Running total, if you sold at each year
What you'd have spent in total after subtracting the car's resale value at that point. Where two lines cross is the payback point.
What tips the balance
Where the money goes
How it's calculated
Energy uses your miles split between gas and electricity. EV efficiency in kWh/100 mi is the EPA figure, which already includes charging losses. Charging cost blends your home rate and public fast-charging rate by the share you charge at home.
Repairs start after the bumper-to-bumper warranty ends and grow each year. Repair and failure figures are estimates, not forecasts for a specific model, so each card also shows the total under a low and a high repair outlook, and the verdict says whether the winner changes. The major-failure line is an expected cost: the yearly chance of an engine, transmission or battery failure once its warranty ends, times the repair bill. Tires are charged per mile driven. EVs wear tires faster because they are heavier.
Depreciation is purchase price minus rebates minus resale value at sale time. If you know what a car will be worth when you sell it, enter it in "Resale value at sale" and it replaces the depreciation rate. Financing counts only the interest paid while you own the car. If the loan runs longer than you keep the car, "Loan left at sale" shows what you would pay off from the sale price. It is not added to the total, because that principal is already counted in the purchase price. Costs are spread evenly across each month, so payback times are estimates to about the month: real tire purchases, renewals and repairs land on particular dates. The default failure chances are illustrative, not reliability data for any specific model. If you enter a resale value, the chart draws a straight line from the purchase price to it, and only the sale-date value is exact. Maintenance rises by the growth rate you set. Tires are a per-mile reserve rather than replacement dates. CO₂ counts tailpipe and power-plant emissions from driving only, not manufacturing the car or its battery. Default depreciation rates are typical assumptions, not used-car forecasts for a specific model. A car that pulls ahead and later falls behind again is reported as not paying back. Prices are not discounted for the time value of money. The federal EV tax credit ended on September 30, 2025, so rebates default to $0. Enter any state or utility rebate you qualify for.