At current US averages — $4.09 a gallon (EIA week of 2026-08-24) and 18.34¢ per kWh (June 2026) — driving 12,000 miles a year costs about $1,818 on gasoline versus $660 in electricity. That is a saving of roughly $1,158 a year, or 15.1¢ versus 5.5¢ per mile. Change any figure below to match your own car, mileage and state.
Formula: gasoline cost = miles ÷ mpg × price per gallon. EV cost = miles × (kWh per 100 mi ÷ 100) × price per kWh. Payback = purchase premium ÷ annual fuel saving. Excludes maintenance, insurance, tax credits and depreciation.
Enter your annual mileage, both efficiencies, and current prices.
Gasoline prices are the EIA weekly retail average (week of 2026-08-24); electricity is the EIA average residential retail rate for June 2026, published monthly with about a two-month lag. Public DC fast charging typically costs two to four times the residential rate, so home charging is the fair comparison for most drivers. See the full electricity price rankings and current gas prices.
On US average prices, yes. Driving 12,000 miles a year in a 27 mpg gas car costs about $1,818 in fuel at $4.09 a gallon, while a 30 kWh/100-mile EV costs about $660 at 18.34¢ per kWh — a saving of roughly $1,158 a year. The gap narrows sharply in high-electricity states and widens where power is cheap.
Cost per mile = (kWh per 100 miles ÷ 100) × electricity price per kWh. A typical EV uses about 30 kWh per 100 miles, so at 18¢ per kWh that is 30 ÷ 100 × 0.18 = about 5.4¢ per mile. For a gas car it is simply the pump price divided by mpg.
Substantially. This calculator uses the average residential rate, which is what home charging costs. Public DC fast charging typically runs two to four times that, and some utilities offer overnight EV rates well below the residential average — so where and when you charge matters more than which EV you buy.
Enter the price difference in the purchase-premium field and the calculator returns a payback period in years and miles, based on fuel savings alone. It deliberately excludes maintenance, insurance, tax credits and depreciation, all of which vary too much to model honestly.