Electric van vs diesel: how to calculate total cost
In short
- Compare electric and diesel vans over your real holding period, for example five years, with your own kilometres and energy prices.
- Count vehicle, energy, charging infrastructure, maintenance, tax, insurance, tolls and resale value, minus THG quota income.
- Fully electric vans registered by the end of 2030 pay no vehicle tax for up to ten years, and those bought by the end of 2027 can be written off with 75% special depreciation in the first year.
- The answer often depends on one input, such as electricity price or annual kilometres. Test it before you decide.
Total cost of ownership (TCO) comparisons for electric vans often come with confident numbers. The honest answer is that the result depends on your routes, your energy prices and how long you keep your vehicles. What you can get right is the method.
Set the frame first
Pick a holding period that matches how you really run vans, for example five years. Use the kilometres a van drives in a normal year in your fleet rather than the maximum. Decide whether you compare purchase, leasing or both, and keep the same frame for diesel and electric.
The cost lines
- Vehicle: purchase price or lease payments, minus the expected resale value at the end.
- Energy: diesel per 100 km against electricity per 100 km, each at your real price.
- Charging infrastructure: chargers, installation, grid work and software, spread over their life and over the number of vans they serve.
- Maintenance and repairs: servicing, brakes, tyres and any battery warranty conditions.
- Vehicle tax and insurance.
- Tolls, where they apply to your vehicles.
- Income: THG quota payments for fully electric vehicles.
Energy is more than a price per kWh
Use consumption figures from your own vehicles or from fleets with similar routes, and include winter. Cold weather raises consumption, and heating the cab while driving uses battery energy.
For electricity, use the price you pay at the depot including grid fees, and add the demand charge. If charging raises your site’s annual peak, that cost belongs to the vans. Add a share of public or home charging at its real price if some vans charge away from the depot.
Taxes and fees that differ
Fully electric vehicles first registered between 18 May 2011 and 31 December 2030 are exempt from vehicle tax (Kfz-Steuer) for ten years, and at the latest until 31 December 2035. For a van registered in 2027, that covers most holding periods.
Goods vehicles above 3.5 tonnes pay the truck toll on motorways and federal roads. Most delivery vans are below that, but some heavier electric vans are not. Check the toll rules that apply to emission-free vehicles at the time you buy.
Fully electric vans bought for the business between 1 July 2025 and 31 December 2027 can also use special depreciation under §7 (2a) EStG: 75% in the first year, then 10%, 5%, 5%, 3% and 2%. That does not change the total cost, but it moves the tax effect forward, which matters for cash flow.
Count the vans, not only the cost per van
TCO is usually worked out per vehicle, but your real question is the cost of running your routes. If range or charging time means you need one spare van for every ten, include it. If smart charging lets every van be full by 6:00, you may not need it.
The same applies to driver time. A plan that sends drivers to public fast chargers during the shift costs working hours that will not appear in a vehicle comparison.
Infrastructure is shared and long-lived
Chargers and grid upgrades often last longer than the first vans. Spread their cost over a realistic life and over the number of vehicles they will serve as the fleet grows. If the first phase carries the full cost of a connection sized for later, the first vans will look more expensive than they are.
Test the result
Once you have a base case, change one input at a time and see what moves the answer. Typical candidates are electricity price, diesel price, annual kilometres, resale value and the THG quota payment. If a small change in one input flips the result, that is the number to research further before you decide.
A sensitivity table is also easier to discuss with finance than a single number. It shows under which conditions electric vans pay off for your fleet, and under which they do not yet.
Avoid common mistakes
- Using a list price for diesel and a discounted lease for electric, or the other way round.
- Leaving out the demand charge or the grid connection.
- Using summer consumption figures for the whole year.
- Assuming a THG payment level that is not guaranteed in your provider contract.
How jump.ac helps
We work through this method with your own route and energy data, and after rollout our reports show what each van costs to charge, so the comparison can be checked against real numbers.
Sources
- Bundesfernstraßenmautgesetz § 1: gesetze-im-internet.de/bfstrmg/__1.html
- Umweltbundesamt, THG quota for electric vehicles: umweltbundesamt.de/themen/verkehr/kraftstoffe-antriebe/vollzug-38-bimschv-anrechnung-von-strom-fuer
- StromNEV § 17: gesetze-im-internet.de/stromnev/__17.html
- EStG § 7 (special depreciation for electric vehicles): gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__7.html
Source: Kraftfahrzeugsteuergesetz § 3d, tax exemption for electric vehicles
