What does an electric car cost to own?
Charging at home versus in public, electricity versus gasoline per mile, battery life, and the point where a cheaper running cost repays a higher purchase price. Every assumption is on the page, so you can change it and get your own number instead of ours.
EV charging cost calculator
Electricity versus gasoline, and what a mile costs to drive.- EV electricity$2,700
- Gas car fuel$7,000
- EV cost per mile4.5c
- 1. Gas car fuel per year12,000 mi at 30 mpg and $3.50/gal, so 11.7c per mile$1,400
- 2. EV electricity per year12,000 mi at 0.30 kWh/mi and $0.15/kWh, so 4.5c per mile$540
- 3. You save per year$1,400 minus $540$860
- 4. Over 5 years$860 x 5 years$4,300
Fuel and electricity only. Purchase price, insurance, maintenance, depreciation and charger installation are not in this number. Switch the charging option to see why public fast charging changes the answer. See the full cost comparison
The six guides that answer most of it
If you read nothing else, read these in order. They build from what an EV costs to buy, through what it costs to charge, to how long the battery lasts.
Are Electric Cars Worth It
This teardown answers whether electric cars are worth it with real ownership math: purchase premium, home charging savings, maintenance, and break-even.
Read the guide →02Cost analysisElectric Car vs Gas Car
This teardown runs the real electric car vs gas car cost math: the upfront premium, cost per mile, five-year total cost of ownership, and the break-even year.
Read the guide →03Cost analysisHow Much Does It Cost to Charge an EV at Home
This teardown prices the ongoing energy cost of charging an EV: the cents-per-mile formula, monthly cost by mileage, and home versus public versus gasoline.
Read the guide →04Cost analysisCost to Charge an EV at a Public Charging Station vs Home
This teardown prices the cost to charge an EV at a public charging station against home: per kWh and per minute billing, taper, idle fees, cost per mile.
Read the guide →05Cost analysisElectric Car Costs
This teardown prices electric car costs: how much do electric cars cost new and used, the drive-away total after tax and fees, and lease against finance.
Read the guide →06Ownership analysisHow Long Do EV Batteries Actually Last
This teardown covers how long EV batteries really last: actual degradation rates, warranty floors, what truly ages a pack, and why replacement is rare.
Read the guide →What we cover
Recently published and updated
Newest guideHome EV Charger Installation Cost: Level 2 Install Prices
This teardown prices a home EV charger installation line by line: the unit, the labor, the circuit run and the permit, plus what doubles one house's total.
Install playbookDo You Need an Electrical Panel Upgrade for an EV Charger
This teardown settles the EV charger panel upgrade question: what a load calculation weighs, 100A versus 200A service, load sharing, and the permit reality.
OwnershipEV Tires
This teardown prices EV tires: why mass and instant torque wear them faster, what a replacement set costs to fit, and how tire spend moves cost per mile.
Charging playbookHow to Use a Tesla Supercharger With a Non-Tesla EV (6 Steps)
This teardown runs a non-Tesla Supercharger session as six steps: check your port, confirm the site in the app, park for cable reach, connect, and verify.
Ownership analysisEV Battery Warranty
This teardown reads the EV battery warranty properly: the separate battery terms, the capacity threshold that decides a claim, what voids it, and transfer.
Range playbookEV Range in Hot Weather
This teardown prices what heat costs an EV: air conditioning billed by the hour, the pack's cooling loop, slower fast charging, and the ageing heat drives.
Range playbookHow to Precondition an EV (and Why)
This teardown walks through preconditioning an EV in nine steps: warming the cabin on shore power, warming the pack before a fast charge, and what each wins.
How it worksWhat Is a Heat Pump in an EV
This teardown explains the EV heat pump: why it moves heat instead of making it, what COP means, why it fades in deep cold, and what it wins back in winter.
How it worksWhat Is Vehicle-to-Load
This teardown explains vehicle-to-load: how an EV's onboard inverter turns the pack into an outlet, what its output limit runs, and how long a charge lasts.
New guides by email
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No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.What AmpLoft is, and what it is not
AmpLoft publishes cost arithmetic for electric-car ownership: charging, running costs, battery life, depreciation, and the point where an EV stops costing more than a gas car. It is a reading and calculating site, not a dealer, a broker or an installer.
What we cover
54 guides across 16 topics, all about the cost of running an electric car rather than how it feels to drive one.
Browse the guides →Where the numbers come from
Every figure is a stated assumption you can change: kWh per mile, your electricity rate, the gas price, the miles you drive. The arithmetic is printed on the page so you can check it rather than take it.
How the math works →What we do not do
We do not sell cars, chargers or insurance, we do not quote your home or your utility, and we do not publish prices for individual models. Nobody pays us to reach a conclusion.
About AmpLoft →How this site is funded
This site carries no affiliate links and no advertising. No link earns a commission. It never changes what a guide concludes.
Read the disclosure →Figures on this site are illustrative and move with your car, your driving, your electricity tariff, and where you live. Check current rates and prices before you rely on any number here.
Get an EV charger install cost breakdown by email
Tell us about your setup and we will email you a breakdown of what an install like that typically costs: panel work, run length, and the parts that blow the budget. We are not an electrician or a contractor, we do not do installs, and we cannot quote your home.