Showing United States · real 2026 prices
Plug in how you drive and your local prices. We'll show your real yearly running cost, side by side — using current US electricity and fuel figures.
Adjust anything to match your situation.
Estimate only. Excludes purchase price, servicing, registration & insurance. Public fast-charging costs more than home charging. CO₂ is based on standard fuel and grid emission factors for your region.
Transparent math you can trust — every figure is yours to change.
Your EV's yearly cost is its efficiency (mi/kWh) over the miles you drive, times your electricity price; the gas car is worked out from its MPG and the pump price per gallon. CO₂ avoided compares the emissions of the gasoline you'd burn (about 19 lb per gallon) against the grid power you'd use — the US grid averages roughly 0.8 lb CO₂ per kWh, cleaner on the coasts and higher in coal-heavy states. The default home rate is near the US average (~16–18¢/kWh), but rates run from about 12¢ in the cheapest states to 40¢+ in Hawaii, so set yours for an accurate result. Estimates only, not financial advice.
For most US drivers, charging at home costs far less than buying gas — how much less depends on your state's electricity rate.
At a typical home rate around 17–18¢/kWh, an efficient EV runs roughly 4–6¢ per mile, versus about 12–16¢ a mile for a gas car at ~$4 a gallon — so a 13,000-mile year can save well over $1,000 in fuel alone. Your real number swings with location: power is cheap in the Pacific Northwest and parts of the South, pricier in California and the Northeast, and gas tracks the market. Charging overnight on a utility time-of-use (EV) plan, or from home solar, widens the gap; leaning on DC fast-charging (Tesla Supercharger, Electrify America, EVgo at roughly 35–60¢/kWh) narrows it.
This tool covers running costs only — not the purchase price, insurance or registration, or any federal or state purchase incentives, which vary by model and buyer. Use it to understand the energy savings, then weigh them against the upfront cost of the cars you're comparing.
Quick answers about EV versus petrol running costs.
For a typical driver charging at home, the electricity for an EV costs roughly a third of the equivalent petrol bill — often less on an off-peak tariff or rooftop solar. The gap narrows if you rely mostly on public fast charging, so the honest answer depends on your tariff, which is why every figure in this calculator is editable.
Both cars use the same simple formula: (distance ÷ 100) × efficiency × energy price. For the EV that’s kWh/100km times your per-kWh electricity price; for the petrol car it’s L/100km times the pump price per litre. No hidden assumptions — the full method is shown on this page.
No — this tool compares energy (running) costs only. Purchase price, insurance, registration and depreciation vary too much by model to generalise. EVs do typically save on servicing as well, so the running-cost gap shown here is usually conservative.
Usually, yes. The comparison is: litres of fuel × 2.31–2.68 kg of CO₂ versus kWh used × your grid’s emissions factor. On most grids the EV comes out well ahead, grids get cleaner every year, and charging from rooftop solar is close to zero-emission driving.
They’re drawn from current public data for the country you select — energy regulators, fuel-price monitors and charging networks, linked in the sources note above. Treat them as sensible starting points and set your own numbers for a result that matches your life.
