Electric Vehicle Fuel Savings Calculator
Enter the gas mileage of a gas-powered vehicle and the energy efficiency of an electric vehicle to estimate the savings in fuel costs of driving an electric vehicle.
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How to Estimate the Savings of an Electric Vehicle
Electric vehicles (EVs) are much better for the environment and, in most cases, are more cost-effective to operate than a gas-powered vehicle. In addition to their energy costs usually being lower, EVs also have fewer moving parts and require much less maintenance over the life of the vehicle.
Your actual savings will be based on a variety of factors that include the number of miles that you drive, the cost of electricity in your area, the efficiency of your EV, the fuel economy of your internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle, and the cost of gasoline or diesel fuel in your area.
To calculate how much you can save in energy costs, follow these three simple steps:
Step One: Estimate the Cost of Charging an Electric Vehicle
Keep in mind that an electric vehicle is not necessarily free to run. The electricity needed to charge its battery has a cost that you must pay for.
On average, the cost per kilowatt-hour (kWh) is $0.14 for electricity, but this varies widely by geographic location. The exact cost also depends on where you charge your EV. Home charging is the least expensive option, while public chargers typically cost much more.
To estimate the cost to charge the battery in an electric car, start by getting the EPA kWh/100mi energy efficiency number for that electric vehicle, which can also be found on its window sticker.[1]
Then, use the following formula to calculate the cost of the electricity required to charge that EV’s battery:
electric cost = distance driven / 100 × kWh/100mi × price/kWh
Thus, the cost to charge the batteries is the distance driven divided by 100, multiplied by the number of kilowatt-hours used per 100 miles, multiplied by the price of electricity per kilowatt-hour.
Step Two: Estimate the Cost of Gasoline
The next step is to estimate the cost of gasoline for the ICE vehicle. This can be done if you know its fuel efficiency in miles per gallon. Use our gas mileage calculator to find its fuel efficiency.
Then, use this formula to calculate the cost of gasoline for the ICE vehicle:
fuel cost = distance driven / fuel economy × price/gallon
The cost of gasoline is equal to the distance driven, divided by the fuel economy in miles per gallon, multiplied by the price per gallon of the gasoline.
Step Three: Calculate the Savings
Now that you know how much it costs to charge an EV and also how much it costs for gas in your ICE vehicle, you can estimate the savings in energy costs. Use this formula to find the savings:
savings = gasoline costs – electric costs
The savings achieved by operating an EV is equal to the cost of gasoline used to power your ICE vehicle minus the cost of electricity used to charge the EV’s battery.
You might also be interested in calculating the gas savings of upgrading to a more fuel-efficient gas-powered vehicle or hybrid using our fuel savings calculator.
References
- U.S. Department of Energy, Fuel Economy of 2024 All-Electric Vehicles, https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/byfuel/EV2024.shtml