The headline reason people consider an electric car is running cost, and on the day-to-day numbers an EV genuinely tends to win, especially if you can charge at home. But fuel is only one line of the comparison, and an honest look at how the two stack up has to take in servicing, the caveats around charging, and the bigger costs of owning the car at all.
Energy versus fuel, per mile
This is where the EV pulls ahead. As the home charging guide sets out, an electric car charged on an off-peak overnight tariff can cost only a few pence a mile in energy, a level petrol simply cannot reach, because each mile of petrol is several times dearer than the equivalent cheap-rate electricity. Even on a standard electricity tariff the EV usually costs less per mile than a comparable petrol car. The size of the win depends heavily on your tariff, so the off-peak charging is the lever that turns a modest saving into a large one.
Servicing and maintenance
An electric car has far fewer moving parts than a petrol one: no oil changes, no exhaust, no clutch, far less to wear out, and regenerative braking even spares the brake pads. That generally means lower routine servicing and maintenance costs over the years. Petrol cars have a long, familiar list of consumables and services that quietly add up, and the EV sidesteps most of it.
The caveats
The day-to-day savings come with conditions worth stating plainly. If you cannot charge at home and rely on public rapid chargers, the per-mile cost rises sharply and can approach petrol, eroding the main advantage. Electric cars also tend to cost more to buy upfront, and depreciation and battery longevity are part of the lifetime sum, not just the energy. So the running-cost win is real but it sits inside a bigger picture that includes the purchase price and how you will charge.
The total picture
Put together, an electric car driven by someone who charges at home, especially off-peak, usually costs noticeably less to run and maintain than an equivalent petrol car, and the fuel saving is the clearest single advantage of going electric. Whether that adds up to a better overall deal depends on the upfront cost, how long you keep the car, and your charging situation. If you still run petrol, the habits on the hypermiling page remain the way to trim its thirst; if you go electric, charging at the right time is the equivalent skill.
The bottom line
On running costs, the electric car generally wins: cheaper energy per mile, especially on an off-peak home tariff, and lower servicing thanks to far fewer moving parts. The caveats are upfront price, depreciation, and the fact that relying on public rapid charging undercuts the fuel saving. Decide on the whole-life cost and your charging reality, not the per-mile figure alone, but that per-mile figure is firmly in the EV's favour. If you are not ready to go fully electric, the plug-in hybrid running cost guide weighs up the half-way option, which is cheap only if you actually plug it in.