Starting from:

£15

Fuel vs Electric Cost Calculator

If tempted to buy an electric car / van but can't get your head around kWh/100 miles and similar, then this sheet will do a simple "side by side" comparrison for you. 

 

All you have to do is update 3 cells on each side:

 

  • Fuel - Add mileage per year, car / van MPG and price per litre of fuel.
  • Electric - Add mileage per year, kWh/100miles and price per kWh for electricity.

If unsure on the miles per kWh miles and price per kWh for electricity, you can find the mileage for your vehicle on the trip computer or online looking up the make and model. Just bear in mind that looking values up online will probably show different figures to what you get in real life. Also, regularly update this to take account of Summer / Winter driving. For example, I have averaged 2.3 miles per kWh since going electric in June 2023. But Winter saw this drop a lot to around 1.6 miles per kWh. 

 

In real world terms, if I did 10,000 miles per year at 2.3 miles per kWh and charged at home on a "normal" tariff (say £0.25/kWh) then it would be £90.58/month in electricity. Compare that at 1.6 miles per kWh in Winter would mean this increases to £130.21/month.

 

I have done the same with fuel to show an example and help with filling out the sheet. Here it will show 10,000 miles at 45 MPG and a cost for fuel of £1.50/litre.

 

At the bottom of each fuel type you'll see a "saving / loss". To make things simpler, this compares the like for like of each and tells you if electricity would be cheaper than petrol / diesel. 

 

In the example you'll see in the sheet, normal fuel is £11.98/month more expensive. But as above, check thsi regularly. Fuel prices go up and down, and if you use a mix of home and public charging then your costs will probably go up.