A 42,000 pound electric hatchback taken through salary sacrifice by a 40 per cent taxpayer costs about 418 pounds a month net over three years, including insurance and maintenance. The same car on a personal lease is 589 pounds, plus insurance. The same money spent on a petrol equivalent, bought outright and run for the same period, comes to roughly 470 pounds a month. The electric car wins for that driver by a clear margin. For a basic-rate taxpayer without a driveway, it does not. Charge and Cost exists to find out which case you are in.

This site analyses the money side of electric vehicles and green household finance in the UK. Every article leads with the single number that matters, usually a total cost of ownership per month or per mile, and shows the full working in a table: purchase or lease cost, tax treatment, energy price at home and on the public network, depreciation, insurance, maintenance and the residual value assumption that swings everything.

It is willing to conclude that an electric car does not stack up for a given household, and equally willing to say when the petrol comparison is being rigged. There is no affiliate relationship with any manufacturer, leasing company, charging network or energy supplier.

Charge and Cost is edited by Ben Okonkwo, who has analysed vehicle running costs for many years. It is an independent UK publication and does not give personal financial advice.