Running an electric car is cheaper than running a petrol or diesel model, but the saving is not automatic. According to a cost comparison published by Autoblog, whether a driver truly pockets money over 20,000 kilometres in 2026 hinges on a single variable: how and where the car is charged.
The starting point is a familiar one. Fuel prices remain high, and drivers who have stopped visiting a filling station often point to the savings they make each month. The Autoblog team took up a calculator and tested different scenarios using the energy and fuel prices of the moment, comparing the running costs of an electric car with those of a conventional combustion-engined vehicle over the same annual mileage. The exercise was framed around a simple question that many motorists now ask: does switching to electric actually leave more money in the pocket, or is the advantage mostly a matter of perception?
The outcome is clear on one point. Charging at home, ideally when electricity is cheapest, keeps the cost per kilometre low and gives an electric car a clear advantage. Relying on public fast chargers changes the picture. At those points the price per kilowatt-hour is considerably higher, and the gap with fuel narrows, sometimes to the point where little or no saving remains. Over 20,000 kilometres, that difference can decide whether the electric car is the cheaper option. The fast chargers that offer the quickest top-up are precisely the ones that cost the most per kilometre, so a driver who uses them regularly for convenience can lose much of the advantage that the car promised on paper.
For that reason, the comparison concludes that the headline claim of lower costs holds mainly for drivers who can charge at home and avoid expensive public charging for most of their journeys. Those who depend largely on public infrastructure should check their own driving pattern before assuming the money will be saved. A motorist who commutes a fixed route, parks at home each night and rarely needs a rapid top-up is in a very different position from someone who drives long distances, lives in a flat without a dedicated charging point, or relies on the street for daily charging.
The findings matter beyond individual budgets. Running costs are one of the main arguments made for switching to electric cars, and they weigh heavily on decisions about company fleets and private purchases alike. Businesses that run vehicles for staff, and households weighing up a first electric car, both tend to look first at the cost of each kilometre. A saving that depends on access to home charging therefore highlights the importance of charging infrastructure, and of how electricity tariffs are structured, for the wider shift to electric mobility. It also points to a practical risk for buyers: a car that is cheaper to run in theory may cost more in practice if its owner cannot charge it where it is parked.
The comparison does not suggest that electric cars are a poor choice, only that the arithmetic should be done before the switch rather than after. Drivers are advised to start from their own mileage and charging habits, weigh the price of home electricity against the price of public charging, and then compare the total with the running costs of the petrol or diesel car they would otherwise buy. Read this way, the saving is real for a well-chosen group of drivers, and the addertje under the grass is simply the charging habit that decides the outcome.