Taking the tenth and ninetieth percentile of annual fuel cost within each model year — the cheap end and the expensive end of what was on sale.
| Year | Cheapest tenth | Priciest tenth | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | $2,400 | $4,800 | 2.00x |
| 1995 | $2,500 | $4,900 | 1.96x |
| 2005 | $2,700 | $4,800 | 1.78x |
| 2015 | $2,150 | $4,450 | 2.07x |
| 2024 | $850 | $4,300 | 5.06x |
Forty years of stability, then a break
From 1985 to 2015 the ratio sat around two — the thirstiest cars cost roughly twice as much to fuel as the most frugal. It even narrowed slightly in 2005.
Then it went to 5.06x in under a decade. And look at which end moved: the expensive tenth barely changed at all, from $4,800 to $4,300. The cheap end fell from $2,400 to $850.
The average improved without the market improving
Mean annual fuel cost fell from $3,523 in the eighties to $2,914 in the 2020s, which reads as broad progress. It isn't. The standard deviation rose from $983 to $1,234 over the same period.
What happened is that electric vehicles arrived and created a floor far below anything a combustion engine can reach. They pulled the average down while leaving the rest of the market where it was.
Meanwhile the petrol side stalled: the most economical petrol car ever sold in America is from 1986, and the best available today is nine mpg behind it.
What this means practically
The choice matters more than it used to. Two new cars in the same showroom can differ by $3,450 a year — $17,000 across five years of ownership. In 1985 the same decision was worth $2,400 a year at most.
Averages are now useless for planning. With the market split into two populations, the mean describes almost nobody. Use the figure for the specific car.
The cheap end requires charging access. An $850 annual figure assumes home charging at average rates. Without a driveway the economics shift substantially, and rapid charging can cost several times domestic electricity.
On the used market this hasn't arrived yet. The spread is a new-car phenomenon — used EVs are only 6% of listings, and they carry their own questions about battery condition. We looked at that in used EVs cost $4,000 more, except they don't.
Check the exact configuration before assuming. A single model year can span 18 mpg across engines, and a premium fuel requirement adds around $500 a year. A VIN check decodes what a specific car was built with.
Frequently asked questions
How much do annual fuel costs vary between new cars?
From $850 to $4,300 in 2024 — a 5.06x ratio between the cheapest and priciest tenth of the market. For the forty years before that the ratio sat around 2x.
Why did the fuel cost gap widen?
Electric vehicles created a floor far below anything combustion can reach. The expensive end barely moved — $4,800 in 1985 to $4,300 in 2024 — while the cheap end fell from $2,400 to $850.
Did average fuel costs improve?
The mean fell from $3,523 in the 1980s to $2,914 in the 2020s, but the standard deviation rose from $983 to $1,234. The market split into two populations rather than improving as a whole.
Does the cheap end apply to everyone?
Only with charging access. The $850 figure assumes home charging at average residential rates — without a driveway the economics shift substantially, since rapid charging can cost several times domestic electricity.
Denis Kataev is a serial solopreneur and the founder of ForCar. With 15+ years in software engineering and 10 years in SEO, he builds data-driven products end to end — backed by a sharp eye for design. At ForCar he mines proprietary vehicle datasets, turning raw numbers into buying advice you can actually trust.
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