Electric van break-even
How far an electric van must travel for its fuel-cost saving to repay its price premium over an equivalent diesel - computed from official fuel prices, HMRC's advisory electric rates and manufacturer price lists.
Updated weekly · latest week commencing 26 October 2026
An electric van saves about 15.76p per mile in fuel versus a diesel, so it recovers an assumed £1,350/yr price premium after roughly 8,566 miles (THRIVE).
Use this data
Citation: THRIVE Van Electrification Break-Even, week commencing 26 October 2026. thrivefleet.co.uk/data/van-break-even/2026-10-26
Permanent link for this week: thrivefleet.co.uk/data/van-break-even/2026-10-26
Free to use in articles, presentations and reports. Please credit THRIVE and link to this page. It is a request, not a condition of use: see the data terms.
Break-even mileage
Miles to repay the premium
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Break-even miles | 8,566 |
Break-even, tracked
Every week on the current method
| Category | Value ( mi) |
|---|---|
| 20 Jul | 11,538 mi |
| 27 Jul | 10,740 mi |
| 3 Aug | 10,204 mi |
| 10 Aug | 9,941 mi |
| 17 Aug | 9,897 mi |
| 24 Aug | 9,861 mi |
| 31 Aug | 9,804 mi |
| 7 Sept | 9,554 mi |
| 14 Sept | 9,196 mi |
| 21 Sept | 8,829 mi |
| 28 Sept | 8,682 mi |
| 5 Oct | 8,544 mi |
| 12 Oct | 8,512 mi |
| 19 Oct | 8,561 mi |
| 26 Oct | 8,566 mi |
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.
The Tuesday briefing
The week's fleet numbers and news, every Tuesday morning. Free.
One email a week. Unsubscribe in a click.
- Fuel saving / mile: the Fleet Cost Index diesel pence-per-mile minus the blended electric pence-per-mile.
- Price premium: £1,350 a year: the median ex-VAT list-price premium of six medium electric panel vans over their diesel equivalents (£10,363, from manufacturer UK price lists seen 27 September 2026), less the £5,000 van grant, spread over a four-year holding period and rounded. Read live from the rates API.
- Break-even: premium ÷ saving-per-mile. Annual saving uses a reference 18,000 miles/yr.
What it covers. This is energy cost against purchase premium only, not a total cost of ownership. Included: diesel at this week's UK average pump price in a 36mpg van; electricity at HMRC's advisory electric rates for company cars (70% home, 30% public), used as a proxy because there is no official electric-van rate; the list-price premium after the van grant, over four years. Excluded: charge points and grid connection, maintenance, insurance, residual values, finance and lease rates, VED, payload differences, and a van's higher electricity use per mile than a car's. Fuel prices include VAT; list prices do not.
Underlying pump and rate data: DESNZ and HMRC under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Figures checked against GOV.UK on 28 September 2026.
Free JSON API - no key, open CORS, cache-friendly:
curl https://www.thrivefleet.co.uk/api/v1/break-even{ "break_even": { "break_even_miles": …, "annual_saving": …, "premium_annual": … } }Free to use. Please credit THRIVE and link to the page a figure came from: a request, never a condition of use. See the data terms and the API guide.
How many miles until an electric van pays for itself?
On current figures, about 8,566 miles - the point at which its ~15.76p-per-mile fuel saving repays an assumed £1,350/yr price premium.
Vans and light commercial vehicles: the guide