Electric car vs. combustion engine — Compare the total cost

Enter the price of gasoline, electricity, fuel consumption, and costs for each car to find out which one is easier on your wallet.

Comparison assumptions

The two cars travel the same distance over the period.

What should you consider when comparing?

Unchecking removes the component from the account and hides its fields without deleting the values. Resale and investment depend on the purchase price.

Effective annual rate, after taxes and fees. Editable example, not a quote. The purchase difference is invested upfront, with compound interest and no contributions or withdrawals.

Available amount to invest:

km
years
R$/kWh
R$/L

The filled-in values are just editable examples and are saved in this browser.

Electrical scenario

Combustion scenario

km/L

Use the actual average consumption, not just the catalog value.

The cost uses only the selected components. When purchase and resale are enabled, the difference between them is included; without resale, the full purchase price is included.

Comparison result

km in

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for the full period, considering only the selected components

Return on the invested difference

The purchase prices are the same: there is no difference in investing.

invested generate of income during the period.

Deducted from the cost of: .

Only the earnings are deducted; the initial capital is not deducted again. The rate remains constant in this simulation.

A negative cost indicates that resale and/or yield exceed the selected expenses. The bars represent the magnitude of the values; note the sign of the totals.

Energy/year
Fixed costs/year
Purchase − resale
Deducted income
Total

Fuel/year
Fixed costs/year
Purchase − resale
Deducted income
Total

Annual operating savings

Purchase change returned

Simple operating return: uses the purchase price difference and the selected annual savings. It does not include resale value or yield, which are included in the total cost above.

Benefits of UtiliApp

  • ✓Compare two complete cars
  • ✓Configurable gasoline and energy
  • ✓Includes depreciation and annual costs
  • ✓Local calculation, no registration

How to use

  1. 1.

    Set your usage

    Enter the monthly distance, the period, the price of electricity, and the price of gasoline.

  2. 2.

    Fill in the two cars

    Use realistic prices, consumption, insurance, maintenance, taxes, and resale values for each option.

  3. 3.

    Compare the results

    See total cost, cost per km, annual savings, and the payback period for the purchase price difference.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is included in the total cost?

Only the selected components: purchase, resale, energy or fuel, insurance, maintenance, and taxes. If enabled, the return on the invested difference is deducted from the cheaper scenario.

Why provide the resale value?

Because the vehicle will still have value at the end of the comparison. We use the purchase price minus the resale value as the estimated depreciation.

Can I compare ethanol or another fuel?

Yes. Enter the price per liter and the car’s actual fuel consumption using this fuel, even if the field uses gasoline as a reference.

Does the return period include resale?

No. The operational payback divides the purchase price difference by the selected annual usage savings. Resale and investment returns are included only in the total cost, when enabled.

Are the values current quotes?

No. These are editable examples. Use prices and costs from your own situation to get a useful comparison.

Is my data saved?

The values are stored only in this browser’s local storage to make new simulations easier. Nothing is sent by the calculator.

The simulation takes place in your browser. The values are not sent to the server.

Choose the components you want to compare over the same period and mileage. For a complete picture, include purchase, resale, running costs, insurance, and taxes, in addition to maintenance. Optionally, consider the return on the invested purchase-price difference.

How is consumption calculated?

For electric vehicles, you can enter km/kWh or kWh/100 km; the calculator converts consumption to energy and multiplies it by the price per kWh. For combustion-engine vehicles, we divide the distance by km/L and multiply by the price per liter.

How to interpret the result

The lowest total cost indicates which scenario consumes the least wealth over the selected time horizon. Run more than one simulation by varying fuel, energy, consumption, and resale value: small differences in these assumptions can change the result.

How the invested difference works

By choosing the cheaper car, the price difference can be invested throughout the entire period. The return is the difference × ((1 + annual rate / 100) raised to the number of years − 1). This gain reduces the cost of the cheaper car, whether electric or combustion-powered. The result depends on the estimated rate and does not represent a guaranteed return.

The simulation is an estimate and does not include financing, inflation, charger costs, tolls, or extraordinary repairs.

See also