Electric van break-even

Electrification maths usually stalls on one question: does the cheaper running cost ever pay back the higher purchase or lease cost? This page answers it in a single mileage. Below the break-even figure, the diesel is cheaper overall; above it, the electric van wins — and every mile after that is saving.

High-mileage fleets cross it fast; low-mileage ones may never. That is why annual mileage, not headline price, is the number that most often decides an electric-van case.

Assumption in review: the £1,800/yr price premium is a documented placeholder while we source a defensible figure. The break-even scales linearly with it, so treat the mileage as indicative until this is confirmed.

• Fuel saving / mile: the Fleet Cost Index diesel pence-per-mile minus the blended electric pence-per-mile.
• Price premium: a documented annualised premium of an electric van over an equivalent diesel — 1,800 £/yr (placeholder, in review), read live from the rates API.
• Break-even: premium ÷ saving-per-mile. Annual saving uses a reference 18,000 miles/yr.

Underlying pump and rate data: DESNZ and HMRC under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Figures checked against GOV.UK on 1 September 2026.

Free JSON API — no key, open CORS, cache-friendly:

• /api/v1/break-even — JSON
• /api/v1/break-even?format=csv — CSV

curl https://www.thrivefleet.co.uk/api/v1/break-even

{ "break_even": { "break_even_miles": …, "annual_saving": …, "premium_annual": … } }

Attribution is requested, never required — see the data terms and the API guide.