Calculator
Cost of Ownership
A static browser calculator for annual EV charging cost and gas baseline savings.
Estimate
This excludes insurance, taxes, maintenance, charger installation, financing, depreciation, and incentives.
How much does it cost to charge an EV at home compared with gas?
Cost per mile is the car's efficiency in Wh/mi, divided by 1,000, times your price per kWh. The calculator does this with the efficiency and electricity fields, then compares the result with gas at your mpg and price per gallon.
At the default $0.17 per kWh, the Tesla Model 3 (250 Wh/mi) costs about 4.3 cents a mile, or $510 over 12,000 miles. The GMC Hummer EV (640 Wh/mi) costs about 10.9 cents a mile, or $1,306. A 28 mpg gas car at $3.75 a gallon costs 13.4 cents a mile, or $1,607. The two EVs use the same electricity, and one costs 2.6 times as much to drive.
Why does efficiency matter more than the price at the plug?
Your rate applies the same multiplier to every car. Efficiency is what differs, and it follows size and weight more than price. The Lucid Air uses 264 Wh/mi, less than the Chevrolet Equinox EV at 311 Wh/mi, although the Air costs far more. The least efficient current models are all full-size trucks and vans. Pick a vehicle in the calculator to load its efficiency and price, then compare a few finalists.
Which electricity rate should I enter?
Use the per-kWh rate on your utility bill, including any time-of-use rate that applies overnight. Residential rates run from roughly $0.10 to $0.35 per kWh depending on state and plan. If you expect to fast charge often, enter a higher blended rate, because public DC charging usually costs more per kWh than home charging. Home charging also loses about 10 to 15 percent of the energy between the wall and the battery, so your bill will run a little above the figure the calculator shows.
What costs does the comparison leave out?
EVs skip oil changes, spark plugs and exhaust work. Tires are the line that can go up: a heavy EV with instant torque tends to wear a set faster than a similar gas crossover. Insurance can also run higher because battery packs and driver-assistance sensors are costly to repair, so get quotes on the exact trim before you buy. The data here tracks efficiency and price but has no maintenance or insurance figures.