EV Charging Cost Calculator
What a year of driving costs on each way of charging an electric car, against a petrol car, using rates checked with each supplier and official source.
EV Charging Cost Calculator
What a year of driving costs on each way of charging, against a petrol car. Every rate was checked with the supplier or official source on 11 October 2026.
England average 7,100 (all cars), 9,400 for EVs
Real-world average 3.3. Small, efficient cars do 4+, big SUVs under 3.
The rest is public charging
Rapid 79p, slower public 54p (Zapmap, Sept 2026)
Petrol 174.88p a litre (5 October 2026)
Your EV, per year
£290
4.1p a mile, 2,152kWh
Petrol car, per year
£1,254
17.7p a mile at 45mpg
EV saves you
£964
Fuel and charging only
Breakdown
Home charging £147 | Public charging £143
For comparison, doing all your miles on public rapid chargers would cost about £1,700 a year. Home charging is what makes an EV cheap to run.
All your miles charged at home, by tariff
Charging only. EV tariffs usually charge more than the cap in the daytime, which raises the rest of your household bill. Our EV tariff guide works through when that wipes out the saving.
Assumes all home charging happens in the cheap window. Real costs run a little higher because some energy is lost as heat while charging, and the figures leave out standing charges, servicing, insurance and vehicle tax. Price cap rate 26.32p/kWh (1 October to 31 December 2026). Sources: supplier tariff pages and the Octopus API, Zapmap Charging Price Index (September 2026), DESNZ weekly road fuel prices, DfT National Travel Survey NTS0901, EV Database, HMRC eVED policy paper (13 July 2026).
The Short Answer
For an average 7,100 miles a year in an EV doing 3.3 miles per kWh, home charging costs about £164 a year on Intelligent Octopus Go's 7.6p night rate, about £566 on a standard tariff at the October 2026 price cap, and about £1,700 if every mile came from public rapid chargers. A 45mpg petrol car would cost about £1,254 in fuel at 174.88p a litre.
Where the Numbers Come From
- Home tariffs: each supplier's own tariff page, and Octopus's pricing API, read on 11 October 2026. Off-peak rates only; see our EV tariff guide for why day rates matter.
- Public charging: Zapmap's Charging Price Index for September 2026: 54p a kWh on slow and fast chargers, 79p on rapid and ultra-rapid.
- Petrol: the DESNZ weekly UK average pump price for 5 October 2026.
- Mileage: the Department for Transport's National Travel Survey for 2025 (England): 7,100 miles for all cars, 9,400 for battery electric cars.
- Efficiency: EV Database's real-world average of 301Wh per mile, about 3.3 miles per kWh.
- EV tax: HMRC's Electric Vehicle Excise Duty policy paper (13 July 2026): 3p a mile for battery EVs from 1 April 2028.
What It Leaves Out
Some energy is lost as heat while charging, so real costs run a little higher than the calculator shows. It also leaves out standing charges, servicing, insurance, depreciation and annual vehicle tax, which differ a lot between cars. For the full picture on charging, read how much it costs to charge an electric car, and if you have a sunny roof, charging an EV from solar.