What would an electric car really cost you?

This compares what your petrol or diesel car costs to fuel with what a full electric car or a plug-in hybrid would cost to charge — including charging losses, cheap overnight tariffs, workplace charging, public charging and the value of the solar you could otherwise export.

No account needed. No quote form. No sales call. Just your numbers.

Annual charging cost

£725per year

What charging a full electric car would cost each year.

Your current car, fuel a year: £1,507
Full electric car, a year: £725
Annual saving: £781
Cost per mile: 9.07p
Break-even charging priceYou currently average 26.11p per kWh.: 54.2p
Charging mix used: 100% normal · 0% cheap · 0% solar

The EV is approximately £781 a year cheaper to power.

Running energy only. No purchase price, depreciation, tax, insurance or servicing.

What this result assumes

Annual mileageYour figure: 8,000 miles
EfficiencyStarting assumption: 3.2 miles/kWh
Charging mix used: 100% normal · 0% cheap · 0% solar
Home electricity priceStarting assumption: 26.11p
Current car's fuel priceYour figure: 1.4p
Current car's economyYour figure: 35 mpg

Every figure below the result can be changed, and your result updates immediately.

How the calculations work

What are you comparing?

Annual driving

Miles driven each year

miles

Use your MOT history, mileage tracker or your best estimate.

That's about

154 miles a week

8,000 miles is our starting assumption, not a national average.

Your current fuel car

Fuel typeA hybrid is costed from the MPG you actually see.Real-world fuel economy

MPG

Use the MPG you actually see if you know it.Fuel price

£/litre

An editable planning assumption, not a live national price.

Fuel used: 1,039 litres
Annual fuel cost: £1,507
Monthly: £126
Pence per mile: 18.83p

Every 10p/litre change in the pump price changes your annual fuel cost by about £104.

The electric car

Efficiency

mi/kWh

Higher means the car travels further on the same electricity.Charging losses

Some electricity is lost between the charger and the battery.

Energy into the battery: 2,500 kWh
Electricity from chargers: 2,778 kWh
Lost while charging: 278 kWh

Where will you charge?

Set the shares you control. Whatever is left is charged at home on your normal rate.

The mix used in this calculation

Home normal 100%

Home — cheap rate

Home — surplus solar

Workplace

Public chargers

Home — normal rate: 100% — the remaining share you requested. The shares you control add up to 0%.

Solar charging is switched off because there's no solar estimate with surplus export yet. Build a solar estimate and it will appear here.

Charging prices

Home — normal rate

p/kWh

From My Energy — Home by Numbers assumption.Home — cheap rate

p/kWh

A planning assumption. Replace it with your own cheap rate.Workplace charging price

p/kWh

Enter 0 if charging is free, or the price you pay.Public charging price

p/kWh

A planning assumption, not a live national average.

Charging from solar may reduce the export income you would otherwise receive. We use your export rate as its financial cost. Solar availability is an annual planning estimate and assumes the car is plugged in when the surplus happens.

Charging breakdown

Source	Share	Electricity	Price	Annual cost
Home — normal rate	100%	2,778 kWh	26.11p	£725

No solar charging is selected, so every unit above is electricity you buy.

Effect on your home

Is this vehicle's home charging already included in your My Energy annual figure?

Your home currently uses 3,400 kWh a year. This vehicle would add about 2,778 kWh of charging at home, taking the combined figure to about 6,178 kWh a year.

Charged at home: 2,778 kWh
Bought from the grid at home: 2,778 kWh
Solar redirected from export: 0 kWh

Workplace and public charging are never added to your household electricity. We don't change your My Energy or Battery figures from this page.

What if?

Move one assumption at a time and see what changes. Your saved baseline remains unchanged. Each slider changes only this page.

Your EV estimate

£725per year

Scenario

£725per year

Difference

£0per year

This is the same as your current figure.

Annual mileage

8,000 miles

0mi30000mi

This is the same as your current figure.

Fuel price

£1.45 a litre

£/l

0.8£/l2.5£/l

This is the same as your current figure.

EV efficiency

3.2 mi/kWh

mi/kWh

1.5mi/kWh6mi/kWh

This is the same as your current figure.

Your details stay with you

Everything on this page is saved in your own browser. No account, no database, no email address, no phone number.

This clears only the vehicle and charging assumptions saved in this browser. My Energy, Solar, Battery, Heating and Tariffs are untouched.

Running-energy comparison

Current fuel car

Annual fuel cost: £1,507
Monthly: £126
Pence per mile: 18.83p
Fuel used: 1,039 litres

Full electric car

Annual running cost: £725
Monthly: £60
Pence per mile: 9.07p
Charger electricity: 2,778 kWh

The EV is approximately £781 a year cheaper to power.

Your weighted average charging price is 26.11p per kWh.

Every 1p/kWh change in that average changes your annual EV cost by about £28.

At your fuel economy and fuel price, the EV matches the fuel cost of your current car at an average charging price of about 54.2p per kWh — you're currently 28.1p below it.

About 278 kWh a year is lost while charging — you pay for it, but it never reaches the battery.

Charging everything on your normal rate versus everything on the cheap rate is a difference of about £531 a year.

So what?

A EV looks around £781 a year cheaper to power than your current fuel car.

This compares running-energy costs only, at 26.11p per kWh on average for the charging mix above.

Charging at or below 54.2p per kWh keeps the EV cheaper per mile than the fuel car.

What you could do next

Based on your result, these are the numbers worth checking next. You stay in control — no sales calls from us.

Check your tariff against the break-even price
A cheap overnight rate near or below 54.2p per kWh is what keeps a full electric car cheaper to run here.
Compare tariffs
Add solar to see if it changes this
Surplus solar exported at a low rate can instead go towards charging, which this calculator would then use.
Explore solar
Update the home figures this is built on
Electricity price, mileage and mpg all come from what you've entered — check they still match your car and tariff.
Open My Energy

Common questions about EV running costs

How much cheaper is an EV to run than a petrol or diesel car?: It depends on your mileage, the car's efficiency in miles per kWh, and the price you pay to charge versus the price you pay for fuel. This calculator works out both annual costs from your own figures and shows the difference — there's no single national answer.
What are charging losses, and why do they matter?: Not all the electricity that goes into the charger ends up as usable battery charge — some is lost as heat during charging. This calculator applies a charging-loss percentage so the cost reflects electricity drawn from the wall, not just what reaches the battery.
Does a cheap overnight electricity rate make much difference?: Yes, usually more than any other single factor for a full EV, because home charging is normally the largest share of the mix. The break-even price shown above is the rate at which charging stops being cheaper than fuel, per mile.
Can I charge from solar, and does it help?: If you have solar, this calculator uses your estimated surplus — generation left over after your home's own use — as a charging source, valued at your export rate rather than assumed to be free. How much is available depends on your solar size, use and any battery.
How much does public charging change the result?: Public charging is usually priced well above home rates, so the more of your charging mix happens away from home, the higher the average price per kWh and the smaller any saving. Adjust the mix above to see the effect on your own numbers.

Based on your result, these numbers are worth checking next

Your saved figures will come with you.