Finance
EV vs Gas Calculator
Should you sell your gas car for an EV or hybrid? Compare keep, hybrid, and electric side by side - running costs, depreciation, incentives, and the break-even year.
Guide
How to use the EV vs Gas Calculator
The EV vs Gas Calculator helps you make a quick estimate, compare scenarios, and understand the numbers behind the result. It is designed for fast planning, with enough context to make the answer useful instead of just a number.
- Enter the amounts, rates, and time period that match the scenario you want to model.
- Review the main result first, then scan the supporting totals to understand what drives it.
- Change one input at a time to compare payments, interest, growth, savings, or break-even points.
Method
How this calculator works
It models each path — keeping your gas car, buying a hybrid, and buying an EV — as a net cost over your horizon: upfront cash plus running costs and financing, minus the resale value of the car you'd still own.
This calculator is useful for deciding whether selling your gas car for a hybrid or EV pays off, and when it breaks even.
Because assumptions matter, try a few values that represent optimistic, typical, and conservative cases.
Financial results are estimates. Actual loan terms, taxes, fees, rates, and market returns can change the final outcome.
Example
Worked example
Driving 12,000 miles a year: a 28-mpg gas car at $3.50 a gallon burns about $1,500 in fuel annually, while an EV at 3.5 mi/kWh charged at home for $0.16/kWh uses about $550 of electricity — saving roughly $950 a year, plus typically a few hundred dollars in maintenance. Against an $8,000 effective price premium after incentives, that is a break-even of around six to seven years before accounting for depreciation differences — which is exactly what the three-way comparison in this calculator adds on top.
FAQ
Common questions
How much cheaper per mile is an EV than a gas car?
With home charging at $0.16/kWh and an EV getting 3.5 miles per kWh, electricity costs about 4.6 cents per mile. A 28-mpg gas car at $3.50 a gallon costs about 12.5 cents per mile — roughly two and a half times more. The gap narrows sharply if you rely on public fast charging.
Does relying on public charging change the math?
Substantially. DC fast charging at $0.40–$0.50/kWh works out to 11–14 cents per mile — about the same as gas. The savings case for an EV is strongest when most charging happens at home or at cheap workplace chargers.
Do EVs depreciate faster than gas cars?
Historically many EVs have depreciated faster, though the gap has been narrowing. It matters because this calculator counts the resale value of whichever car you own at the end of your horizon — faster depreciation eats into the fuel savings.
What information do I need for the EV vs Gas?
You usually need annual distance, fuel and electricity prices, the price, efficiency, and incentive of each car, plus depreciation and financing. You can change the inputs and recalculate as many times as needed.
How does the EV vs Gas calculate the result?
It models each path — keeping your gas car, buying a hybrid, and buying an EV — as a net cost over your horizon: upfront cash plus running costs and financing, minus the resale value of the car you'd still own.
Are the results exact?
Financial results are estimates. Actual loan terms, taxes, fees, rates, and market returns can change the final outcome.
Related
Related calculators
Sources