The questions American buyers are actually asking
Short, honest answers. Every figure here matches the defaults in the calculator above.
Is an EV still worth it now the federal credit is gone?
Sometimes — and the honest answer is that it now depends on your state more than on the car. The $7,500 new-vehicle credit and the $4,000 used credit both expired on 30 September 2025, and the $1,000 home charger credit followed on 30 June 2026. What is left is running costs and resale. Electricity beats gasoline per mile in almost every state, but depreciation is usually the largest single line in the comparison, and it currently runs against electric cars. Set your state, set your mileage, and look at the five-year total rather than the monthly fuel saving.
How much does my state actually change the result?
More than any other input. The spread on residential electricity is a factor of four, from 13.11¢/kWh in Nevada to 52.72¢ in Hawaii. Gasoline spans $2.16 a gallon between Texas and California. A driver in Washington state — cheap power at 14.91¢, expensive fuel at $5.57 — gets a very different answer from one in Michigan, where power is 22.99¢ and fuel $4.89. That is why this tool has no national default worth using.
What is the EV registration surcharge, and why does it matter?
It is an annual fee most states now charge electric vehicles to replace the fuel tax they no longer pay. It ranges from nothing in twelve jurisdictions to $273.59 in Georgia, with $100–$200 typical. Over five years in Georgia that is $1,368 — real money, and it is missing from most EV savings calculators. Here it is applied to the electric side whenever you pick a state. A handful of states also charge non-plug-in hybrids; those are not modelled, which understates hybrid cost slightly rather than flattering the EV.
Do EVs really cost half as much to maintain?
No, and the gap is smaller than almost everyone repeats. AAA's 2026 figures — which include tyres, unlike most comparisons — put a compact SUV EV at $1,402 a year against $1,954 for the gasoline equivalent. That is about 28% less, not 50%. In the medium SUV class the gap narrows to roughly 2%. And in the pickup segment the hybrid is cheapest of all, at $1,539 against the EV's $1,618. The widely quoted "50% less" figure traces to a 2020 study whose high-mileage sample was 55 electric vehicles, mostly early Leafs and Model S. Tyres matter here: EVs are heavier and wear them faster, which offsets part of the servicing saving.
How much does charging at home versus in public change things?
It is the second biggest lever after your state. The national average residential rate is 18.34¢/kWh. Public DC fast charging averages around 61¢/kWh on Electrify America and 64¢ on EVgo — more than three times the price of charging at home. If you have no driveway and no workplace charger, run the "mostly public charging" profile before you decide anything. That scenario is where an EV most often loses on running costs alone, and no brochure will show it to you.
How fast do electric cars depreciate?
Faster than hybrids, on the best evidence available. iSeeCars analysed roughly 950,000 five-year-old vehicles actually sold between March 2025 and February 2026 and found electric vehicles lost 57.2% of their value, against 35.4% for hybrids and 41.8% across all vehicles. Toyota's hybrids are the strongest mainstream performers — the RAV4 lost just 25.2% over five years, ninth best of any vehicle. Large luxury EVs are the worst: the BMW i7 retained 27.9% and the Mercedes EQS 29.4%. This is transaction evidence rather than asking prices, which makes it firmer than most published depreciation figures, but it measures a 2020–21 cohort and is not a forecast.
I keep reading that used EV prices are rising. Which is it?
Both, and they are measuring different things. The 57.2% figure is what a five-year-old electric car lost against its original sticker. Separately, 2026 has seen used EV prices strengthen: Manheim's wholesale EV index was up 5.0% year-on-year in mid-August while the non-EV index fell 1.4%, and Cox put used EV listing prices up 8.2% year-on-year in August. But the same data shows it cooling — listing prices slipped 1.0% month-on-month, the EV index fell 4.2% from July, and off-lease supply is arriving. High gasoline prices are propping up demand. Treat the recent strength as a market condition, not a change in how electric cars depreciate.
What about the auto loan interest deduction?
It survives, but it is worth far less than the headline suggests, and it is not included in the totals here. The cap is $10,000 of deductible interest per year, not $10,000 of benefit — reaching it needs a loan near $140,000. It also phases out from $100,000 of modified AGI ($200,000 joint) and disappears entirely at $150,000 ($250,000 joint), which excludes the 32%, 35% and 37% brackets by definition. On a typical $45,000 loan at 7.2% the first-year saving is roughly $670. It applies only to new, US-assembled vehicles bought with a loan, and you must report the VIN on your return. Cash buyers, lease customers and used buyers get nothing. See our federal incentives guide for the full rules.
Why does the calculator not just add up fuel savings?
Because that is the easy half, and it is usually the smaller half. This tool reports economic ownership cost — depreciation plus running costs plus financing — and it never adds the purchase price and depreciation together, which would count the same capital twice. A car that loses $18,000 of value in three years can erase a decade of fuel savings. If a comparison does not show you depreciation, it is not showing you the answer.
Are the resale figures guaranteed?
No. They are scenarios, not appraisals or forecasts. No adjustment has been made for mileage, condition, trim, colour or how long a listing sits. The conservative case assumes continued pressure on electric residuals; the optimistic case assumes the 2026 firming holds. Change the retained-value percentage in the advanced panel to whatever you actually believe — it is editable on purpose, and the result moves a long way when you do.
Where these numbers come from
Every default carries a source, a retrieval date and a confidence level. The full list is in the transparency panel above.
Electricity rates are EIA Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A, June 2026 data. Gasoline prices are AAA state averages dated 18 September 2026. Vehicle efficiency is EPA combined, taken from the 2026 Fuel Economy Guide — note that EPA measures electric consumption at the wall, so charging losses are already included and are not added again here. Maintenance is AAA Your Driving Costs 2026, by powertrain and segment, with tyres included. Depreciation is the iSeeCars March 2026 transaction study. State EV surcharges are the Tax Foundation's July 2026 compilation, with Georgia and Pennsylvania confirmed against primary state sources.
Where sources disagree, this calculator does not average them. Kansas is a live example: two compilations of record give $135 and $165 for the same fee, so the lower figure is applied and the discrepancy is flagged on screen rather than hidden.
Other markets
The same calculation engine, with each country's own prices, tariffs and assumptions.
See the EV vs hybrid calculator hub for the method, what is included and excluded, and which markets are live. Thailand is also available. Looking for incentives rather than running costs? The US incentives section covers what survived the federal expiry, state by state, and the incentive finder tells you what you can actually claim.