 16.48 × 0.0864 = $1.42. The actual gasoline price that year averaged $3.31 per gallon. The EV driver paid 57% less for the same distance.

Turning two datasets into one journal

We created a LogSheet journal where each record represents one year. The fields: year, residential electricity rate, average gasoline price, calculated EV gallon-equivalent, data source.

What the dashboard showed

Gasoline prices spiked three times and dropped twice between 2016 and 2026. The pandemic crashed them to $2.17 in 2020. The post-COVID recovery and global supply disruptions pushed them to $3.96 in 2022. They fell back to $3.10 by 2025, then climbed again to $3.36 as the Iran conflict drove crude above $100 per barrel.

The EV equivalent barely moved. It went from $1.08 in 2016 to $1.56 in 2026. An increase of 48 cents over ten years.

Why a journal works here

Public datasets need cleanup, transformation, and context before they become useful. A structured journal handles this by design: consistent fields, easy updates, automatic dashboards. No formulas to maintain, no pivot tables to rebuild.

The same approach works for production logs, equipment readings, quality records. Anywhere consistent data collection leads to better decisions.

Data sources: EIA Electric Power Monthly (Tables 5.3 and 5.6.B) for electricity. EIA Petroleum Retail Prices, U.S. Regular All Formulations, for gasoline. EPA fuel economy ratings for vehicle specifications.