Guide · Costs
Is an electric car worth it in Switzerland? Three figures decide
The short answer: for anyone who can charge at home, mostly yes. At 12’000 kilometres a year, electricity at home costs CHF 557, the fuel for a petrol car of the same size CHF 1’635. Whether it pays off for you depends on three things: where you charge, how much you drive and in which canton the car is registered. The calculator in the My EV tab works it out with your own figures.
What do 100 km in an electric car really cost?
At 18 kWh per 100 kilometres, energy at home costs CHF 4.64 excluding VAT, calculated with the official household tariff of 25,79 centimes per kilowatt hour. At a fast charger it is CHF 13.59 at the median price of the roaming networks, between CHF 11.70 and CHF 21.42 depending on the network. A petrol car using 6,8 litres needs CHF 13.63 for the same distance with unleaded 95 at CHF 2.00. Charged at home, the distance therefore costs about a third of the petrol, at a fast charger roughly the same.
Electricity costs: where you charge
Calculated with 18 kWh per 100 kilometres and the official household tariff (profile H5, net, plus VAT), energy at home costs CHF 557 a year. Anyone who charges only at fast chargers pays CHF 1’631. A petrol car using 6,8 litres per 100 kilometres needs fuel for CHF 1’635 at CHF 2.00 for unleaded 95. Charging at home therefore leaves CHF 1’078 a year.
When does the calculation tip? Only at an electricity price of 75,7 centimes per kilowatt hour does energy cost as much as for the petrol car. How prices at public chargers are made up is explained in the article on the EV without a wallbox and in the Charging tab.
How big does a solar system need to be to charge an electric car?
For 12’000 kilometres a year the car needs 2’160 kilowatt hours. A roof system with a 30-degree tilt delivers 1’145 kilowatt hours per kilowatt of peak output in Zurich, calculated with the European Commission’s PVGIS. On paper, 1,9 kWp is enough, which is 5 modules of 400 watts. That is the total over a year: in winter the same system delivers considerably less, and solar power only reaches the car if it is plugged into the wallbox during the day. What the system produces while the car is away goes into the grid and is paid at the feed-in tariff.
Driving profile: how much you drive
The energy advantage grows with every kilometre, because electricity and petrol are both paid per kilometre. Drive twice as much and, at the same prices, you save twice as much; drive little and it takes longer to recover a higher purchase price. For range, what counts is the longest trip you make regularly, not the average. Measured real-world values for individual models are in the vehicle reports.
Tax: where the car is registered
Road tax is levied by the cantons, and for electric cars it varies widely. For the same vehicle you pay CHF 540 over six years in Graubünden and CHF 2’144 in St. Gallen, a factor of 4,0. The rates of all cantons analysed, and why a used car can cost more than a new one, are in the article on road tax.
Depreciation and battery
For many cars, depreciation is the largest item over the holding period. How it develops depending on when you buy is calculated in the article on depreciation, and the Used or new tab sets a young used car against a new one. The battery is covered by the warranty: ten of fifteen brands in the plug-in market name eight years or 160’000 kilometres and a remaining capacity of 70 per cent. The line for your brand is in the article on the battery warranty.
Common mistakes
- Comparing only the purchase price. Energy, tax and depreciation arise every year and often reverse the calculation. Which models exist in which price band is shown on the page Cheap electric cars. What a kilometre of range costs is worked out in the article Electric car price and range.
- Calculating with the wrong charging price. Between home charging and fast charging only there are CHF 1’074 a year at 12’000 kilometres.
- Taking the brochure range for winter. It applies to one variant under standard conditions.
- Reading the warranty from the brochure. Duration, kilometre limit and remaining capacity are in the terms of the Swiss importer.
- Forgetting your own canton. Over the holding period, road tax can amount to more than an equipment package.
Now calculate with your own data
The calculator in the My EV tab asks for your driving profile, where you charge and your current car. It tells you whether charging and driving profile match, what the electric car costs net over the holding period and whether a young used car comes out cheaper. All items with the calculation are in the Total cost tab, the order of the buying decision in the article Buying an electric car in Switzerland.
What we do not know
- What a dealer offers you for a specific car. No open source records discounts and promotions.
- What your insurance costs. Premiums depend on person, place of residence and vehicle, and there is no open tariff source.
- How far your car gets in winter. We have no dated series of measurements with a source for it.
Sources: household tariff: ElCom tariff data 2026 via LINDAS, profile H5. Charging prices: Swisscharge, «Charging Prices at Swisscharge», as of January 2026, retrieved on 11.09.2026. Fuel: machelo, daily average of confirmed price reports, unleaded 95 at CHF 2.00 on 09.10.2026. Road tax: the cantonal acts, analysed in the article on road tax. Warranty terms: the documents of the Swiss importers in batteriegarantie.json ↗.
Transparency: the annual amounts are calculated, not surveyed, i.e. consumption times price without charging losses and without start, idle and monthly fees. Kilometres and consumption are the same assumptions as in the «Total cost» tab. Every figure in this article is recalculated and searched for in the text automatically on every change, in all four languages.
