Is an electric car cheaper to own than a petrol car? A cost breakdown

Sometimes. The gap is smaller than most EV marketing suggests, and the honest way to settle it is to compare what each car costs you over several years, not what it costs on the day you buy it.

What the best recent data says

The most careful comparison I could find is Vincentric’s 2025 analysis. It matched 54 electric vehicles against similarly equipped petrol alternatives over five years at 15,000 miles a year. It uses US prices from March 2025, so treat it as a pattern rather than a prediction for your city.

• 24 of the 54 EVs (44%) came out cheaper to own overall. A year earlier it was 49%.
• All 54 cost less to fuel, by just over $7,500 on average.
• 43 of 54 cost less to maintain.
• 44 of 54 were more expensive to buy.
• Only 9% held their value better than the petrol car, down from 24% the year before.

The pattern is easy to remember. An EV saves you money every month you drive it, then hands some of it back when you buy it and again when you sell it.

Where the money goes

Cost	Tends to favour	Why
Purchase price	Petrol	Most EVs in the study cost more up front
Energy	EV	Electricity per km is usually cheaper than fuel
Maintenance	EV	Fewer moving parts, no oil changes
Depreciation	Petrol	EVs lost value faster in the 2025 data
Insurance	Varies	Depends on the model, repair costs and your record

Work it out with your own numbers

Here is a quick comparison with made-up round numbers. Replace each one with your own.

• Petrol car: 15 km per litre, petrol at Rs 100 a litre. That is about Rs 6.7 per km.
• Electric car: 0.12 kWh per km, home electricity at Rs 8 per kWh. That is about Rs 0.96 per km.
• You drive 12,000 km a year.

The EV saves about Rs 5.7 per km, so roughly Rs 68,000 a year. If it costs Rs 4 lakh more to buy, you need about six years of driving to earn that back on fuel alone, before maintenance and resale.

These are assumptions, not market prices. Change any one of them and the answer moves. A cheaper tariff or a longer commute pulls break-even closer. A smaller price gap does the same.

The steps to repeat it:

1. Yearly distance. The more you drive, the faster the fuel savings add up.
2. Energy cost per km. Petrol: price per litre divided by km per litre. EV: your tariff per kWh times kWh used per km. Home charging is normally far cheaper than public fast charging, so use a realistic mix.
3. Price gap. Subtract any subsidy or tax benefit you really qualify for.
4. Resale. Look at what three- to five-year-old versions of each car sell for.
5. Break-even. Divide the price gap by your yearly savings.

When an EV makes the most sense

• You drive a lot, so fuel savings keep compounding.
• You can charge at home or at work.
• You plan to keep the car for years, which softens the depreciation hit.

When a petrol or hybrid car may still win

• You drive little, so there is not much fuel to save.
• You depend on public fast charging, which narrows the cost advantage.
• You are buying where the EV premium is biggest.

Sources

• Vincentric 2025 EV Cost of Ownership Analysis, reported by Automotive Fleet, published 1 May 2025. US data; costs include depreciation, financing, fuel, insurance, maintenance, repairs, fees and taxes.