UK Cost to Drive a Mile

Comparing the cost to drive a mile in the UK between gasoline and electric vehicles

Published: Monday, Aug 7, 2023 Last modified: Wednesday, Oct 2, 2024

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Cost per Mile

Electric Vehicle: 5.26 pence/mile
Gasoline Car: 18.945 pence/mile

If an Electric Vehicle consumes 263 Wh/mi, and the cost of a kw/h is 20 pence, how much does it cost to drive 1 mile?

To find the cost of driving 1 mile:

  1. Convert the consumption to kWh/mi: 263 Wh/mi = 0.263 kWh/mi

  2. Multiply the consumption per mile by the cost per kWh: 0.263 kWh/mi × 20 pence/kWh

= 5.26 pence/mi

So, it costs 5.26 pence to drive 1 mile in that Electric Vehicle given the specified consumption and energy cost.

If the cost per litre of fuel is 150p, and a typical gasoline car has about 36 MPG, how much does it cost to drive one mile?

Convert the fuel efficiency from MPG to MPL (miles per litre): 36 miles/4.54609 litres = 7.92 miles/litre

Find out how much fuel is used for 1 mile: 1 mile/7.92 miles/litre = 0.1263 litres

Calculate the cost to drive one mile: 0.1263 litres × 150p/litre = 18.945 pence

Conclusion

As of August 2023, it’s almost four times cheaper to drive a mile in an electric vehicle than a gasoline vehicle.

Lets not forget the other benefits of electric vehicles, such as:

Thanks to Jujhar Singh for pointing out my initial mistake in the calculation and this Car Fuel Cost Calculator