This calculator is for the bigger decision: keep your current car or switch to another one. It compares purchase price, trade-in value, yearly fuel or charging costs, insurance, service, inspection, taxes, other yearly costs, and the opportunity cost of tying up cash in a more expensive vehicle.
Use it alongside the fuel cost calculator if you first want to isolate the running-cost gap between an EV and a petrol, diesel, or gas car.
No calculator can predict surprise repairs, resale value swings, or how much you personally value comfort, safety, or convenience. Use the output as a financial baseline, not the whole decision.
It is the full cost of keeping or switching vehicles over time, not just fuel. Purchase price, trade-in value, insurance, tax, service, and opportunity cost all matter.
Break-even tells you how long it takes for lower running costs to recover a higher upfront cost. If break-even is longer than you plan to keep the car, the switch may not make financial sense.
Enter the upfront cost difference, yearly distance, fuel or charging costs, insurance, service, tax, and any other recurring costs. The goal is to compare the full ownership picture over the years you realistically expect to keep the car.
Yes. A higher purchase price can still make sense if lower charging, maintenance, or tax costs recover that gap within your ownership period. That is exactly why the calculator shows yearly savings and break-even time.
At minimum include purchase price, trade-in value, fuel or charging costs, insurance, tax, service, inspection, and other recurring costs you expect every year. Leaving out one major cost category can make a switch look much better than it really is.
Usually yes, especially if buying a more expensive car ties up cash you could have kept invested or available for something else. Opportunity cost is one of the easiest ownership costs to ignore, and one of the most useful when comparing close decisions.
That depends on yearly mileage, fuel savings, financing, and what you could do with the money instead. The ownership calculator is designed to make that tradeoff visible instead of guessing.