EV Cost per Mile Calculator
Enter your electricity price and EV efficiency to get the cost per mile, and compare it with a gas car.
How to use the EV cost per mile calculator
- Open the Include drop-down. Choose Electricity only (energy cost per mile) for energy cost alone, or Running costs (electricity + maintenance, insurance…) to add yearly costs.
- Enter your electricity price per kWh. The 0.18 default is the EIA U.S. average residential price for July 2026 (18.31 ¢); enter your own.
- Enter your EV efficiency and pick its unit from the drop-down: mi/kWh, km/kWh, kWh/100 mi or kWh/100 km. The 3.5 mi/kWh shown is only an example.
- Set the charging loss percentage. The 9.2 % default comes from an Idaho National Laboratory Level 2 test (90.8 % efficient); change it if you know your own figure.
- In Running costs mode, enter the distance driven per year (mi or km), plus maintenance, insurance and other costs per year.
- To compare, tick Compare with a gas car. Then enter the gas car fuel economy (MPG or L/100 km) and the gasoline price (per gallon or per litre). In Running costs mode, also enter the gas car’s yearly maintenance, insurance and other costs.
- Under More options, choose a currency symbol (no exchange rates are applied).
- Read the results and How it was calculated.
The example buttons above the form load Home charging, DC fast charging $0.45, 17 kWh/100 km, €0.30 and EV vs gas car. Copy link stores every input in the page address, so you can reopen the same calculation later. Copy result gives the result lines with a link, and Print / save as PDF includes inputs, results, steps and the date. Reset restores the starting example.
How much does an EV cost per mile?
An EV’s energy cost per mile depends on three things: your electricity price, how many miles the car travels per kWh, and how much energy is lost while charging. With the default inputs of $0.18 per kWh, 3.5 mi/kWh and 9.2 % loss, the cost is about 5.7 cents per mile, or $5.66 per 100 miles. The same car at a public DC fast charger priced at $0.45 per kWh costs about 14.2 cents per mile, so the price you pay matters a great deal.
How do I calculate electric car cost per mile?
Use this formula: cost per mile = electricity price ÷ efficiency (mi/kWh) ÷ (1 − charging loss). Charging loss is the share of energy lost between the wall and the battery, so 9.2 % loss means dividing by 0.908 at the end. For the example: 0.18 ÷ 3.5 = 0.0514, then 0.0514 ÷ 0.908 = 0.0566 dollars per mile. If your efficiency is in kWh per 100 miles, convert it first by dividing 100 by that number, so 30 kWh/100 mi equals 3.33 mi/kWh.
To compare with a pump price, the tool also gives an electricity price per gallon-equivalent: price per kWh × 33.7 ÷ (1 − loss). It uses the EPA figure of 33.7 kWh per gallon. For $0.18 per kWh at 9.2 % loss, that is about $6.68 per gallon-equivalent. If you searched for an mpge calculator, this is the closest figure on this page, because the tool does not show MPGe directly.
Is EV cost per mile cheaper than gas?
It depends on the prices you enter. A gas car’s fuel cost per mile is gas price ÷ MPG, so $4.35 per gallon (the EIA U.S. regular price for the week of 5 October 2026) at 30 MPG is 14.5 cents per mile. That is about 2.5 times the 5.7 cents per mile of the home charging example. The EV saves per mile row shows the gap between the two.
The gap can close or reverse. Expensive electricity, such as fast charging, or a less efficient EV can make the gas car cheaper per mile. When that happens, the calculator shows a warning.
What is the running cost of an electric car?
Running cost is the energy cost plus your yearly maintenance, insurance and other costs, spread across the miles you drive each year. In Running costs mode, the tool adds your yearly figures and divides them by your yearly distance. For example, if maintenance, insurance and other costs total $1,000 a year and you drive 10,000 miles, they add $0.10 per mile on top of the energy cost. Driving more miles spreads those fixed yearly costs more thinly.
Worked examples
| Input | Result |
|---|---|
| $0.180 per kWh at 3.5 mi/kWh, 9.2 % charging loss | $0.0566 per mile ($5.66 per 100 mi, $0.0352 per km) |
| $0.450 per kWh at 3.5 mi/kWh, 9.2 % charging loss | $0.1416 per mile ($14.16 per 100 mi, $0.0880 per km) |
| €0.300 per kWh at 17 kWh/100 km, 9.2 % charging loss | €0.0904 per mile (€9.04 per 100 mi, €0.0562 per km) |
| $0.180 per kWh at 3.5 mi/kWh, 9.2 % charging loss | $0.0566 per mile ($5.66 per 100 mi, $0.0352 per km) |
| $0.180 per kWh at 3.5 mi/kWh, 9.2 % charging loss | $0.2278 per mile ($22.78 per 100 mi, $0.1416 per km) |
Calculated by the tool above with these values.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an EV cost per mile?
It depends on your electricity price, your car’s efficiency and charging loss. With the default inputs, the energy cost is about 5.7 cents per mile, so enter your own values to get your figure.
Does this calculator include the price of buying the car?
No. It covers electricity and the yearly maintenance, insurance and other costs you enter. It does not include the purchase price or any loan payments.
Why is the fast charging result so much higher?
Because the example fast-charging price, $0.45 per kWh, is higher than the $0.18 home default. Enter the price you actually pay, and the cost per mile will reflect it.
Can I use euros or pounds?
Yes. The currency symbol option changes only the symbol shown. No exchange rates are applied, so enter prices already in the currency you want.
What does the warning about my MPG value mean?
It means the gas car fuel economy you entered is unusual for a gas car. Check the number and its unit, MPG or L/100 km, before you trust the comparison.
Why is fast charging so much more expensive per mile?
The cost per mile scales directly with the price per kWh. At the same 3.5 mi/kWh and 9.2 % loss, $0.18 per kWh is about 5.7 cents a mile and $0.45 is about 14.2 cents, so where you charge changes the result a lot.
Related tools
- EV charging cost calculator for estimating what a charging session or your home charging costs.
- EV vs gas calculator when you want a side-by-side comparison of an EV and a gas car.
- EV total cost calculator when you want to look at the full cost of owning an EV over time.
- EV efficiency calculator when you need to convert or check your car’s efficiency figure before entering it here.
- Hybrid gas savings calculator when you are comparing a hybrid with a gas car instead of an EV.
- EV charging cost per kWh calculator: Use it when you want the real price per kWh of a public charging bill with session, per-minute or idle fees.
- All EV calculators to browse every calculator on the site.
Sources
- EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A: U.S. average residential price, July 2026 (18.31 ¢/kWh)
- EIA gasoline and diesel fuel update: U.S. regular retail price, week of 5 October 2026 ($4.354/gal)
- Idaho National Laboratory, INL/EXT-12-25761: Level 2 overall charging efficiency 90.8 % (Chevrolet Volt)
- EPA, Fuel economy and EV range testing: 33.7 kWh per gallon equivalent (MPGe)