EV vs. Gas Total Cost Calculator Methodology

The calculator compares the estimated total cost of owning an electric vehicle with the estimated total cost of owning a gas vehicle over your selected ownership period. It includes financing, fuel or charging, insurance, maintenance, registration, incentives, home charger costs, and estimated resale value.

The model uses your ownership period, annual miles, sales tax and purchase fee percentage, EV assumptions, and gas vehicle assumptions. The EV side includes efficiency, home electricity rate, public charging percentage, public charging rate, charger cost, charger rebates, and incentives. The gas side includes MPG and gas price per gallon.

Each vehicle uses a standard amortized loan formula. The financed amount is purchase price plus sales tax and fees, minus down payment. If you choose to include EV incentives in financing, the incentive also reduces the EV financed amount.

payment = principal * (monthlyRate * (1 + monthlyRate)^months) / ((1 + monthlyRate)^months - 1)

If the APR is 0%, the calculator divides principal evenly across the loan term. If the ownership period is shorter than the loan term, the estimated remaining loan balance is subtracted from resale proceeds.

EV energy use is based on annual miles and kWh per 100 miles. The calculator creates a blended electricity rate from the home charging percentage and public charging percentage.

annualChargingCost = annualMiles * (kWhPer100Miles / 100) * blendedElectricityRate

Gas cost is based on annual miles, MPG, and gas price per gallon.

annualGasCost = (annualMiles / MPG) * gasPricePerGallon

Insurance is entered monthly and multiplied by the number of ownership months. Maintenance and registration are entered annually and prorated across the ownership period. These are planning estimates, not quotes.

EV incentives are capped at the vehicle price plus sales tax and fees in the model. If incentives are not included in financing, they are treated as a separate cost reduction. Home charger cost is added as a one-time EV cost after subtracting any charger rebate or credit entered by the user.

Ending resale value is estimated as a percentage of purchase price. For the timeline chart and breakeven calculation, the calculator uses a simple straight-line path from purchase price to the ending resale value. This is intentionally simple and does not estimate exact market depreciation by make, model, mileage, or condition.

The calculator builds a month-by-month timeline. Each month adds loan payments when applicable, fuel or charging, insurance, maintenance, registration, and EV charger cost. It then estimates what the vehicle would cost if sold at that point by subtracting estimated net sale proceeds. The EV breakeven month is the first month when estimated EV cost is less than or equal to estimated gas vehicle cost.

This MVP does not include exact tax eligibility, local utility rate plans, battery degradation, repair surprises, dealer fees not entered by the user, insurance underwriting differences, the time value of money, exact depreciation by model, or federal, state, and local incentive eligibility rules.

These calculators are for educational purposes only and are not financial, tax, legal, insurance, investment, real estate, employment, medical, childcare, vehicle-buying, or professional advice.

This calculator is for educational purposes only and is not financial, tax, legal, insurance, vehicle-buying, or professional advice. Vehicle prices, taxes, incentives, fuel prices, charging costs, insurance, repairs, and resale values can vary widely.