What the evidence shows
Charging can save substantial money, especially at home, but public fast-charging prices, local electricity tariffs and vehicle efficiency can reverse the comparison. UK January 2024 examples ranged from 7p to 18p per mile depending on charging access, against a 15p combustion-car benchmark.
Older vehicles or current generations?
AAA's benchmark is explicitly based on selected MY2023 vehicles, but it does not publish a named EV version or battery details. Zapmap's profiles name no vehicle. Neither source compares matched pre-2023 and 2023+ vehicles; the evidence addresses energy-price assumptions, not battery-age effects.
We separate vehicles from before 2023 and 2023 onward. A report’s publication date does not establish a vehicle’s model year or a battery’s manufacturing date.
Before 2023
No separate result for this group is established by the cited evidence.
2023 and newer
2023 and newerAAA new-car ownership-cost sample
- Vehicles / sample
- AAA's 2023 study averages the five top-selling models selected for each category, including electric vehicles; the public tables do not identify each EV model or trim.
- Vehicle years
- AAA's 2023 brochure explicitly says the study uses five top-selling 2023 models per category; individual model-year/version assignments are not itemized.
- Battery chemistry
- Not reported; chemistry is not stratified.
- Battery capacity
- Not reported.
- Battery manufacture
- Not reported.
- Observation period
- Five-year / 75,000-mile modeled ownership; 2023 cost inputs.
Vehicle years not establishedUK charging-price profiles
- Vehicles / sample
- Typical EV cost-per-mile profiles with assumed home/public charging shares; no make, model, trim, or battery version is identified.
- Vehicle years
- Not reported.
- Battery chemistry
- Not reported.
- Battery capacity
- Not reported.
- Battery manufacture
- Not reported.
- Observation period
- UK public charging in 2023; example costs use January 2024 prices.
“Not reported” means the source does not disclose it. Model year, first registration, vehicle assembly and battery manufacture are different dates. Unmatched studies cannot establish how much newer batteries improved.
Which brands do these results describe?
AAA’s cost sample aggregates top-selling models without disclosing the EV roster, while the UK profiles use generic charging assumptions. The cited results support category and tariff comparisons only; no brand-level charging-cost result is published.
All manufacturers are OEMs. These groups describe brand focus, not a quality ranking or country of origin. EV-focused brands can also sell plug-in hybrids. Results apply to the identified models, batteries and conditions.
Manufacturer and model sources (2)
What the claim gets right
An electric drivetrain uses energy efficiently, and affordable home electricity can produce meaningful fuel savings. AAA's 2023 analysis placed EVs lowest for fuel costs among its vehicle categories. That supports the possibility of savings under the study's assumptions; it does not establish a universal promise. Drivers with private parking and a suitable overnight tariff often have a different cost experience from apartment residents buying most of their energy at public chargers. [2]
Where the comparison changes
Zapmap's February 2024 release illustrates the difference using January prices. Its example with 80% home charging cost about 7p per mile, a mixed charging profile about 11p, and a profile using public charging for 80% of its energy about 18p. The combustion-car benchmark was 15p. These were modeled driver profiles, rather than bills collected from every household. Nonetheless, they demonstrate why the word 'always' fails: charging access can change which powertrain has the lower energy bill. [1]
A national electricity average is also insufficient. EIA publishes electricity price data by state and customer category, reflecting regional differences in utility prices. A household's charging decision needs its actual tariff, including delivery charges and any time restrictions. Public operators sell a service whose posted price need not equal a utility's residential average. Neither the US average nor one UK profile should be exported to another country as a universal result. [3]
A calculation owners can check
For an illustrative comparison, suppose an EV buys 30 kWh from the charger for each 160.9 km and a gasoline car achieves 30 mpg. At $0.15/kWh the EV's energy costs $4.50 per 160.9 km; at $0.60/kWh it costs $18. Gasoline at $3.50 per gallon costs approximately $11.67 for the same distance. The electricity break-even price is about $0.389/kWh. These are transparent example inputs, not current market quotations or claims about a specific model.
Use energy purchased at the wall or charger so that charging losses are included. Add applicable session fees and subscription costs, and weight home, workplace and public use by their shares of energy purchased. Then compare similar vehicles on the same route and season. Fuel savings are one component of ownership: a home charger installation, financing and resale value belong in a separate total-cost calculation.
Data period: UK public charging during 2023 and example driver profiles in January 2024; US 2023 AAA comparison and EIA 2024 electricity statistics published in 2025
What this does—and doesn’t—tell us
- The UK driver profiles are calculations using the index and assumed usage, not a representative measurement of every owner's bill.
- The examples are historical, not October 2026 price quotes. This article covers US and UK evidence; it does not establish Chinese charging costs.
- EIA utility averages are not retail DC fast-charger tariffs or the marginal price on a particular household bill.
Estimate your own cost per mile using realistic charging access and actual tariffs. Cheap home charging can make EV energy substantially cheaper; heavy use of expensive fast charging can erase that advantage.
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