Cost per mile if you drive an EV

The four lines, and what actually changes

Energy — usually much cheaper, sometimes not. Home charging on a cheap overnight rate is the best case in the whole category and it is genuinely transformative. Public rapid charging is the worst case, and for a full-time gig driver who cannot charge at home, the per-mile energy cost can approach or exceed petrol. Where you charge matters more than what you drive.

Maintenance — cheaper on some things, not on tyres. No oil changes, no exhaust, less brake wear thanks to regeneration. But EVs are heavy and deliver torque instantly, and tyre wear is commonly faster as a result. For a gig driver doing tens of thousands of stop-start miles a year, tyres are a real per-mile line, and it is the one people leave out.

Depreciation — model-dependent and the largest unknown. This is the biggest hidden cost for any gig vehicle and EV residuals have moved a lot in recent years. It is also invisible, because no money leaves your account — you are converting an asset into cash at a rate you never chose.

Insurance — often higher. Repair costs and parts availability push premiums up for many EVs. Get your own quote rather than assuming; this varies enormously by model and area.

Work out your own number

Averages are useless here because the variance between "home charger, paid-off used EV" and "public rapid charging, financed new EV" is larger than the difference between EVs and petrol cars as categories.

your cost per mile = ( 12 months of energy
                     + insurance
                     + registration
                     + tyres and servicing
                     + repairs
                     + honest depreciation )
                     / 12 months of total miles

Depreciation is the line people skip. A defensible approach is to take what the vehicle was worth twelve months ago, subtract what it is worth now, and use that. It will be larger than you expect, and it is real money.

The general cost-per-mile method, with the four components explained.

Where this changes your driving

Once you have your number, the same arithmetic applies as for any vehicle — but the answers often differ.

Your break-even per mile may be genuinely low. A driver with a home charger and a paid-off used EV can have a real cost per mile well under the IRS rate, which means longer offers stay profitable that would not be in a thirsty petrol vehicle, and the standard mileage deduction is quietly generous to them.

Or it may not be. A financed new EV charged in public can be above the IRS rate, in which case the tax position and the operating position are both worse than they feel, because the energy bill looks small.

Either way the point is the same: you cannot tell which of those two drivers you are without doing the calculation, and the energy line alone will tell you the wrong answer in both cases. Why gross pay misleads.

The tax mechanics are unchanged

The standard mileage rate applies normally. Same rate, same two-rate 2026 split at June 30, same Publication 463 record-keeping requirements — date, mileage, destination and business purpose per trip.

Charging costs are not separately deductible under the standard mileage method. If you take the per-mile rate, that rate is intended to cover operating costs including energy. You cannot claim the rate and your electricity. Parking and tolls remain separately deductible under either method.

Under the actual expense method, charging is a real expense — including the business-use share of home electricity used for charging, which requires a way to measure it. A dedicated charger with its own metering makes that a number rather than an estimate.

The choice between methods turns on whether your true cost per mile is above or below the standard rate, and there are restrictions on switching. Standard mileage versus actual expenses.

Questions and answers