A Tata Nexon EV 45 owner details how he has saved over 1 lakh rupees in running cost in 3 months of ownership.
Nitesh, a Tata Nexon 45 EV owner shared a detailed analysis of running cost expenses on the Electree Surge Forum.
3 months ago, when Nitesh was planning to buy a car, his wife asked him to buy an EV. Her argument was simple, “We will save on running costs.” He did not believe in this theory completely as he had never owned an electric vehicle. After fulfilling his wife's wishes of owning an EV, he secretly kept a track of expenses.
Nitesh has driven 14,572 kilometers in the Tata Nexon EV at an efficiency of 122 Wh/km. This implies a total energy usage of 17,77,784 Wh or 1,777.78 kWh. During the 3 months he went on one road trip totaling a distance of 1,279 kilometers. With the same average efficiency of 122 Wh/km, the car consumed 156.04 kWh. The remaining 1,621.74 kWh were consumed during home charging.
Nitesh points out that during his road trip, he charged his EV 5 times; 4-DC and 1-AC. The DC fast charging cost him a total of ₹2874.48 and the AC charge which he did at a hotel he was staying was billed at ₹500. This totals the road trip charging cost to ₹3374.48.
For home charging, Nitesh assumes an energy loss of 11.5% on the 1,621.74 kWh the car utilized. This means the energy drawn from the grid was 1807 kWh approximately. With electricity cost at ₹4.5 per kWh, he has been billed a total of ₹8,137 in 3 months.
The total cost of charging over this period totals to ₹ 11,511.48. For a car which has been driven 14,572 kilometers, the cost per kilometer calculates to ₹0.79 per kilometer.
Finally Nitesh notes that, if he had purchased a petrol car with average running cost of ₹8 per kilometer, he would have spent ₹1,16,576 for the same covered distance. This amounts to a saving of ₹1,05,000 over 3 months.
On a lighter note Nitesh comments “I’m not saying my wife was right. But I’ve stopped arguing.”
Suhail Gulati
Suhail Gulati is the founder of ElecTree and an economist by training. He holds a Master's degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics and has worked in credit, retail banking, and financial stress testing at Barclays and American Express. He founded ElecTree in 2023 — building it into India's dedicated platform for 4-wheeler EV data, sales analysis, and original reporting. His work sits at the intersection of economic analysis and electric mobility — bringing a banker's rigour to a sector that deserves it.