EV Cost Per Mile Calculator
Work out what every mile in your electric car really costs, charged at home, at work or on public chargers, and see it side by side with a gas car. Pick your state and the calculator fills in your local electricity, gas and public charging prices.
Your EV and your charging
Results update as you change anything
Add maintenance, repair and tires
Two numbers, multiplied
Cost per mile is how much energy the car uses times what you pay for that energy. Multiply kWh per 100 miles by your price in dollars per kWh and you get dollars per 100 miles, which is the same number as cents per mile.
Cents per mile = kWh per 100 miles × price in $ per kWhExample = 25 × $0.1834 = 4.6¢ per mile Battery size does not appear anywhere. A bigger pack costs more to fill and takes you farther on each fill, so the two cancel out. That is why a full-charge price tells you almost nothing: a Silverado EV Max Range costs about $42 to fill at home against about $15 for a 2026 Nissan Leaf, but per mile the gap is 9.2¢ against 5.0¢.
Get the energy number from the right place
| Unit | Example | Convert from kWh/100 mi | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|---|
| kWh per 100 miles | 25 | Starting point | EPA window sticker, fueleconomy.gov |
| Miles per kWh | 4.0 | 100 ÷ kWh/100 mi | Many car apps and dashboards |
| Wh per mile | 250 | kWh/100 mi × 10 | Tesla and Rivian trip screens |
| MPGe | 135 | 3,370 ÷ kWh/100 mi | Window sticker, for energy comparisons |
The EPA figure is measured at the wall socket, so the roughly 10% lost while charging is already inside it. Some calculators divide it by a charger efficiency anyway, which counts the loss twice and makes every answer about 10% too high. The number on your car’s own screen is different: it shows energy taken from the battery, so that one does need the loss added back. The calculator handles both, depending on which you pick.
Use the price of the next kWh, not your average bill
Dividing your whole bill by the kWh you used mixes in the fixed monthly customer charge, which does not change when you add a car. For an EV, the price that matters is the per-kWh supply and delivery charge, plus any per-kWh riders. On a time-of-use plan it is the overnight price. On a tiered plan it is usually the upper tier, because the car’s energy sits on top of what the house already used. Our home charging cost calculator shows what that does to your monthly bill.
What each kind of EV costs per mile
| Vehicle | kWh/100 mi | Home | Public | Typical mix | Per year | Gas MPG equal on cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Efficient sedan Model 3, Ioniq 6, Lucid Air | 24 | 4.4¢ | 9.8¢ | 5.2¢ | $704 | 102 MPG |
| Efficient crossover Model Y RWD, Toyota bZ | 25 | 4.6¢ | 10.2¢ | 5.4¢ | $733 | 98 MPG |
| Midsize crossover Ioniq 5, Equinox EV | 30 | 5.5¢ | 12.3¢ | 6.5¢ | $879 | 81 MPG |
| Large crossover ID.4, Model X | 33 | 6.1¢ | 13.5¢ | 7.2¢ | $967 | 74 MPG |
| Three-row SUV EV9, Ioniq 9 | 38 | 7.0¢ | 15.5¢ | 8.3¢ | $1,114 | 64 MPG |
| Electric pickup F-150 Lightning, Cybertruck | 48 | 8.8¢ | 19.6¢ | 10.4¢ | $1,407 | 51 MPG |
| Large electric pickup Silverado EV Max Range | 50 | 9.2¢ | 20.4¢ | 10.9¢ | $1,466 | 49 MPG |
| 50 MPG hybrid | n/a | 9.0¢ | $1,210 | 50 MPG | ||
| 28 MPG gas car | n/a | 16.0¢ | $2,160 | 28 MPG | ||
| 22 MPG gas pickup | n/a | 20.4¢ | $2,749 | 22 MPG | ||
Charged at home, every EV here beats the 28 MPG car by a wide margin, and everything short of a pickup beats even a 50 MPG hybrid. Charged only in public, a large electric pickup lands at 20.4¢ a mile, exactly what a 22 MPG gas pickup costs at $4.48. The truck did not change. Only the plug did.
The last column is the easiest way to explain an EV to someone who thinks in MPG. Divide the gas price by your cost per mile and you get the fuel economy a gas car would need to cost the same to run. A midsize electric crossover charged at home is the equivalent of an 81 MPG car. Our EV charging cost by state page runs the same numbers for every state.
Why your cost per mile changes with the seasons
The EPA figure is a mild-weather average. Your real energy use moves with speed and temperature, and your cost per mile moves with it. For a Model Y on the typical US charging mix, the calculator’s driving chart shows the spread: about 4.6¢ a mile in mild town driving, 6.3¢ at a steady 70 mph, and 8.1¢ on a 20°F winter day with the heat on. Over a year, most drivers in cold climates average 10 to 15% above their sticker figure.
Even the worst case here is about half the cost of the 28 MPG gas car, and gas cars lose efficiency in winter too. The shape of these numbers comes from the same physics model as our EV range calculator, which shows the effect on range instead of cost.
What the full cost per mile looks like
Energy is only one line of the cost of driving. AAA’s 2025 Your Driving Costs study adds maintenance, repairs and tires, then insurance, registration, depreciation and financing for new vehicles kept five years.
| Vehicle category | Fuel | Maintenance, repair, tires | Operating cost | Total cost per mile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electric vehicle | 5.07¢ | 10.07¢ | 15.13¢ | 71.2¢ |
| Hybrid | 8.55¢ | 9.75¢ | 18.29¢ | 63.9¢ |
| Small sedan | 9.90¢ | 10.23¢ | 20.13¢ | 55.9¢ |
| Compact SUV, FWD | 11.43¢ | 11.64¢ | 23.07¢ | 68.5¢ |
| Medium SUV, 4WD | 14.65¢ | 11.79¢ | 26.44¢ | 83.9¢ |
| Half-ton crew cab pickup | 17.84¢ | 11.36¢ | 29.20¢ | 98.5¢ |
| Average of all new vehicles | 13.00¢ | 11.04¢ | 24.03¢ | 77.2¢ |
Two things in this data surprise people. First, maintenance is only about a cent a mile cheaper for EVs in AAA’s numbers, not the half that is often claimed. EVs skip oil changes and wear their brakes slowly, but they go through tires faster, and AAA’s figure includes an extended warranty and one set of replacement tires. Second, the new EVs AAA priced carried higher insurance and depreciation, which is why the EV has the lowest operating cost but not the lowest total. Gas has also risen since AAA’s study: at $4.48, the compact SUV’s fuel line would be about 16¢ a mile instead of 11. Our total cost of ownership calculator lets you put in your own purchase price, insurance and years of ownership.
EV cost per mile questions
Multiply the car’s kWh per 100 miles by your price per kWh. At the June 2026 US average of 18.34¢, that is about $4.40 for an efficient sedan using 24 kWh, $5.50 for a midsize crossover using 30, and $8.80 for a pickup using 48. On public chargers at AAA’s 42.2¢ average, those become about $9.80, $12.25 and $19.60. The same 100 miles in a 28 MPG gas car at $4.48 costs $16.
No. Cost per mile depends only on energy use per mile and your price per kWh. A bigger battery costs more to fill and goes farther on each fill. What does raise cost per mile is a heavier, less aerodynamic vehicle: a Lucid Air Pure uses 24 kWh per 100 miles and costs about 4.4¢ a mile at home, while a Silverado EV uses 50 and costs about 9.2¢.
Divide the price of a gallon of gas by your EV’s cost per mile in dollars. At $4.48, an EV costing 5.4¢ a mile matches an 83 MPG gas car. This moves whenever gas or electricity prices change, which is why it is more useful for money questions than MPGe. MPGe compares energy content, not price.
Yes. The IRS standard mileage rates apply to electric, hybrid, gas and diesel vehicles alike. For 2026 the business rate is 72.5¢ a mile for January through June and 76¢ from July 1, after a midyear increase for higher fuel prices, so keep separate mileage records for each half of the year.
No. As a battery ages it holds less energy, but the car still uses the same energy to cover a mile, so cost per mile stays the same. What you lose is range between charges. If you are buying a used EV, battery health changes how far it goes, not what each mile costs.
It can be. A commuter who covers a third of their miles on a free workplace charger cuts their cost per mile by about a third, which is roughly $200 to $250 a year for a typical crossover at average home rates. It is worth even more if it replaces paid public charging. Note that free employer-provided charging can count as a taxable fringe benefit in some cases, so check with your employer.
Know your cost per mile? See what it saves over years.
Compare the full cost of an EV and a gas car, including purchase price and maintenance, or work out your monthly charging bill.
Gas: 16.0¢. You save $1,427 a year