Car fuel costs by model

At 12,000 miles a year and today's US average prices, a typical petrol car in this list costs about $1,537, a diesel $1,728 and an electric car $565 on home charging. The gap between the cheapest and thirstiest car here is $2,755 a year for identical mileage.

Of the 488 models here, the Lucid Air is cheapest at about $443 a year — electric cars take most of the top places, because home electricity buys roughly three to four times as many miles per dollar as petrol.

No — these are fuel and charging costs only, which is the part that moves week to week with pump prices. Depreciation, insurance, tax and servicing are separate and depend far more on where you live and what you paid for the car than on which model it is.

Manufacturer combined-cycle figures: WLTP in Europe, EPA combined in North America. They convert between units exactly (235 ÷ L/100 km = US MPG), so every car here is comparable. Real-world consumption typically runs 5–15% higher, and more in cold weather or heavy city traffic.

Yes. US pump prices come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly retail survey — currently $4.07/gal for regular and $5.60/gal for diesel, for the week of 2026-08-31 — so every figure on these pages moves with the market rather than being frozen at publication.