TCO calculator: what does an electric truck cost per kilometre in the UK?

How the TCO calculator works

• Energy: litres or kWh per 100 km × price × annual mileage. Diesel at 158.9p/l ex VAT (190.7p at the pump, week of 14 September 2026), electricity as a mix of depot (24p) and public (39.9p) share.
• Grants: the Zero Emission Truck Grant (default £81k) is deducted from the purchase price, the Depot Charging Scheme (70 %) from the charging infrastructure. Set both to zero to see the unsubsidised case.
• Tolls: none in the UK – the toll line is zero for both drivetrains. The HGV levy and VED sit under vehicle tax (£577/year diesel, £0 electric).
• Depreciation: purchase price minus residual value, linear over the holding period. Charging infrastructure is fully written off for the e-truck.
• Fixed costs: maintenance and tyres (12p vs 8p per km), insurance, HGV levy and VED.

The investment case: vehicle plus charging infrastructure

The TCO question is not “what does the e-truck cost?” but “what does the e-truck cost plus the charge point without which it does not run?” 80–90 % of the energy has to come from the yard. That is why the calculator includes charging infrastructure per vehicle (default £50k, adjustable) – and why the 70 % Depot Charging Scheme matters almost as much as the vehicle grant.

• Charge point: overnight charging does not need megawatts. 350 km/day ≈ 400 kWh; with 9 h dwell time, 50–100 kW per truck is enough. DC charger 50 kW ~£22k, 100 kW ~£30k, 200 kW ~£47k, 400 kW ~£80k ex VAT (estimate).
• Civil works and installation: cable route, foundations, distribution: £9–22k per charge point depending on the distance to the substation.
• Grid connection: up to ~250 kW on low voltage; above that an HV connection with your own transformer (630 kVA ~£95k, 1 MVA ~£140k) plus the DNO connection charge. Lead time 6–18 months, longer in constrained areas – the critical path.
• Load management and backend: £9–13k plus £1–2k per year; cuts the required connection capacity by ~30 %.
• Total per e-truck, all in: 2 trucks ~£65k per truck · 5 trucks ~£80k (the transformer becomes necessary and is spread over only 5 vehicles) · 10 trucks ~£73k · 20 trucks ~£65k – before the 70 % grant. The charging page explains the steps.

Electricity tariff and shift pattern

Business tariff ~24p/kWh ex VAT (Q1 2026 medium and large users: 25.0p and 23.9p), fixed-price supply contract ~19p, time-of-use tariff with load management ~14–16p, own solar with storage ~9p. Public HGV charging: Milence £0.399/kWh ex VAT, ad-hoc HPC 45–55p. The shift pattern sets the depot share: 1 shift 85 %, 2 shifts 60 %, 3 shifts 25 %.

When does the switch pay off?

The calculator shows cumulative costs for each holding period, each net of the residual value at the time of sale. With the £81k grant and 70 % on the charger the e-truck is cheaper from the first year in the standard profile; without the grants the e-truck stays above diesel for around nine years – in the UK the case stands and falls with the grant. The e-truck's residual value is the biggest unknown: 5 percentage points shift the break-even by a few months in the standard profile, by a year or more when the case is tight (low mileage, high public-charging share). There is also a sensitivity analysis for the diesel price.