Services
Insurance
Loans
Repairs
Advice
About

How do you calculate the mileage of electric car?

My friend and I are comparing our vehicles. He swears electric is better, but my truck is pretty fuel efficient. I do a lot of driving, so mileage is important to me before I buy a new vehicle. How do you calculate the mileage of electric car?

avatar
Bellina Gaskey · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
Great question! According to recent data, only 1% of the boomer population is likely to be behind the wheel of an electric car.
If you’re a big math person, stick around. We’ll get into the nitty gritty of calculations. If you slept through math class more often than not, never fear. There are plenty of websites online to calculate EV mileage. If your friend drives a Tesla, they can check the car’s diagnostic features to get a picture of his mileage. You can compare this to your
gas mileage
very easily.
If they don’t have a Tesla, no worries. The way we calculate mileage in an electric vehicle is the same as in a gas vehicle. We take the distance travelled and divide it by the volume of fuel used. The calculation in gas cars is Miles Per Gallon (MPG)= Distance (D) / Volume of gas used (V)
Because we’re dealing in electricity, we’ll switch it up a little. Instead of MPG, we’re dealing with kilowatt-hours, and the volume of fuel used is the amount of energy the battery expended. So the calculation is Miles Per Kilowatt-hour (Mi/kWh)= Distance (D) / Energy used (E)
For example, if you drove 200 miles and used 60 kWh, your mileage is 3.3 Mi/kWh.
If you want to know the average power the vehicle is using during the trip, we need one more number- the time you spent driving. The calculation here is average power (Pavg)= Energy used (E) / Time the trip takes (T).
For example, if you drove 200 miles, used 60 kWh, and spent 4 hours actively driving, the average power is 15 kW.
Whether your car runs on gasoline or electric power you always need insurance.
Jerry
, the number one car insurance comparison app will help you find the best rates.
View full answer 
WHY YOU CAN TRUST JERRY
Jerry partners with more than 50 insurance companies, but our content is independently researched, written, and fact-checked by our team of editors and agents. We aren’t paid for reviews or other content.

Join 4M+ members in lowering their car insurance

Easiest way to compare and buy car insurance

√
No long forms
√
No spam or unwanted phone calls
√
Quotes from top insurance companies
Find insurance savings