Decision Studio
Gas, hybrid or electric?
What will each car cost over the years you keep it? Compare purchase price, running costs and resale using your own quotes.
Over 8 years · CAD · Your assumptions
Electric costs $6,722 less than the next option.
Purchase minus resale + fuel or electricity + routine maintenance + insurance. Optional battery savings are shown separately below.
Where the money goes
All amounts cover the full 8 years, except the monthly average.
| Cost | Gas | Hybrid | Electric |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase minus resale¹ | $25,000 | $28,000 | $31,000 |
| Fuel / electricity | $15,360 | $9,600 | $3,200 |
| Routine maintenance | $10,167 | $9,462 | $6,140 |
| Insurance | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total ownership cost | $50,527 | $47,062 | $40,340 |
| Monthly average² | $526 | $490 | $420 |
| Optional savings · separate from spending | |||
| Battery savings allowance | $0 | $2,520 | $7,560 |
| Cost + savings allowance | $50,527 | $49,582 | $47,900 |
Insurance is set to zero for Gas, Hybrid, Electric. Add your annual quotes to include it.
¹ All-in price − confirmed rebates + EV charger installation − net resale.
² Total ownership cost ÷ 96 months. This is an average after resale, not a monthly payment.
Battery allowance = replacement budget ÷ funding years × 8 years. Edit maintenance and optional savings.
Cash-purchase comparison. Prices and annual bills stay fixed; financing, investment returns and inflation are excluded.
Yearly chart & export
Ownership costs after an illustrative resale each year, excluding the optional battery savings. Intermediate resale follows a straight line to your final estimate.
| Year | Gas | Hybrid | Electric |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $6,316 | $5,883 | $5,043 |
| 2 | $12,632 | $11,766 | $10,085 |
| 3 | $18,948 | $17,648 | $15,128 |
| 4 | $25,263 | $23,531 | $20,170 |
| 5 | $31,579 | $29,414 | $25,213 |
| 6 | $37,895 | $35,297 | $30,255 |
| 7 | $44,211 | $41,179 | $35,298 |
| 8 | $50,527 | $47,062 | $40,340 |
How it works & sources
Ownership cost = tax-inclusive cash purchase price minus confirmed rebates + charging setup + energy + scheduled maintenance + insurance − net resale proceeds. Monthly average = ownership cost divided by comparison months; it is not a financing payment.
Total planning cost = ownership cost + the optional battery savings allowance. The allowance is shown separately because it is not an actual repair bill. Yearly planning projections include that allowance.
Hybrid means a conventional, non-plug-in hybrid. Electricity per kilometre = usable battery kWh / range per full charge / charging efficiency. Enter usable capacity (not gross advertised capacity); range and capacity must describe the same car and conditions. Charging efficiency adds wall-to-battery losses once. Home/public charging shares produce a weighted electricity price.
All cars cover the same annual kilometres, with no mileage cap. Intermediate resale values follow an illustrative straight line to your end-of-duration estimate; they are not market forecasts.
This is a cash-purchase cost comparison. Financing, invested savings, inflation, unscheduled repairs beyond entered maintenance, emissions and charging convenience are excluded. Energy prices and annual costs stay constant. Enter confirmed incentives only. Battery reserve = replacement cost / funding years, added each year as a conservative planning allowance, not an actual repair charge or failure probability. Set battery cost to zero to exclude it. Warranty-covered replacements should not be budgeted as out-of-pocket costs. Routine maintenance must exclude these separately entered high-voltage battery reserves. Historical maintenance presets are US benchmarks, not current local quotes; amounts stay fixed until edited or reloaded.
Routine-maintenance presets: Argonne’s 2021 report, Figure 3.28: US$0.101/mile for gas, $0.094 for conventional hybrids and $0.061 for electric. Annual km ÷ 1.609344 × rate × editable currency multiplier. These historical US benchmarks are not current local quotes.
Battery budget references: 2025 Prius repair-shop guide and Recurrent’s December 2024 EV research. Hybrid US$3,500 and EV US$10,500 (midpoint of $5,000–16,000) are example budgets, multiplied by an illustrative 1.35. The 15-year funding periods are chosen savings horizons, not battery life or failure forecasts.
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