Electric car or ICE car? Many parameters can tip the scales which of the two is right for you - including, of course, operating costs. Verivox tried to find out whether and how the costs of charging electricity differ compared to the costs of gasoline and diesel when charging a car with an internal combustion engine and which is more profitable.
If you can charge at home, you can save
The Verivox portal definitely came to the conclusion that, based on prices in 2024, the costs of charging electric cars are significantly lower than the comparable fuel costs of cars with internal combustion engines. But only on one condition - that you can charge the car at home using a wallbox.
Then the average electricity cost will be 47 percent lower than the money you need for gasoline. And in the example calculation for diesel cars, charging electric cars at home still comes out 38 percent cheaper.
The estimate is based on the electricity consumption of a modern electric car of 20 kWh per 100 kilometers. Some modern electric vehicles now consume significantly less, but large electric SUVs consume more - so an average indicator is sought.
However, the price advantage goes "to hell" with public charging stations
The catch: If you can't charge at home, you have to dig deeper into your pockets. When charging at public charging stations, the picture is not at all rosy. When charging normally at a slow charging station, the price advantage compared to petrol is 15 percent, and compared to diesel - only 4 percent.
But when charging at more expensive public fast chargers, the portal found that it is more expensive for you to charge an electric car than a petrol and diesel car. It is fast, but not faster than charging an internal combustion engine car at a petrol station.
The conclusion:
With your own wall box charger at home, you can save on the costs of driving an electric car compared to cars with internal combustion engines. But those who often rely on public charging stations do not have any price advantage.
*Verivox specifies that the average prices of gasoline and diesel are taken from ADAC, and the average price of electricity for households is collected using the Verivox consumer price index for electricity. And the provider Lichtblick provides the average prices of charging stations in 2024.