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EV vs Petrol Cost Calculator Malaysia 2026

Compare what an electric car and a petrol car cost to run in Malaysia over several years: home charging on the TNB tariff, fuel at this week’s price, road tax and servicing.

Draft page. The rates here are still being verified against official sources and the page is not yet published.

Your numbers

Electric car

From the car’s display or a long-term owner review. Add about 10% for charging losses at home.
Charging
From your TNB bill. Charging is priced as the increase in the bill.
For public charging, use the operator’s price for your mix of AC and DC charging.
From the manufacturer’s service schedule.

Petrol car

Body type

Result

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This is an estimate for planning. Confirm the final figure with the bank, JPJ or LHDN before you commit.

How it's calculated

The comparison adds up three running costs for each car over the years you choose: energy, road tax and servicing. Energy is the part that needs care.

Petrol is litres × price, with the first BUDI95 quota litres at the subsidised price. Home charging is priced as the increase in your TNB bill, because the domestic tariff has bands, an energy efficiency incentive that shrinks as use rises, and charges that start above a threshold:

charging cost a month = TNB bill(household + car) − TNB bill(household)

Road tax comes from the same JPJ schedules as the road tax calculator.

Worked example (the default inputs). Driving 1,500 km a month, an EV using 15 kWh/100 km needs 225 kWh. A household using 400 kWh pays RM 111.48 on the October 2026 tariff; at 625 kWh it pays RM 234.50, so charging costs RM 123.02 a month, 54.7 sen per kWh. A petrol car at 7 L/100 km uses 105 litres, RM 208.95 a month at the BUDI95 price.

Over five years the EV costs RM 7,381.20 in charging, RM 800.00 in road tax at RM 160 a year and RM 2,500.00 in servicing: RM 10,681.20. The petrol car costs RM 12,537.00 in fuel, RM 450.00 in road tax and RM 4,000.00 in servicing: RM 16,987.00. The EV is cheaper to run by RM 6,305.80.

The tariff and fuel prices are those in force when this page was checked and are applied to every month of the period; both will change.

Where you charge changes everything

Home charging on the domestic tariff is the cheapest option for most owners, especially at night under Time of Use. Workplace and shopping-mall AC chargers vary from free to more than the home rate. DC fast chargers on highways are the most expensive, and a car charged mostly that way can cost more per kilometre than a petrol car on subsidised RON95. Switch the charging option to "My own price per kWh" and enter a blended price for your own mix to see the effect.

The household base matters too

The same 225 kWh costs a different amount in each home. A small household moving from 400 kWh to 625 kWh loses part of its energy efficiency incentive; a large household already near 1,500 kWh may be pushed over the line where every unit is charged at the higher energy rate. Enter the kWh from a typical recent TNB bill as the household figure for the most accurate result.

FAQ

Is an EV cheaper to run than a petrol car in Malaysia?

Usually, but by less than people expect when petrol is subsidised. At the default inputs, 1,500 km a month on BUDI95 petrol at RM 1.99 a litre against home charging, the EV saves about RM 6,300 over five years. Against unsubsidised RON95 the saving roughly triples. Fast public charging can cost more per kilometre than subsidised petrol, so where you charge matters most.

Why does home charging cost more than the energy charge?

Because the TNB domestic tariff is not flat. Adding a car’s charging to your bill pushes the household into a band with a smaller Energy Efficiency Incentive, and above the protection threshold adds the fuel adjustment, a retail charge and service tax, while above 1,500 kWh a higher energy rate applies to every unit. That is why this calculator prices charging as the difference between two bills rather than at a single rate.

How much road tax does an EV pay?

Since 2026 electric cars pay JPJ’s zero-emission schedule based on motor output: RM 20 up to 50 kW, rising in 10 kW blocks, so a 150 kW car pays RM 160 a year. A 1,500 cc petrol saloon pays RM 90. The road tax calculator covers every band and region.

Does the Time of Use tariff help EV owners?

It can. Under TNB’s Time of Use option the energy charge is lower off peak, from 10 pm to 2 pm on weekdays and all day on weekends and public holidays, and higher at peak. If you charge overnight or at weekends it lowers the cost per kWh; whether it lowers the whole bill depends on when the rest of the household uses power. This calculator uses the standard tariff.

What does this comparison leave out?

The purchase price, financing, insurance and resale value, which often decide the question more than running costs do, as well as tyres and the cost of a home charger. Battery warranties on EVs sold in Malaysia are long, but an out-of-warranty battery replacement is expensive. Use the car loan calculator to compare instalments alongside the running costs here.

Sources

awaiting verification Rates last checked: 22 October 2026