A three-year-old electric car costs £27,016 to own over five years against £28,306 for its petrol equivalent, a saving of £1,290. Counting every cost, that is 73.0p a mile against 76.5p. The saving depends on a driveway: charge only at public chargers and the same EV costs £2,166 more than petrol.
By the EV Cable Hub Research Team. Data: EV Cable Hub Running Cost Quote Sample, Public Charging Price Tracker and Used EV Price Index. Last updated November 2026. How we worked this out
Key findings
- A used EV costs £27,016 over five years against £28,306 for a used petrol car at the UK average of 7,400 miles a year: a saving of £1,290, or £258 a year.
- All-in, the EV costs 73.0p a mile and petrol 76.5p. On energy alone the EV costs 2.1p a mile on an overnight tariff and 22.3p at a 50kW rapid charger, against 17.3p for petrol.
- With no driveway the same EV costs £30,472, £2,166 more than petrol, because public charging at a typical 64p/kWh mix costs 18.3p a mile.
- Energy is the EV's big win: £2,334 over five years against £6,407 for petrol.
- Insurance (£1,012 vs £812 a year) and tyres add £1,678 to the EV's bill; servicing and repairs save it £2,020.
- eVED, the 3p-a-mile charge from April 2028, adds £833 over five years.
- Buying new reverses the result: a new EV costs £7,185 more than a new petrol car over five years.
- The used EV breaks even with petrol at about 3,700 miles a year and wins all six head-to-head model pairs we tested.
| Cost line | Used EV (£18,450) | Used petrol (£16,600) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depreciation | £8,856 | £7,968 | +£888 |
| Finance interest (10% deposit, 60 months, 9.4% APR) | £4,270 | £3,842 | +£428 |
| Insurance | £5,060 | £4,060 | +£1,000 |
| Electricity or petrol | £2,334 | £6,407 | -£4,073 |
| Home charger (one-off) | £975 | £0 | +£975 |
| Servicing | £910 | £1,580 | -£670 |
| Tyres | £1,480 | £802 | +£678 |
| Repairs | £950 | £2,300 | -£1,350 |
| MOT | £274 | £274 | £0 |
| VED | £1,073 | £1,073 | £0 |
| eVED (from April 2028) | £833 | £0 | +£833 |
| Total over five years | £27,016 | £28,306 | -£1,290 |
| Cost per year | £5,403 | £5,661 | -£258 |
| All-in cost per mile | 73.0p | 76.5p | -3.5p |
| Three-year-old EV and petrol car bought January 2027 and kept to 2031, 7,400 miles a year, home charging with a driveway. Difference is EV minus petrol. | |||
The five-year total: a used EV costs £1,290 less than petrol
A three-year-old electric car costs £27,016 to own over five years and a three-year-old petrol car £28,306, for a driver covering 7,400 miles a year who charges at home on an EV tariff. That total includes every cost a typical owner pays: depreciation, loan interest, insurance, energy, a home charger, servicing, tyres, repairs, MOTs, VED and, from April 2028, eVED.
It is the figure to use when someone asks whether an electric car is cheaper to own. Energy-only comparisons flatter the EV; purchase-price comparisons flatter petrol.
The EV starts behind. It costs £1,850 more to buy, so it loses £888 more in depreciation and costs £428 more to finance. Insurance adds £1,000, tyres £678, the home charger £975 and eVED £833. Before a single mile of savings, it is £4,802 down.
It wins that back on running costs. Electricity for five years costs £2,334 against £6,407 for petrol. Servicing is £670 cheaper and repairs £1,350 cheaper, because there is no oil, clutch, exhaust or timing belt to replace and regenerative braking spares the brakes. Those three lines save £6,093, which leaves the EV £1,290 ahead.
Where the EV loses and where it wins
Net result: the used EV is £1,290 cheaper over five years.
Cost per mile: 73.0p for an EV against 76.5p for petrol
Two cost-per-mile figures get quoted for electric cars, and they answer different questions. The energy-only figure is what you spend on electricity or fuel to cover a mile. The all-in figure is what owning the car costs per mile once depreciation, finance and insurance are counted. All-in, the used EV costs 73.0p a mile and the petrol car 76.5p.
On energy alone the gap is far wider, and it depends almost entirely on where you charge. An EV on an overnight tariff costs 2.1p a mile; at a 50kW rapid charger it costs 22.3p, more than petrol's 17.3p. A typical driveway owner mixes 80% home charging with some public AC and rapid charging, which works out at 6.3p a mile.
Pence per mile on energy alone
EV efficiency 3.5 miles per kWh.
No driveway: the same EV costs £2,166 more than petrol
A driver without a driveway who relies on public chargers pays £30,472 to own the same used EV for five years. That is £2,166 more than petrol and £3,456 more than a driveway owner. They skip the £975 home charger but pay £6,766 for electricity against £2,334, because public charging at a typical 64p/kWh mix costs 18.3p a mile.
This driveway divide is the biggest fault line in EV running costs, and it is not fixed. Charging only at public AC posts cuts the gap to £1,109, and a driver who can split charging between a workplace at 30p/kWh and public AC turns it into a £160 saving. If you charge in public, a Type 2 charging cable is essential: public AC posts are untethered, and many used EVs are sold without one. See our guide to charging an EV without a driveway.
| Scenario | Five-year cost | vs used petrol | All-in per mile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Used EV, driveway and EV tariff | £27,016 | -£1,290 | 73.0p |
| Used EV, public charging only | £30,472 | +£2,166 | 82.4p |
| Used petrol car | £28,306 | - | 76.5p |
Mileage: the used EV breaks even with petrol at 3,700 miles a year
A used EV with home charging matches a used petrol car's five-year cost at about 3,700 miles a year. Every extra 1,000 miles adds roughly £346 to its lead, because the EV's disadvantages are mostly fixed and its savings grow with every mile.
The extra insurance, the charger and the extra depreciation cost the same at 3,000 miles a year as at 20,000. Energy, servicing and repairs scale with distance. Tyres and eVED push the other way, but only by 4.8p a mile against an energy saving of 11.0p.
| Annual mileage | Used EV | Used petrol | Gap (EV minus petrol) | No-driveway gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3,000 | £24,253 | £24,020 | +£233 | +£1,054 |
| 3,700 (breakeven) | £24,692 | £24,702 | -£9 | +£1,231 |
| 7,400 (UK average) | £27,016 | £28,306 | -£1,290 | +£2,166 |
| 10,000 | £28,649 | £30,839 | -£2,190 | +£2,824 |
| 15,000 | £31,789 | £35,709 | -£3,921 | +£4,087 |
| 20,000 | £34,929 | £40,580 | -£5,651 | +£5,351 |
Six model pairs: the EV wins all six, by £366 to £1,729
In every pair we tested, the used EV costs less over five years than its closest petrol equivalent by size, trim and body style. The Volkswagen ID.3 beats the Golf by £1,729, the biggest margin; the Vauxhall Corsa Electric beats the petrol Corsa by £366, the smallest. Each pair uses the same assumptions as the headline figure, so they can be compared directly.
| EV | Petrol equivalent | EV 5-year cost | Petrol 5-year cost | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vauxhall Corsa Electric | Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 | £22,470 | £22,837 | -£366 |
| Volkswagen ID.3 Pro | Volkswagen Golf 1.5 TSI | £26,568 | £28,297 | -£1,729 |
| MG4 SE | MG ZS 1.5 | £23,584 | £25,305 | -£1,720 |
| Hyundai Kona Electric | Hyundai Kona 1.0 T-GDi | £26,565 | £27,586 | -£1,021 |
| Tesla Model 3 RWD | BMW 320i M Sport | £32,653 | £34,168 | -£1,514 |
| Skoda Enyaq 80 | Skoda Karoq 1.5 TSI | £30,464 | £31,454 | -£991 |
| Six-pair average | £27,051 | £28,275 | -£1,224 |
New or used: a new EV costs £7,185 more than a new petrol car
Bought new, an EV costs £41,218 to own over five years against £34,033 for a new petrol car. The EV is priced at £35,450 after the £1,500 Electric Car Grant, the petrol car at £27,800.
The difference is depreciation. A new EV loses 60% of its price in five years on our depreciation curves, against 50% for petrol, and the EV starts £7,650 dearer: that adds up to £21,270 of depreciation against £13,900. Three-year-old EVs and petrol cars then lose about 48% each over the next five years, which is why buying used flips the answer. Our EV depreciation study and used EV price index have the model-level detail.
What would change the answer
Two inputs move the result more than any other: the home electricity rate and the petrol car's fuel economy. On the standard home rate of 25.7p/kWh instead of an EV tariff, the used EV's five-year lead shrinks from £1,290 to £55. Against a petrol car averaging 56 mpg or better, petrol becomes cheaper.
Pump prices matter too. Every 10p a litre widens the EV's lead by about £374 at average mileage: at 140p a litre the EV saves only £116, at 200p it saves £2,359. When the 5p fuel duty cut ends in July 2027, pump prices rise by about 6p a litre, adding roughly £200 to the EV's lead.
Cash buyers save more than the headline, £1,719 over five years, because a dearer car costs more to finance. And the EV is £643 behind after the first year, when the charger and the steepest depreciation land, before pulling ahead in month 30.
How we worked this out
Both cars are bought in January 2027 with a 10% deposit on a five-year hire purchase agreement at 9.4% APR and kept to the end of 2031. The used EV is the average three-year-old EV in the EV Cable Hub Used EV Price Index (£18,450); the petrol car is a three-year-old model of the same size and trim (£16,600). Insurance, servicing and tyre prices come from our 2026 Running Cost Quote Sample; public charging prices from our Public Charging Price Tracker (Q3 2026: 54p/kWh AC, 78p/kWh rapid). Home charging uses a blended EV tariff of 11.1p/kWh. Petrol is 171.4p a litre at 45 mpg; the EV does 3.5 miles per kWh. Totals are rounded independently.
EV vs petrol costs: your questions answered
Is an electric car cheaper to run than a petrol car?
Yes, if you can charge at home. A three-year-old EV costs £1,290 less to own over five years than its petrol equivalent: £27,016 against £28,306 at 7,400 miles a year. Without a driveway, the same EV costs £2,166 more than petrol.
How much does an electric car cost per mile in the UK?
2.1p a mile on an overnight tariff, 7.3p on the standard home rate and 22.3p at a public rapid charger, against 17.3p for a 45 mpg petrol car. Counting every cost, a used EV costs 73.0p a mile and a used petrol car 76.5p.
How much does it cost to run an electric car per year?
£5,403 a year all-in for a used EV, against £5,661 for a used petrol car. Electricity alone costs about £467 a year on a typical driveway mix, against £1,281 for petrol.
Is it cheaper to buy a new or used electric car?
Used. A new EV costs £7,185 more than a new petrol car over five years because it loses 60% of its value against 50%, while a used EV costs £1,290 less than used petrol.
How many miles a year do you need to drive for an EV to be worth it?
About 3,700 miles a year for a used EV with home charging. Above that, each extra 1,000 miles adds about £346 to the EV's five-year lead: £2,190 at 10,000 miles and £3,921 at 15,000.
How much more does it cost to insure an electric car?
About 24.6% more, or £200 a year, in our 2026 quote sample: £1,012 for an EV against £812 for a matched petrol car. Over five years that adds £1,000. Our guide to electric car charging costs covers the energy side in more detail.
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