Work out what your electric car actually costs to charge per year, and how that compares to running a petrol equivalent. Pick your car, enter your home electricity tariff, and add your annual mileage.
The calculation divides your annual mileage by the car's real-world efficiency (miles per kWh) to get total energy used, then multiplies that by your tariff. The petrol comparison assumes 40mpg and £1.55 per litre, which is a reasonable average for a petrol family car in the UK as of 2026 — your actual comparison will vary depending on what you'd otherwise be driving.
If you're on an EV-specific off-peak tariff — Octopus Intelligent, EDF GoElectric, or similar — your real cost will likely be lower than this calculator shows, since most home charging happens overnight when rates drop. Public rapid charging costs considerably more per kWh than home charging, so if you rely heavily on public chargers, treat this figure as a minimum rather than a typical cost.