Start with the tax, not the fuel
A new-energy passenger car pays half the 10% purchase tax in 2026–2027, with the relieved amount capped at ¥15,000. That is a real discount on a ¥150,000 car and a rounding error on a ¥600,000 one. Petrol cars pay the full 10% of the VAT-exclusive price, so the gap is largest in the middle of the market, not at the top. Our running-cost tool applies the rule as full tax minus capped relief, which keeps expensive cars honest.
Charging mix matters more than range
Home charging at roughly ¥0.55/kWh and public fast charging at roughly ¥1.45/kWh produce very different five-year numbers from the same car. The calculator blends them by the share of charging you do at home. For a plug-in hybrid it also separates electric driving from petrol driving, and it flags any car that only publishes a blended WLTC figure instead of a charge-sustaining one.
Read the exclusions before you trust the total
Our model covers price, purchase tax, energy, servicing, insurance, tyres, vehicle duty and resale. It does not cover finance interest, charging hardware, parking, tolls or repairs outside the service schedule. Insurance and resale are stated estimates rather than quotes, because both vary by city, driver and trim. Change the annual mileage and the years owned first: those two inputs move the answer more than a few fen of electricity price.