EV vs Gas: Cost to Drive Compared (with Math)

The honest way to compare an EV to a gas car is cost per mile, because it normalizes for how far you drive. Do it that way, with the assumptions on the table, and home charging usually wins by a large margin - but the size of the gap depends entirely on your electricity rate, your fuel price, and the MPG of the gas car you are comparing against. Here is the math, laid out so you can run it for your own situation.

The two formulas

EV cost per mile = (1 / efficiency in mi/kWh) / 0.90 x rate ($/kWh)
Gas cost per mile = gas price ($/gal) / fuel economy (MPG)

The 0.90 in the EV formula is the ~10 percent charging loss, the same one we use in the cost to charge guide. Everything else is just your own numbers.

A worked comparison

Take an efficient EV at 3.5 miles per kWh on a 16-cents-per-kWh rate, against a 30 MPG gas car at $3.50 a gallon:

EV: (1 / 3.5) / 0.90 x $0.16 = about $0.051 per mile
Gas: $3.50 / 30 = about $0.117 per mile

The EV costs a little under half as much per mile in this example. Over 12,000 miles a year, that is roughly $610 for the EV against about $1,400 for the gas car - a difference of nearly $800 a year, before you count oil changes and other gas-car maintenance. Change the inputs and the gap moves, but the direction rarely does at typical US rates.

How the numbers move it

Scenario	EV cost/mile	Gas cost/mile
Cheap power ($0.11) vs efficient gas (35 MPG, $3.25)	~$0.035	~$0.093
Average power ($0.16) vs average gas (28 MPG, $3.50)	~$0.051	~$0.125
Expensive power ($0.30) vs thirsty truck (20 MPG, $4.00)	~$0.095	~$0.200

The EV wins in all three, but notice the last row: where electricity is expensive and you are comparing against a thirsty vehicle, the per-mile numbers converge more than people assume - and if you cannot charge at home and rely on public fast charging, an EV can even cost more per mile than gas. The whole EV cost advantage rests on cheap home charging, which is exactly why a Level 2 home charger is the purchase that makes the economics work.

What this comparison leaves out

Cost per mile is fuel only. A full ownership comparison would also weigh the EV's lower maintenance (no oil changes, less brake wear) against its typically higher purchase price and insurance, plus any incentives - see our rebates and tax credits post for how to check what applies to you. On fuel alone, though, home charging is the clear winner, and the calculator lets you confirm it for your own rate.

Questions

Frequently asked

Is an EV really cheaper to drive than a gas car?

On fuel, almost always - if you charge at home. At typical US rates an efficient EV costs around 5 cents a mile against 10 to 13 cents for a gas car, often less than half. The advantage shrinks where electricity is expensive or if you rely on public fast charging instead of home charging.

When does gas win on cost per mile?

Rarely, but it can happen if you have very expensive electricity or no home charging and depend on premium-priced public DC fast charging, while comparing against an efficient hybrid. For anyone who can charge at home on a residential rate, the EV wins comfortably.

Does the EV fuel savings pay back the higher purchase price?

Fuel savings of several hundred to over a thousand dollars a year, plus lower maintenance, chip away at the price gap over time, and incentives can help - but whether it fully pays back depends on the specific cars, your mileage and your rates. This guide covers fuel cost only; treat the rest as a separate calculation.

Keep reading

Receipts

Sources

We do not run a testing lab, and we do not pretend to. Where a measured number came from someone else's lab, we name them and link them. Where we could not verify something, we say so on the page rather than quietly leaving it out. Read our full method.