HMRC EV rates
From 1 September 2026, HMRC's company-car advisory rates are 7p per mile for home charging and 15p per mile for public charging. They are reimbursement benchmarks, not promises about every driver's cost.
Petrol vs electric cost calculator UK
Compare energy cost per mile and per year using the prices, efficiency and charging mix that apply to you. The result covers petrol and electricity only, not purchase price, depreciation, insurance, servicing or tax.
Your own ratesUK imperial MPGEnergy cost clearly separated
Home, mixed or public-only charging?
These fixed examples use the historical starter rates: 26.11p/kWh at home and 54p/kWh in public, with 3.59 miles/kWh. They do not change when you edit the calculator.
Scroll sideways to compare all columns. Keyboard: use the left and right arrow keys.
| Charging example | EV pence per mile | EV energy for 10,000 miles |
|---|---|---|
| 100% home | 7.27p | £727 |
| 80% home / 20% public | 8.83p | £883 |
| 100% public at 54p/kWh | 15.04p | £1,504 |
For comparison, the same example petrol car at 150p/litre and 45 UK MPG costs 15.15p per mile, or about £1,515 over 10,000 miles. Public rapid-charging prices can differ substantially. Enter your own rates for a current comparison.
Useful checks, not universal prices
Benchmark figures make the starting example reproducible. Your actual tariff and vehicle data should control the answer.
Ofgem home rate
Ofgem's average direct-debit electricity unit rate for England, Scotland and Wales is 26.11p/kWh for 1 July to 30 September 2026. Region, payment method and tariff can differ.
Latest petrol price
The button above reads Route & Fuel's current E10 dashboard. For your own calculation, a nearby station price is more relevant than a national average.
How the cost per mile is calculated
Petrol: pump price in pence × 4.54609 ÷ UK MPG.
Electric: blended electricity price in pence per kWh ÷ miles per kWh.
The blended charging price weights the home and public rates by the percentage of charging completed at home.
What the result leaves out
This is an energy-cost comparison. It deliberately excludes purchase price, finance, depreciation, insurance, servicing, tyres, road tax, home-charger installation and electricity standing charges.
Those costs can be larger than the energy difference, so do not describe this result as total ownership cost.
Read the worked UK example
See the assumptions, formulas and cases where home charging, public charging or low annual mileage changes the comparison.
Compare petrol stops too
Calculate litres for a petrol journey, then compare actual fuel stops along your route using the listed prices, MPG, fill amount and extra drive.