EV vs petrol running costs
Electric car
Change assumptions
Choose an electric car to see the comparison.
How this was calculated
- Electric car efficiency comes from our car data: official WLTP range divided by usable battery, reduced to 80% for real-world driving where no measured figure exists.
- Home electricity uses the Ofgem price cap unit rate, Great Britain average, direct debit. Home charging adds 10% charging losses. The standing charge is excluded.
- Charging mix: mostly at home = 90% home, 10% public; mix = 50% / 50%; mostly public = 10% home, 90% public.
- Public charging: 54p/kWh. Average pay-as-you-go price on slow and fast public chargers (Zapmap Charging Price Index, weighted PAYG averages, August 2026). Rapid chargers averaged 77p/kWh in the same index. Zapmap source. Prices vary a lot by network and charger type.
- Petrol: 173.46p per litre, UK average unleaded for the week commencing 28 Sept 2026, from the DESNZ weekly road fuel prices, updated automatically each week. The 45 MPG petrol car is a simple benchmark, not a specific model.
- Figures are rounded because the inputs are estimates. Assumptions checked 2026-09-30.