A petrol car’s cost per mile is easy enough to picture, fill the tank, watch the number climb. An EV’s cost hides behind a completely different unit, kWh instead of gallons, and where you charge changes that number more than most buyers realize. This page runs the real comparison end to end. It covers what an EV costs at home versus a fast charger, and how that stacks up against petrol over a single trip or a full year. It also covers how real model pairings like a Model 3 against a Corolla actually compare, and roughly when the higher upfront price of an EV starts paying for itself.
Quick Answer: Split your distance by miles per kWh and multiply by your electricity rate for EV cost. Split the same distance by MPG and multiply by fuel price for petrol cost. Over 1,000 miles, a typical EV often costs $35 to $50 in electricity against $130 to $170 in petrol for a comparable car.
Supported Units: Miles/kWh, MPG.
Supported Currencies: USD, CAD, AUD, GBP, EUR.
Your Results: EV Cost, Petrol Cost, Savings Over Distance, Estimated Charging Time.
Who This Calculator Is For
Anyone cross-shopping an EV against a petrol car wants a real running cost before signing anything, not a dealership’s rounded-up estimate. Current EV owners use it to show family or friends what the switch actually saves in numbers they can check themselves. Petrol car owners considering a switch run their own electricity rate and mileage through it before trusting any generic savings claim.
How To Calculate EV Vs Petrol Cost
Enter your typical distance, either a single trip or an annual mileage figure you already track. Add your EV’s efficiency in miles per kWh alongside your local electricity price. Add your petrol car’s MPG and local fuel price, and the calculator lines both up side by side.
EV Vs Petrol Formula
EV cost comes from distance divided by miles per kWh, multiplied by your electricity price. Petrol cost comes from distance divided by MPG, multiplied by fuel price.
Example
Over 1,000 miles, an EV averaging 3.5 mi/kWh at $0.15 per kWh costs about $42.86. A petrol car averaging 28 MPG at $3.95 a gallon costs roughly $141.07 for the identical distance.
What MPGe Actually Means
Window stickers on EVs quote MPGe, miles per gallon equivalent, and it confuses more buyers than almost any other spec on the sheet. The US EPA defines one gallon of petrol as containing 33.7 kWh of energy, purely as a shared measuring stick. MPGe simply asks how far a vehicle would travel on that much energy, whether it actually burns fuel or draws electricity to do it. A car rated 100 MPGe isn’t burning gallons at all; it’s borrowing the unit so an EV and a petrol car land on one comparable scale.
EV Charging Cost By Charger Type
Almost every EV cost comparison online quietly assumes one flat electricity price, which misses the single biggest variable in real EV ownership. A Home Level 1 charger, the standard household outlet, costs the least per kWh but charges slowly overnight. A Home Level 2 charger costs slightly more to install but charges several times faster, and remains the cheapest per-mile option for daily driving. Public AC chargers typically run a bit above home rates. DC fast chargers and Tesla Superchargers can cost two to four times more per kWh, a real premium worth factoring into any road trip cost estimate.
| Charger Type | Typical Cost | Charging Speed | Best For |
| Home Level 1 | Lowest | Very slow | Overnight top-ups |
| Home Level 2 | Low | Moderate | Daily charging |
| Public AC | Moderate | Moderate | Workplace, shopping |
| DC Fast Charger | High | Fast | Road trips |
| Tesla Supercharger | High | Very Fast | Long distance travel |
How Long Charging Actually Takes
Charging speed depends on both the charger’s output and how much range you’re adding back. A 3kW outlet can take over 24 hours for a full charge on a larger battery, while an 11kW home charger typically finishes overnight without issue. A 50kW public fast charger can add substantial range in under an hour, and a 150kW or faster charger often gets a battery from low to mostly full in 20 to 30 minutes.
| Charger Output | Approx Time For Full Charge |
| 3 kW | 24+ hours |
| 7 kW | 8-10 hours |
| 11 kW | 6–8 hours |
| 50 kW | 45-60 minutes |
| 150 kW | 20-30 minutes |
Why City Driving Favors EVs And Hurts Petrol Cars
This pattern runs in opposite directions for the two vehicle types, and almost nobody explains it clearly. Stop-start city traffic hurts a petrol engine, since idling and constant acceleration burn fuel with little distance to show for it. That same stop-start driving actually helps an EV, since regenerative braking recovers energy every time the car slows down. A typical EV can see 10 to 15 percent better efficiency in the city than its rated highway figure, while a petrol car sees the reverse, worse efficiency in town than on the open road.
Petrol Vs Diesel Vs Hybrid Vs EV
| Vehicle Type | Fuel Cost | Maintenance | City Efficiency | Highway Efficiency |
| Petrol | Highest per mile | Moderate | Lower | Higher |
| Diesel | Slightly lower | Moderate to high | Lower | Higher |
| Hybrid | Lower | Low to moderate | Higher | Moderate |
| EV | Lowest | Lowest | Higher | Moderate |
Annual EV Savings Examples
A single trip comparison only tells part of the story, since most owners want to know what a full year of driving actually saves. At 8,000 annual miles, a typical EV to petrol comparison saves owners somewhere around $770 a year at current average prices. That figure climbs to roughly $960 at 10,000 miles, $1,155 at 12,000 miles, $1,445 at 15,000 miles, and close to $1,925 a year at 20,000 miles. Stretched across five years of ownership, even the 10,000 mile scenario adds up to nearly $4,800 in fuel savings alone, before counting the maintenance side of the comparison.
Real Vehicle Comparison Library
Seeing a genuine model pairing makes the whole comparison click faster than any generic formula. The table below runs common EV and petrol pairings at 12,000 annual miles, using each pair’s typical published efficiency figures.
| EV | Petrol Alternative | Typical Annual Fuel Saving |
| Tesla Model 3 | Toyota Corolla | $900–$1,100 |
| Tesla Model Y | Honda CR-V | $950–$1,200 |
| BYD Seal | Toyota Camry | $850–$1,050 |
| Nissan Leaf | Honda Civic | $700–$900 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 | Hyundai Tucson | $1,000–$1,250 |
| Hyundai Kona EV | Honda Civic | $750–$950 |
| Kia EV6 | Kia Sportage | $950–$1,150 |
| Ford F-150 Lightning | Ford F-150 (petrol) | $1,300–$1,700 |
Every pairing follows the same underlying shape. Lower fuel cost, similar or lower maintenance, and a payback period that depends heavily on annual mileage and the price gap between the two vehicles at purchase.
When Does An EV Actually Become Cheaper
Ownership cost rarely favors an EV on day one, since the purchase price typically runs higher than a comparable petrol car. By year one, fuel savings have usually chipped away at only a small piece of that price gap. By year three, a driver covering average annual mileage has often closed a meaningful portion of the difference through fuel and maintenance savings combined. By year five, many EV and petrol comparisons reach breakeven or move in the EV’s favor. By year eight, the EV has frequently pulled ahead by a noticeable margin, assuming the battery has held up reasonably well.
Does Battery Age Affect Running Cost
Battery degradation is real, but it’s smaller and slower than most headlines suggest. Most modern EV batteries lose only a small percentage of capacity per year under normal use, often in the low single digits annually. Charging habits matter: frequent fast charging and consistently charging to 100 percent both slightly accelerate wear compared to more moderate charging patterns. Cold weather temporarily reduces both range and efficiency, though this is a seasonal effect rather than permanent degradation, and it affects petrol engines too, just differently.
Charging With Home Solar
Pairing an EV with home solar panels changes the cost equation in a way pure grid charging never can. Daytime solar charging can bring the marginal cost of a charge close to zero once panels are already paid for. An off-peak or EV-specific night tariff, where available, often undercuts standard grid rates even without solar. Combining a night tariff for scheduled charging with solar for daytime top-ups tends to produce the lowest realistic running cost of any charging setup.
How Weather Changes EV Running Cost
Winter conditions affect an EV’s real-world cost more than most petrol drivers expect. Cold temperatures reduce battery efficiency and increase energy use, since the battery itself needs warming alongside the cabin. Running the heater draws directly from the same battery powering the wheels, unlike a petrol car’s heater, which uses waste engine heat for free. Summer air conditioning affects both vehicle types similarly, though a petrol car’s AC load has a smaller relative impact on its overall fuel consumption.
Regional Electricity And Petrol Cost Examples
Running the same comparison across regions shows how much local pricing shifts the outcome. The US commonly sees moderate electricity prices paired with fuel prices in the mid-three-dollar range, producing a solid EV cost advantage. The UK and much of Europe often pair higher electricity prices with higher fuel prices, keeping the relative EV advantage roughly the same even though both absolute numbers rise. Canada and Australia each show their own regional mix, but the underlying pattern holds everywhere: electricity per mile driven typically costs a fraction of petrol per mile, even where electricity itself isn’t especially cheap.
Beyond Fuel: The Rest Of The Ownership Cost
Fuel or electricity is only one part of what a vehicle costs to own, even though it’s the number most buyers fixate on first. EVs typically cost less to maintain, no oil changes, and fewer brake replacements thanks to regenerative braking reducing wear over time. Insurance and purchase price can run higher for an EV, which sometimes offsets part of the running cost advantage over the first few years of ownership. Our cost per mile calculator folds insurance, maintenance, and depreciation into the full picture alongside fuel or electricity.
Common Mistakes
Comparing a manufacturer’s rated MPG directly against an EV’s rated efficiency ignores that real-world petrol economy usually runs lower than the sticker suggests. Assuming all EV charging costs the same ignores the large gap between home and public rapid charging rates. Ignoring city versus highway differences understates how much better an EV performs in stop-start traffic compared to its highway rating.
Related Calculators
The Fuel Consumption Calculator covers everyday petrol and diesel cost calculations. The MPG Calculator helps you find your petrol car’s real-world fuel economy before comparing it here. The Cost Per Mile Calculator adds insurance, maintenance, and depreciation for the full ownership cost. The Monthly Fuel Cost Calculator turns either result into a recurring monthly budget, and the Fuel Unit Converter handles MPG, L/100km, and km/L conversions if you need them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Methodology
EV cost here scales from distance over efficiency in miles per kWh, priced against your electricity rate. Petrol cost scales from distance over MPG, priced against your local fuel cost, the same relationship used across this site. Charging time estimates assume typical charger output and battery size rather than a specific vehicle model.
Reviewed by the FuelConsumptionCalc Editorial Team. Efficiency assumptions are cross-checked against EPA MPGe methodology and standard EV efficiency ranges reported across current model years.
Sources: US EPA fuel economy and MPGe data, EPA electric vehicle ratings, published EV efficiency benchmarks by vehicle class.
See our full methodology page for how we verify every figure on this site.
Last Updated: August 2026.