EV vs gas total cost calculator

Compare a battery electric vehicle and a gasoline car over the same ownership years and annual miles. Add purchase, charging equipment, interest, energy and the yearly costs you enter. Deduct each car’s assumed resale value. A positive saving with EV means its entered total is lower; a negative saving means the gas car costs less.

Use comparable purchase and insurance quotes. Include repairs and tires in annual maintenance. Enter zero for costs that do not apply. Results show total cost, yearly and monthly averages, cost per mile and the cost breakdown. They do not predict a car’s future repairs or sale price.

Gasoline use per year = annual miles ÷ miles per US gallon. Home and public billed kWh = their share of annual miles × billed kWh per 100 miles ÷ 100. Price each amount separately. For home time-of-use charging, off-peak share applies only to home energy. The rest uses the day price. Divide cents per kWh by 100 to get dollars.

Use a percentage as a fraction once: for example, 50% means 50 ÷ 100 = 0.5. Use 0.5 in the energy formula; do not divide it by 100 again.

Total ownership cost = purchase + charging installation + financing interest + ownership years × annual running costs − resale. Running costs include energy, maintenance and tires, insurance, recurring registration taxes and extra charging fees. Add only loan interest: the purchase price already includes the principal. Divide total by years for the yearly average, then by twelve for the monthly average. These are not loan payments.

These illustrative inputs are separate from your saved answers. Prices, use and performance are held constant for this worked scenario; they are not personal defaults.

Annual mileage, energy use, prices and yearly costs stay constant. Inflation, rising fuel prices and automatic depreciation are excluded. Enter your own resale value. A resale above purchase is allowed; any resulting negative net purchase cost reflects that assumption, not a promised gain.

Use energy at the point where you are billed. EPA kWh/100-mile labels include AC charging losses; no extra loss factor is added. Public DC billing can differ, so enter its billed use separately. Put session or membership fees in extra charging fees unless already included in your unit price.

Battery replacement counts only if included in your annual maintenance amount. Leases, commercial tax treatment and plug-in hybrids are outside this comparison. With zero miles, fixed costs remain and cost per mile is unavailable. An invalid edit keeps the last valid estimate with a warning.

This US tool uses dollars, miles and US gallons. Stored EIA electricity figures are dated state revenue averages, not home tariff quotes. Use your tax-inclusive bill price or actual day and off-peak prices. The optional EIA gasoline snapshot is the national regular-grade average for 5 October 2026, released 6 October and checked 14 October. Local and premium prices can differ.

This is a new 2026 acquisition comparison with no federal clean vehicle credit. IRS guidance says new, used and commercial clean vehicle credits are unavailable for vehicles acquired after 30 September 2025. Earlier qualifying binding contracts may differ and need tax advice. No charger credit or other incentive is added. Enter ordinary purchase discounts only when included in your quote.

Ask an energy adviser to check the charging tariff and billed consumption. Confirm charger installation costs with a licensed installer. Bring written purchase, finance and insurance quotes and your resale assumptions.

Ask a tax adviser about an older contract or proposed incentive. The tool does not decide eligibility. Take the saved breakdown to the adviser so they can identify missing costs or mismatched periods.