Vehicle EconomicsElectricity Price Break-Even vs Gas
How high would a flat electricity rate need to go before your EV loses its cost advantage?
Why this comes up
Real electricity rates blend home and public charging at two very different prices, which makes a single "what if electricity cost X" question awkward to ask directly. A single flat-rate threshold sidesteps that by asking a simpler version: how expensive would electricity need to be, uniformly across every charge, before the EV stops being the cheaper option. It's a useful sanity check precisely because it's a worse case than most real charging mixes, if the EV still wins at a punishing flat rate, your actual blended rate is very unlikely to be the thing that changes the answer.
How we calculated this
The EV's energy cost is recomputed at a trial flat rate, applied as both the home and public rate, searching for the rate where the EV ties the gas car's total cost over your chosen horizon. Every other input, including both vehicles' prices, financing, and operating costs, stays fixed while the search runs.
Worked example, using this page's own defaults: the EV loses its advantage once electricity reaches about $0.37/kWh flat, well above most real utility rates, so the EV is comfortably ahead at typical prices.
What this means
- Real-world blended rates (part home, part public) are usually far below an all-public rate, so this single-rate threshold is a conservative check, a comfortable margin here means an even more comfortable margin at your real charging mix.
- If your actual blended rate is close to this threshold, your real home/public charging mix matters more than usual, see Public vs Home Charging Cost to size that mix directly.
- Run EV vs Gas Cost Calculator with your actual home and public rates for the full decision once you've confirmed this flat-rate check is comfortable.
Limitations
Reports no solution if no rate from $0-$2/kWh ties the two options, meaning one vehicle wins regardless of realistic electricity prices. Depreciation is a flat planning estimate, not a forecast, for both vehicles. See Methodology.
Methodology
This engine combines Vehicle Economics' fixed-rate amortization model (the standard loan-payment formula run out as a full month-by-month schedule), equity and depreciation projection model (your value and loan payoff projected forward from your own depreciation figure until they cross), ownership total cost model (every ownership cost, depreciation, financing, fuel, insurance, maintenance, repairs, and fees, summed over your horizon), fuel and charging cost model (your own miles, MPG or kWh, and rates converted directly to a dollar cost), and break-even search model (a closed-form solve where one exists, otherwise a bounded search over a stated plausible range). See Methodology for the full detail.