Electric vehicles (EVs) cut out the need for gasoline and remove the tailpipe emissions that an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle produces. However, just because you don’t need to fill up your Tesla Model 3, Nissan LEAF, or Lucid Air, doesn’t mean that your EV is cheaper to run than their gas-powered counterparts. Incidentally, recent driver data from the UK suggests that it may be twice as expensive to run electric cars than gas-powered vehicles.

UK driver data suggests that electric cars could cost twice as much per mile to run than diesel and gas-powered vehicles

Sure, gas prices are high. Cutting the petrol out of the equation has never been more tempting. However, charging and running electric cars could be expensive in other capacities. According to data from the smartphone application ZapMap, the running costs for a modern EV are around 24 pence (roughly 32 cents) per mile.

That same data, collected from UK-based motorists, suggests that a comparable diesel ride averages around 12.5 pence per mile (about 17 cents). Furthermore, a common gas-powered car in the UK costs around 14.5 pence per mile (roughly 19 cents), per Yahoo! Finance. 

Of course, the typical road-going vehicle in the UK is smaller, lighter, and more efficient than the common American vehicle. That said, the average price per liter (PPL) in the UK is around £1.42 (about $1.90) for gasoline and £1.47 (roughly $1.96) for diesel. That means British motorists are paying around $7.19 per gallon of unleaded fuel. Ouch. Consequently, the smaller, more efficient cars make sense when you look at that eye-watering figure.

Moreover, the data suggests recharging with fast-charging technology may push running costs to around 24 pence per mile. However, slower chargers can drop that figure to around 16.4 pence, or 21 cents. 

Of course, this driver data is indicative of electric car ownership in the UK. The figures would likely be quite different with driver data from American motorists.