2 years and 21k miles of EV motoring - here's what it cost £
Discussion
I recently handed back my leased Nissan Ariya 87kWh Advance with Sky Pack after 2 years and nearly 21k miles and here's what it cost me to run....
I've logged every single charge (both home and public) and cross referenced this with my Octopus bills to see what its cost me. I am on Intelligent Octopus Go so have been making good use of the tariff to shift the usage of my washing machine, dishwasher and condenser tumble dryer to whenever the car is charging or the cheap overnight rate.
I've driven 20,936 miles over the 2 year lease.
I spent a total of £971.99 on charging: £542.91 on home (7863.6kWh at an average of 6.9p per kWh) and £429.08 on public (944.26kWh at an average of 45.44p per kWh). I also received £10.46 in saving sessions bill credits.
By shifting my high energy usage appliances to overnight/when the car was charging, I shifted 2,353.6 kWh of non-car electricity to when it was cheaper - saving me £495.49.
Some more interesting stats:
- Public charging only accounted for 10.7% of my charging, but was 44.1% of my £ spent.
- 68.7% of all energy used (car + home) was consumed at the cheap off-peak rate.
- Average economy in summer was 2.64 miles per kWh, spring was 2.41 miles per kWh, autumn was 2.38 miles per kWh and winter was 2.15 miles per kWh.
- The longest journey I did on a single charge was in the height of summer: 312 miles from Sandbanks > London > Manchester with 5 people onboard and stuffed with luggage, so good weather really does make all the difference!
- Average weekly cost was £9.34.
- Average fuel economy was 2.38 miles per kWh.
- Average cost per mile was 4.6p per mile.
I took a look at getting a Tesla Powerwall 3 and when charging it up overnight on cheap electricity, based on my pretty efficient usage of the tariff, it would give me a payback period of 13.46 years on a £6,700 install (no gateway). Adding solar could bring that payback period down to 6-8 years.
Finally, because I'm weird like that, I've logged every single fuel fill up on all the cars I've owned and this just shows how much cheaper it is to run an EV (assuming you can home charge):
I've logged every single charge (both home and public) and cross referenced this with my Octopus bills to see what its cost me. I am on Intelligent Octopus Go so have been making good use of the tariff to shift the usage of my washing machine, dishwasher and condenser tumble dryer to whenever the car is charging or the cheap overnight rate.
I've driven 20,936 miles over the 2 year lease.
I spent a total of £971.99 on charging: £542.91 on home (7863.6kWh at an average of 6.9p per kWh) and £429.08 on public (944.26kWh at an average of 45.44p per kWh). I also received £10.46 in saving sessions bill credits.
By shifting my high energy usage appliances to overnight/when the car was charging, I shifted 2,353.6 kWh of non-car electricity to when it was cheaper - saving me £495.49.
Some more interesting stats:
- Public charging only accounted for 10.7% of my charging, but was 44.1% of my £ spent.
- 68.7% of all energy used (car + home) was consumed at the cheap off-peak rate.
- Average economy in summer was 2.64 miles per kWh, spring was 2.41 miles per kWh, autumn was 2.38 miles per kWh and winter was 2.15 miles per kWh.
- The longest journey I did on a single charge was in the height of summer: 312 miles from Sandbanks > London > Manchester with 5 people onboard and stuffed with luggage, so good weather really does make all the difference!
- Average weekly cost was £9.34.
- Average fuel economy was 2.38 miles per kWh.
- Average cost per mile was 4.6p per mile.
I took a look at getting a Tesla Powerwall 3 and when charging it up overnight on cheap electricity, based on my pretty efficient usage of the tariff, it would give me a payback period of 13.46 years on a £6,700 install (no gateway). Adding solar could bring that payback period down to 6-8 years.
Finally, because I'm weird like that, I've logged every single fuel fill up on all the cars I've owned and this just shows how much cheaper it is to run an EV (assuming you can home charge):
Thanks for sharing.
"Average economy in summer was 2.64 miles per kWh, spring was 2.41 miles per kWh, autumn was 2.38 miles per kWh and winter was 2.15 miles per kWh."
Just curious, is this normal for the car you've been driving or do you have a heavy right foot? It just comes across to me as rather high consumption for that size of car.
"Average economy in summer was 2.64 miles per kWh, spring was 2.41 miles per kWh, autumn was 2.38 miles per kWh and winter was 2.15 miles per kWh."
Just curious, is this normal for the car you've been driving or do you have a heavy right foot? It just comes across to me as rather high consumption for that size of car.
mcaf123 said:
I've driven 20,936 miles over the 2 year lease.
I spent a total of £971.99 on charging
I've done 125k mile overs 11 years of EVing. The fuel/service/VED savings compared to a similar 300-400bhp petrol/diesel car is substantial.I spent a total of £971.99 on charging
However the purchase/lease/finance cost of the actual car is still the biggest cost, but because it's a sunken capital cost often had to appreciate.
Including all costs running the EV has cost me about 65-70p/mile, the vast majority of that cost is in deprication/finance.
How much was the cost of the car lease per month? So you get a total cost of ownership over 2 years if you add that in and publish
I’ve had 2 teslas. 1 I reckon was a good deal on a PCH and makes the total cost of ownership much less than a similar petrol car. The other Tesla was on a octopus salary sacrifice which I don’t think was quite as good
I’ve had 2 teslas. 1 I reckon was a good deal on a PCH and makes the total cost of ownership much less than a similar petrol car. The other Tesla was on a octopus salary sacrifice which I don’t think was quite as good
I haven't calculated precisely the cost comparison between my Tesla 3LR and the car it replaced, a Range Rover 4.2 V8 supercharged.
But I think it's about a tenth of the cost in my case. I was also able to put it through my one-man tiny consulting business which saved me about £20k in personal tax. I've had the Tesla for 6 years and I think it completely paid for it's purchase price in year 4 (in tax, servicing, fuel savings). Depreciation is therefore not an issue as it's now a free car in comparison.
I guess mine's an edge case of sorts in that it replaced a very thirsty V8... the Tesla still looks and drives like new after 60,000 miles. Uninspiring perhaps when measured against other cars I own or have owned - but comically quick, silent and cheap to run. Perfect daily driver.
But I think it's about a tenth of the cost in my case. I was also able to put it through my one-man tiny consulting business which saved me about £20k in personal tax. I've had the Tesla for 6 years and I think it completely paid for it's purchase price in year 4 (in tax, servicing, fuel savings). Depreciation is therefore not an issue as it's now a free car in comparison.
I guess mine's an edge case of sorts in that it replaced a very thirsty V8... the Tesla still looks and drives like new after 60,000 miles. Uninspiring perhaps when measured against other cars I own or have owned - but comically quick, silent and cheap to run. Perfect daily driver.
gangzoom said:
I've done 125k mile overs 11 years of EVing. The fuel/service/VED savings compared to a similar 300-400bhp petrol/diesel car is substantial.
However the purchase/lease/finance cost of the actual car is still the biggest cost, but because it's a sunken capital cost often had to appreciate.
Including all costs running the EV has cost me about 65-70p/mile, the vast majority of that cost is in deprication/finance.
Yes - but the total cost per miles for an EV can not be far off the fuel costs for an ICE car. My numbers below for example:However the purchase/lease/finance cost of the actual car is still the biggest cost, but because it's a sunken capital cost often had to appreciate.
Including all costs running the EV has cost me about 65-70p/mile, the vast majority of that cost is in deprication/finance.
Polestar 2 LRSM - total lease costs after BIK and SS saving - £22,264.20 (4years). 80k miles = 28ppm. Electricity using mcaf123's numbers (mine are similar) 6.9p/kwh @ ~3.5m/kwH = 2ppm. 30ppm all in.
A recent trip to the Lake District in our Caravelle with bikes on the back saw only 32mpg = 27ppm just for diesel at current prices.
That’s very interesting and gotta love a spreadsheet
As others have said though, fuelling is only one element of the overall cost comparison. It’d be equally interesting to see if, comparatively, there was still such massive EV advantage if all costs, incl purchase/finance costs, insurance, servicing/maintenance etc was taken into account.
I suspect the EV cost advantage would still be there, but possibly reduced slightly.
As others have said though, fuelling is only one element of the overall cost comparison. It’d be equally interesting to see if, comparatively, there was still such massive EV advantage if all costs, incl purchase/finance costs, insurance, servicing/maintenance etc was taken into account.
I suspect the EV cost advantage would still be there, but possibly reduced slightly.
For everyone asking why the Ariya is so inefficient, have you seen the thing? Its got a very bluff front end!
The internet tells me the drag coefficient is 0.297Cd versus 0.23Cd for a Tesla Model Y (0.22Cd for the newer Juniper).
Couple that with the car doing lots of short journeys between school, work, kids activities etc. and it usually having something heavyish in the boot like a buggy or kids scooters.
But yeah, I was unpleasantly suprised at how inefficient it was!
The internet tells me the drag coefficient is 0.297Cd versus 0.23Cd for a Tesla Model Y (0.22Cd for the newer Juniper).
Couple that with the car doing lots of short journeys between school, work, kids activities etc. and it usually having something heavyish in the boot like a buggy or kids scooters.
But yeah, I was unpleasantly suprised at how inefficient it was!
mcaf123 said:
For everyone asking why the Ariya is so inefficient, have you seen the thing? Its got a very bluff front end!
The internet tells me the drag coefficient is 0.297Cd versus 0.23Cd for a Tesla Model Y (0.22Cd for the newer Juniper).
Couple that with the car doing lots of short journeys between school, work, kids activities etc. and it usually having something heavyish in the boot like a buggy or kids scooters.
But yeah, I was unpleasantly surprised at how inefficient it was!
I drive a BMW iX, which is larger, heavier and the front end is unlikely to be any more aero. I'm driving short trips, school runs, 2x 25kg eMTB's in the back, 5 people up on lots of trips, and my average is around 1 mile per kWh better than your car. In summer 4 miles / kWh is quite easily achievable .The internet tells me the drag coefficient is 0.297Cd versus 0.23Cd for a Tesla Model Y (0.22Cd for the newer Juniper).
Couple that with the car doing lots of short journeys between school, work, kids activities etc. and it usually having something heavyish in the boot like a buggy or kids scooters.
But yeah, I was unpleasantly surprised at how inefficient it was!
Edited by SDK on Tuesday 19th May 08:55
SDK said:
I drive a BMW iX, which is larger, heavier and the front end is unlikely to be any more aero. I'm driving short trips, school runs, 2x 25kg eMTB's in the back, 5 people up on lots of trips, and my average is around 1 mile per kWh better than your car. In summer 4 miles / kWh is quite easily achievable .
The iX has a drag coefficient of 0.25Cd so more aerodynamically efficient than the Ariya, but is heavier and has a larger frontal area.Edited by SDK on Tuesday 19th May 08:55
Now we're getting into the world of motor and battery efficiency and analysing every person's individual driving style..... but still interesting to see how varied things can be!
Later today I will post my calculations showing the total cost per mile when taking into account the cost of the car and fuel and comparing it to my previous cars.
However, lets talk about EV depreciation....
My Ariya had a list price of around £50k. After 2 years and just under 21k miles, Alphabet offered it for sale to friends/family for £20k.
It went to BCA auction - I used to have an account but it no longer works so can't see what it sold for. If anyone has an account, it would be great to know what it sold for!
It has since appeared on Auto Trader at one of the big car supermarkets and using the AT Price Tracker Chrome extension I can see the following price changes:
07/05/2026 - listed at £22,400
08/05/2026 - increased to £22,600
13/05/2026 - dropped to £22,241
19/05/2026 - dropped to £21,831
Change: -£569 (-3%)
However, lets talk about EV depreciation....
My Ariya had a list price of around £50k. After 2 years and just under 21k miles, Alphabet offered it for sale to friends/family for £20k.
It went to BCA auction - I used to have an account but it no longer works so can't see what it sold for. If anyone has an account, it would be great to know what it sold for!
It has since appeared on Auto Trader at one of the big car supermarkets and using the AT Price Tracker Chrome extension I can see the following price changes:
07/05/2026 - listed at £22,400
08/05/2026 - increased to £22,600
13/05/2026 - dropped to £22,241
19/05/2026 - dropped to £21,831
Change: -£569 (-3%)
hairy vx said:
It would be interesting to compare the maintenance costs too.
I have all that detail too, but it makes it harder to compare things like-for-like.For example, a 2 year vs 3 year lease means no MOT needed. Some leasing companies required main dealer servicing, some were happy with any VAT registered garage that uses genuine parts.
jimmytheone said:
Is that a commercial app or your own presentation via excel?
I've used an app called Fuelio for about 15 years now to log all my fill ups and maintenance costs.I exported the data and put it into Claude to make this infographic.
I'm thinking about making my own app to do this sort of thing (but better).
mcaf123 said:
jimmytheone said:
Is that a commercial app or your own presentation via excel?
I've used an app called Fuelio for about 15 years now to log all my fill ups and maintenance costs.I exported the data and put it into Claude to make this infographic.
I'm thinking about making my own app to do this sort of thing (but better).
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