What does an electric car really cost? Depreciation, PCP, loan, energy
An electric car costs little to run and a lot in lost value: after three years it keeps on average 35.2 % of its list price, against 50.5 % for a petrol car. Energy prices alone settle nothing. The calculator below puts everything on one line, for two cars: depreciation, interest or payments, energy, servicing.
Three things to know before you calculate
- Depreciation is the biggest item, well ahead of energy, on any car bought new. It is worked out on the list price, not on what you paid: a 20 % discount on a new electric car is depreciation you will never suffer.
- A PCP is not cheaper than a loan; it defers part of the price to the end. Handed back, the car costs only the monthly payments; kept, it costs the final payment on top, and interest has run on it for the whole term.
- Keeping your car is almost always the cheapest option. Its heavy depreciation is behind it; the new car’s is just starting. The calculator compares the two: set yours to “I already own it”.
Two cars, all costs in: do the maths
Describe the car you have or the one you are looking at, then the other one. Energy prices, depreciation and rates are pre-filled with sourced figures, each of them editable. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
The length of the agreement, and the horizon of the comparison: the car is sold, handed back or kept at the end.
Average for a private car: 7,100 miles.
Enter a price, a consumption figure and a share kept after 3 years for each car: the result appears straight away.
How each line is worked out
Depreciation starts from the average residual value at 36 months recorded by fuel type, as a share of list price, and extends it to the chosen term at the same pace every year. That is a convention, not a curve: real depreciation is steeper in the first year and eases afterwards, so the projection is cautious beyond three years. You can replace the projected value with a valuation or a trade-in offer.
Finance follows the arithmetic of any offer: a constant monthly payment at the monthly rate equivalent to the annual rate. On a PCP, the payments finance the price minus the discounted final payment, which makes them lower than loan repayments; if you pay the final payment, you pay it on top, and the total exceeds that of a loan at the same rate.
Energy is the consumption entered, multiplied by the week’s fuel price or the electricity tariff in force, and by the mileage. A plug-in hybrid weights the two by its share of electric miles.
Servicing and insurance count only if you fill them in, as yearly amounts.
Frequently asked questions
PCP or loan for an electric car?
At the same rate and over the same term, a PCP whose final payment you pay costs more than a loan: the final payment carries interest for the whole agreement. A PCP protects you from something else: if the car is worth less than the final payment at the end, you hand it back and the loss is the lender’s. On an electric car, whose depreciation is the least predictable, that is a real argument. Compare the calculator’s lines with and without the final payment.
Do electric cars really lose more value?
Yes, on average and for now. At 36 months, electric cars keep the smallest share of their list price of any fuel type on every market Autovista tracks, fifteen to twenty points below petrol. The gap comes from new-car price cuts, the flood of lease returns and worries about the battery. It varies a great deal from one model to the next, and a battery whose state of health has been measured sells better.
Plug-in hybrid or electric, if I already drive mostly on electricity?
If you fill up a few times a year, going electric changes almost nothing on your energy bill: you already drive on electricity. The difference lies in the depreciation and finance of the new car, against the depreciation your current car has already been through. Set your hybrid to “I already own it” with its trade-in value, and the electric car you are looking at opposite.
Can changing car cost less than keeping it?
Rarely. A car a few years old has already lost its first slice of value, the heaviest; a new one is starting its own. Changing makes sense when the current car costs a lot to maintain or to run, or for reasons other than cost. The calculator shows it: with yours set to “I already own it”, the depreciation line stays small.
Sources: residual values at 36 months and 60,000 km: Autovista24 (J.D. Power), Monthly Market Update, United Kingdom, February 2026, published 2 March 2026; electricity: Ofgem, plafond des prix de l’énergie du 1er octobre au 31 décembre 2026, prélèvement direct, moyenne Grande-Bretagne, sans TVA (annoncé le 26 août 2026); plug-in hybrid electric share: ICCT, June 2022. Checked on 26 October 2026.