EV vs Gas Cost Per Mile Calculator
Start with the straight energy comparison — cost per mile for an electric car against a gasoline one at your own prices — then use ownership mode below to model depreciation, incentives, a home charger, maintenance and insurance, and see whether the electric car ever pays back its higher purchase price.
Your driving
Used for both cars so the comparison stays like for like.
Electric car
Enter what you pay for electricity and how far the car goes on a kWh.
Your dashboard's lifetime average is the best number to use.
Some energy is lost during charging. Adjust this if you know your typical charging loss.
Blended rate $0.20/kWh, or $0.23/kWh once charging losses are applied. The two shares always total 100%.
Gasoline car
Use the car you would realistically buy instead — a hybrid is a much harder comparison than an SUV.
How many miles the car travels on one gallon of gas.
Is an electric car cheaper than a gas car? Running cost is only part of the answer. The figures above compare electricity with gasoline per mile and per year, while full ownership mode below adds purchase price, charging equipment, maintenance, insurance and resale value to show which car costs less over the time you plan to own it — and when a higher purchase price pays back.
Add purchase price, incentives, charger, maintenance, insurance and resale to see total cost of ownership and the break-even point.
Electric car
Enter only incentives you expect to receive. Default: $0.
Counted once, at the start of the ownership period.
An estimate you control, not a published figure.
Gasoline car
What your electric-versus-gasoline numbers say
At $0.20/kWh blended (85% home, 15% public) and 3.5 mi/kWh, the electric car costs $0.065 per mile in energy. The 28 MPG gasoline car at $3.20 a gallon costs $0.114 — electric is cheaper by $50 a month, $596 a year over 12,000 miles.
Electric against gasoline — the quickest sanity check on the per-mile figures.
Or electricity at $0.36/kWh at the wall. Outside those points one car is clearly ahead on fuel.
$0.592 vs $0.560 per mile all-in, against $0.065 vs $0.114 on energy alone.
The electric car is cheaper to run — $896 a year less in energy, maintenance and insurance — but that does not recover the $11,200 extra it costs to put on the drive after incentives and the charger. Under these assumptions there is no break-even inside 7 years; the gap at the end is $2,677.
The single assumption moving your result most is gasoline price: a ±20% change there swings the annual advantage by $549, more than any other input on this page. Test it in the sensitivity section below.
Which assumption is really driving your answer
- Shift charging to your cheapest hours before anything else$166/yr
Your blended rate is $0.20/kWh. Charging every kWh at your $0.16 home rate is worth the figure shown here at 12,000 miles a year — no change to the car required.
- Enter the incentive you actually qualify for, not the headline oneDirectly reduces break-even
Incentives are user-entered here because eligibility depends on income, vehicle and jurisdiction. Every $1,000 of credit removes $1,000 from the electric car's depreciation base and pulls break-even earlier by roughly that amount divided by your annual running saving.
- Compare against the gasoline car you would genuinely buy$0.071/mi at 45 MPG
A 45 MPG hybrid at $3.20 a gallon costs $0.071 per mile against $0.160 for a 20 MPG SUV. The efficient hybrid is the hard case for an EV, especially with a lot of public charging.
- Check resale assumptions rather than accepting the defaults$7,750 over 7 yrs
Depreciation is usually the largest single line in either column and it is the least certain. The resale percentages above are yours to change; a ten-point shift on a $45,000 car is $4,500 of cost, which is often larger than several years of fuel savings.
- Scale the decision to your mileage$248 per 5,000 miles
Every fuel advantage is per mile, so it only matters in volume. At 12,000 miles a year your energy gap is $596; a 5,000-mile-a-year driver would see roughly a third of that and should weight purchase price far more heavily.
Cumulative ownership cost, year by year
Each line is money actually spent by that point: purchase outlay minus what the car is still worth, plus energy, maintenance and insurance to date. On your inputs the lines do not cross inside the horizon.
| Year | Electric, cumulative | Gasoline, cumulative | EV ahead by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yr 0 | $1,200 | $0 | -$1,200 |
| Yr 1 | $8,132 | $6,721 | -$1,411 |
| Yr 2 | $15,065 | $13,443 | -$1,622 |
| Yr 3 | $21,997 | $20,164 | -$1,833 |
| Yr 4 | $28,930 | $26,886 | -$2,044 |
| Yr 5 | $35,862 | $33,607 | -$2,255 |
| Yr 6 | $42,794 | $40,329 | -$2,465 |
| Yr 7 | $49,727 | $47,050 | -$2,677 |
Gasoline ahead
Gasoline ahead
Gasoline ahead
Break-even would arrive at 10 years — beyond your 7-year horizon, so it does not happen while you own the car.
Where the money actually goes
| Component over 7 years | Electric | Gasoline |
|---|---|---|
| Energy / fuel | $5,427 | $9,600 |
| Maintenance | $2,800 | $6,300 |
| Insurance | $13,300 | $11,900 |
| Depreciation less incentives | $27,000 | $19,250 |
| Home charger | $1,200 | $0 |
| Total ownership cost | $49,727 | $47,050 |
| Ownership cost per mile | $0.592 | $0.560 |
| Operating cost per mile (energy only) | $0.065 | $0.114 |
Purchase price is never charged twice: it enters only as depreciation, the difference between what you pay and what the car is still worth at the end of the horizon. Incentives you entered are deducted from the electric car's depreciation, and the charger is counted once.
What would change the result?
| Scenario | Electric $/mi | Gasoline $/mi | Annual energy saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| $2.00/gal | $0.065 | $0.071 | $82 |
| $2.50/gal | $0.065 | $0.089 | $296 |
| $3.00/gal | $0.065 | $0.107 | $510 |
| $3.50/gal | $0.065 | $0.125 | $725 |
| $4.00/gal | $0.065 | $0.143 | $939 |
| $4.50/gal | $0.065 | $0.161 | $1,153 |
| $5.00/gal | $0.065 | $0.179 | $1,368 |
| $5.50/gal | $0.065 | $0.196 | $1,582 |
| $6.00/gal | $0.065 | $0.214 | $1,796 |
Which assumption matters most
- 1. Gasoline price — a ±20% change swings the annual advantage by $549
- 2. Share of public fast charging — a ±20% change swings the annual advantage by $387
- 3. Annual mileage — a ±20% change swings the annual advantage by $238
- 4. Electricity price — a ±20% change swings the annual advantage by $207
Quick facts
Operating cost: where the gap really shows
Per-mile cost is the cleanest way to compare a Tesla Model 3 to a Toyota Camry. EVs convert about 85–90% of stored energy into motion. Gas cars convert closer to 25–30%, with the rest lost to heat. That efficiency gap is why EVs typically cost $0.03–$0.05 per mile while gas cars sit at $0.12–$0.18 per mile.
City vs highway: a reversed pattern
Gas cars are most efficient on the highway thanks to steady RPMs. EVs are the opposite — regenerative braking and low-speed efficiency make city driving cheaper per mile. A commuter doing stop-and-go traffic will see a much wider EV-vs-gas gap than a long-distance highway driver.
Maintenance is the silent winner
EVs skip oil changes, spark plugs, timing belts, transmissions, exhaust systems, and most brake wear (regen does the work). Independent studies from Consumer Reports and the US DOE put EV maintenance at roughly half the cost of a gas car over the vehicle's lifetime.
Hidden gas vehicle costs
Beyond the pump, gas cars carry costs people forget: emissions inspections, fluid flushes, exhaust repairs, and faster brake pad wear. Add $300–$700 a year for an average sedan once the warranty ends.
How this calculator works, assumptions, and sources
How this calculator works
Blended electricity rate = home share × home rate + public share × public rate. Delivered rate = blended rate ÷ (1 − charging loss). EV energy $/mi = delivered rate ÷ EV efficiency (mi/kWh). Gas $/mi = gas price per gallon ÷ MPG. Annual energy cost = $/mi × annual miles. Ownership mode: purchase outlay (EV) = EV price − incentives + home charger; purchase outlay (gas) = gas car price; resale at year t = price × (1 − (1 − resale %) × t ÷ horizon), straight-line; cumulative cost at year t = purchase outlay − resale at t + t × (energy + maintenance + insurance). Break-even is the first month at which the EV cumulative total falls to or below the gasoline one.
- Both vehicles are driven the same annual mileage, so the comparison is like for like.
- Home and public charging shares always total 100%, and charging losses are applied to electricity billed at the wall.
- Purchase price is never charged as a cost by itself — it enters only as depreciation between purchase and resale value, so it is not double-counted.
- Incentives are entered by the user and deducted from the electric car's depreciation base; eligibility is not assumed.
- The home charger is a one-time cost charged once, at the start of the ownership period.
- Resale values fall in a straight line across the chosen horizon; real depreciation is faster in the early years.
- US residential electricity rate per EIA; public DC fast-charging rates are typically two to four times residential.
- US average gasoline price per EIA weekly survey.
- EPA / DOE FuelEconomy.gov MPG and kWh/100mi.
- AC home charging losses of roughly 10% between wall and battery.
- Purchase prices, maintenance, insurance and resale percentages are editable starting points, not published figures for any specific vehicle.
- Excludes financing interest, registration and tax differences, tyre wear, and free workplace charging.
- Resale assumptions are the least certain input and often outweigh several years of fuel savings.
- Battery degradation and future electricity or fuel price changes are not modelled.
- Not a substitute for a dealer quote or a financing comparison.
- Do not treat the break-even year as a forecast — it is a projection of the assumptions you entered.
Sources
- U.S. Energy Information Administration — Average Retail Price of Electricity (2025)
- U.S. Energy Information Administration — Weekly Retail Gasoline Prices (2025)
- EPA / DOE — FuelEconomy.gov (official MPG and kWh/100mi ratings) (2025)
Corrections welcome — see our corrections policy and editorial policy.
Electric vs gasoline cost questions
Where do I find my EV's miles per kWh?
Why do the two cars need the same miles to compare fairly?
Does cost per mile include depreciation?
Why does the calculator add a charging loss?
How is break-even calculated here?
Does ownership mode double-count purchase price and depreciation?
What does the ownership comparison leave out?
Other EV cost tools
Related reading
This page was last updated September 20, 2026. Spotted an error? Report it via our corrections policy.