Total cost
Registration figures from the original auto-schweiz Excel files, analysed by us. As of 2026-08-31.
This page is the reading version. Calculators, filters and charts on this topic are on the home page, in the section of the same name. To the section on the home page →
Total cost of ownership: what a car really costs over the years you keep it
Two vehicles side by side, block by block, per year and per kilometre. Every line says where its figure comes from: measured, documented, set by us, or entered by you.
- The largest block is almost always depreciation, not fuel. It decides the comparison — and for it there is no freely available Swiss data series.
- What we measure are the energy prices: electricity from the ElCom tariffs, petrol and diesel from the TCS. Insurance, road tax, servicing and tyres depend on the person, the place of residence and the model — those you enter yourself.
- That is why the top of the page states what share of the total stands on a named source. It comes out low. A total-cost calculation that keeps quiet about this looks exactly like one that rests on measurements.
The calculator
Enter the two vehicles you are actually weighing against each other — the defaults are an example, not a recommendation.
At this point there is a calculator in the section of the same name on the home page. It works there because it needs JavaScript — here there would only be an input field you can type into without anything happening.
At this point there is a calculator in the section of the same name on the home page. It works there because it needs JavaScript — here there would only be an input field you can type into without anything happening.
At this point there is a calculator in the section of the same name on the home page. It works there because it needs JavaScript — here there would only be an input field you can type into without anything happening.
These blocks depend on the person, the place of residence and the model. We set no default: an invented premium would sit in the result in the same place as a measured price and would look exactly like one. What you leave empty is missing from the table — as a line, not as a zero. A zero claims that nothing accrues; that is a different statement from «not included».
The result
Over 6 years the Electric is cheaper by CHF 2’630 — CHF 438 a year.
| Cost block | Electric | Combustion | Difference | Where the figure comes from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Depreciation* | CHF 3’517 | CHF 3’078 | −440 | assumption |
| Energy | CHF 738 | CHF 1’616 | +878 | measured |
| Total per year | CHF 4’255 | CHF 4’693 | +438 | |
| Total over the holding period | CHF 25’530 | CHF 28’160 | +2’630 | |
| Cost per kilometre | CHF 0.35 | CHF 0.39 |
Of the electric total, 17 % stands on a named source, for the combustion car 34 %. The rest is our residual-value curve and what you entered.
* Set by us, not measured: Depreciation. The calculation is stated below each field.
Not included These blocks were left empty and are missing from the total: Insurance, Road tax, Servicing and wear, Tyres. That is not the same as zero francs — the total is correspondingly too low.
Calculated with 12’000 km a year over 6 years, home electricity 25,68 centimes per kWh (ElCom profile H5, tariff year 2026), Petrol CHF 1.98 per litre (TCS, 19.09.2026), 80 % charged at home. Residual value at the end: 47 % for the electric car, 47 % for the combustion car.
Why depreciation decides the comparison
On a newly bought vehicle it is the largest item — and the only large one for which we have no Swiss series.
The curve we calculate with is a rule of thumb: a fifth in the first year, then a tenth of the previous year’s value each year. It stands openly in src/tco_regel.js, applies equally to both drivetrains, and you can override it in the calculator. Because the big drop falls entirely in the first year, the age at purchase affects the residual value only between zero and one year: from the first year on the curve is even, and a three-year-old and a five-year-old car lose the same share over the same holding period. On the cantonal tax the age keeps mattering, because the rebates are time-limited.
The same curve for both drivetrains, and that is a decision. There are indications that electric cars depreciate differently from combustion cars. A Swiss series from which the difference could be quantified does not exist — dependable used-car values for individual models sit behind paywalls at Autovista/Eurotax and AutoScout24. Two different curves would therefore not be more accurate, they would be invented; and the invented figure would sit exactly where you read off the comparison.
What is measured, what is set and what comes from you
Four origins, and every line of the table carries its own.
- measured — a series we collect ourselves and update daily: the ElCom electricity tariffs and the TCS fuel prices.
- documented — a published figure from elsewhere that we do not collect: the e-levy tariff from the Federal Council’s consultation draft, and the cantonal road tax from the chosen canton’s legislation.
- assumption — set by us, direction documented, size not: the residual-value curve and the approximation for tied-up capital.
- your entry — insurance, servicing and tyres, and the road tax outside the transcribed cantons. We know nothing about them and therefore claim nothing.
The figure at the top adds the first two together. That it comes out low is not a shortcoming of this page but a statement about the subject: the largest block of a total-cost calculation cannot be documented freely in Switzerland.
The cantonal road tax: seven cantons calculated, 19 open
It ranges from full exemption to over 900 francs a year — in several cantons more than the entire energy-cost difference.
Every canton assesses motor vehicle tax differently: by cubic capacity, gross weight, power output or emissions, many with their own rebate or a time-limited exemption for electric cars. The rules are not available as a dataset but as 26 pieces of legislation. For Grisons, Zurich, Lucerne, Bern, Zug, Aargau and St. Gallen we have transcribed the tariff in force: pick the canton of registration above and enter the figures it requires — the calculator then inserts the tax as a sourced number, with the legislation, the tariff date and what changes over the holding period when a rebate expires. For the remaining 19 cantons it stays an input field. The clock runs from first registration, not from purchase: the rebate is attached to the vehicle, not to the holder, and a change of holder does not reset it. Like the whole tab, the calculator therefore assumes a new car — on a used one the remaining rebate is smaller, and on a car over four years old it is gone entirely in Zurich, Bern and St. Gallen. The objection to copied tables has not gone away; it has been tied to a condition: a monthly run holds every tariff against the canton’s official page, and a canton without that counter-check does not go in.
What this calculation cannot do
Five things that are missing — named rather than left out.
- No model prices. You enter the purchase price and the consumption; we hold no price list and no consumption figures per trim level.
- No financing. Leasing, subscription and rental work differently — that is what the tab «Leasing or rental» is for. This one is about buying.
- No tax effect for company vehicles, no input tax, no private share. That is the tab «Fleet».
- No battery ageing in the residual value. A dependable residual value requires a measured battery condition; what we hold of that is a single vehicle (gap lg25).
- No wallbox. Installation and any rewiring depend on the property and vary by more than a default could represent.
The calculation, line by line
- Depreciation = (purchase price − residual value at the end) ÷ years kept. The residual value is either your figure or our curve: 80 % after one year, then 90 % of the previous year’s value each year.
- Energy electric = km ÷ 100 × kWh/100 km × blended price. The blended price is the home tariff and the fast-charging price, weighted by the share you charge at home.
- Energy combustion = km ÷ 100 × litres/100 km × price per litre. The mineral oil tax is inside the price per litre and is not counted again.
- e-levy under the consultation draft, mileage variant: a tariff per kilometre, at the full rate for battery vehicles. It is not enacted and can therefore be switched off.
- Interest = (purchase price + residual value) ÷ 2 × rate. Over the holding period the tied-up capital falls from the purchase price to the residual value; the calculation uses the mean.
- Per kilometre = total per year ÷ kilometres per year. All blocks, not just energy — that is the difference from the figures usually given that name.
Whether switching from your current car is worth it is calculated as a difference by «My electric car». Whether used or new is cheaper has its own tab. And if you are not buying but leasing or renting, «Leasing or rental» is the right calculation — there the total counts, not the monthly instalment.
Sources: electricity tariffs ElCom (profile H5, household with an electric car), fuel prices TCS, levy tariff from the Federal Council’s consultation draft. The residual-value curve and the interest approximation are set; the calculations are shown above.
