NEV Owner Guide

EV vs Petrol Cost per 100 km: Australia, UK, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore (2026)

Published 2026-10-06 · Updated 2026-10-06

EV vs Petrol Cost per 100 km in Five Countries

"Is an electric car cheaper to run?" has a different answer in Sydney, Manchester, Munich, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, because electricity and fuel prices differ so much. This page puts the same two cars through each country's current prices so you can see the pattern, then shows how to run the numbers for your own situation.

Figures checked on 6 October 2026. Fuel prices in particular have been volatile this year. Treat these as a snapshot and use the charging cost calculator with today's prices.

The two example cars

  • EV: 16.0 kWh per 100 km. That's about the official WLTP efficiency of the MG4 EV Long Range, rated at 3.88 miles per kWh in MG's UK brochure (MG4 brochure). Larger EVs use more.
  • Petrol car: 7.0 litres per 100 km. This is an example figure we chose for a typical small-to-medium petrol car, not a specific model.

Cost per 100 km = consumption × price. Charging losses, standing charges and supply charges are left out, so real EV costs are a little higher.

The prices

Country Home electricity Public fast charging Petrol
Australia A$0.3314/kWh, DMO cap, Ausgrid area (DMO) A$0.69/kWh at many NRMA sites (NRMA) A$2.273/L national average ULP, week to 20 Sep (ABC, AIP data)
UK £0.2632/kWh price cap (Ofgem) £0.77/kWh rapid average, Aug 2026 (Zapmap) £1.7346/L unleaded, week of 28 Sep (DESNZ)
Germany €0.37/kWh average household (BDEW) No official average; EnBW lists €0.56–0.89 (EnBW) €2.266/L E10, Sep average (ADAC)
Malaysia RM0.4443/kWh TNB domestic up to 1,500 kWh a month, energy + capacity + network charges (TNB schedule) RM1.40/kWh, Gentari at selected sites (SoyaCincau) RON95 RM1.99/L (BUDI95) or RM4.52/L unsubsidised (MOF)
Singapore S$0.2859/kWh, Q4 2026; about S$0.3116 with 9% GST, our calculation (Straits Times) No official average found No official source found

Cost per 100 km

Country EV at home EV on public fast chargers Petrol car
Australia A$5.30 A$11.04 A$15.91
UK £4.21 (off-peak ~8.5p: £1.36) £12.32 £12.14
Germany €5.92 €8.96–14.24 €15.86
Malaysia RM7.11 RM22.40 RM13.93 (BUDI95) / RM31.64 (unsubsidised)
Singapore S$4.99 enter your own enter your own

Our calculations from the prices above. The UK off-peak rate is Zapmap's reported typical off-peak EV tariff (Zapmap).

What the numbers say

Home charging wins everywhere we could compare. In Australia, the UK and Germany, charging at home costs roughly a third of the petrol car per 100 km, and on a UK off-peak EV tariff it's around a ninth.

Public fast charging narrows or erases the gap. In the UK, rapid charging at 77p/kWh costs about the same per 100 km as the petrol car. In Germany, the EnBW example range spans from well below petrol to nearly the same. In Australia, NRMA's 69c/kWh is still cheaper than petrol for this pair of cars.

Malaysia depends on who's buying the fuel. For drivers eligible for the BUDI95 price of RM1.99/L, the petrol car costs less than fast charging and about twice as much as home charging. At the unsubsidised RM4.52/L, petrol costs over four times as much as home charging. Note that the Gentari price is a reduced price at selected locations, reported by a tech news site, not a national average. For the full picture of owning an EV there, see our Malaysia EV ownership costs guide.

Singapore: home charging is about S$5 per 100 km, but the comparison needs your own numbers. We couldn't find an official source for current pump prices or an average public charging price, so enter local prices yourself. Whether you can charge at home at all matters more than the tariff. Our Singapore EV ownership costs guide covers road tax and upfront costs.

A monthly example: 1,000 km, mostly home charging

Most owners don't charge in only one place. Here's a driver covering 1,000 km a month, charging at home 80% of the time and at public fast chargers for the rest. For Germany we used the lowest EnBW price in the range, €0.56/kWh.

Country EV, 80% home / 20% public Petrol car, 7.0 L/100 km Monthly difference
Australia A$64.50 A$159.11 A$94.61
UK £58.33 £121.42 £63.09
Germany €65.28 €158.62 €93.34
Malaysia RM101.67 RM139.30 (BUDI95) / RM316.40 (unsubsidised) RM37.63 / RM214.73

Our calculations from the prices above: 160 kWh a month, 128 kWh at home and 32 kWh public.

Even with one fast charge in five, the EV costs less than half as much to fuel in Australia, the UK and Germany. In Malaysia, the subsidised petrol price narrows the gap to under RM40 a month, which is why the public charging share matters most there.

Things that change the answer

  • Your real consumption. WLTP figures are optimistic, especially at highway speeds. Winter can add a lot; see why EV range drops in winter.
  • Your home/public split. Someone who charges at home 90% of the time pays close to the home figure. Someone with no driveway may pay close to the public figure.
  • Your tariff. Time-of-use and EV tariffs can be far below the default caps used here.
  • Fixed charges. Supply charges and standing charges exist whether you own an EV or not, so we've left them out.

Run your own comparison

Open the EV charging cost calculator, choose your country to load example prices, then replace every figure with your own: consumption, tariff, public charging share and price, and your petrol car's fuel use and pump price. It shows cost per 100 km and per month for both.

Sources

Sources