Is an electric car worth it for delivery work?
The running costs are much lower if you can charge at home. The mileage claim is the same as any car, which makes an EV unusually tax-efficient for a driver.
Last checked 12/09/2026.
On running cost, usually yes, if you can charge at home on a cheap overnight rate. Delivery driving is high-mileage, stop-start, urban work, which is exactly the pattern an electric car is best at and a petrol car is worst at.
The tax position is the interesting part. The mileage allowance is the same 55p a mile whatever the car runs on, but your actual cost per mile on home charging can be a fraction of a petrol car's. The allowance is designed around average running costs, so an efficient vehicle keeps more of it.
Against that: the purchase price, the range on a long parcel round in winter, and the time a charge takes out of a shift. Range anxiety is not usually the issue for food delivery in one town; it can be for a rural parcel round.
JoltMile handles electric properly. Set your cost per kWh and your miles per kWh and it works out the energy cost per shift the same way it does fuel, so you can see what the switch actually did to your hourly rate.
Related
What makes a good delivery car?
Running cost per mile matters more than the sticker price. How to compare vehicles for delivery work, and where electric does and does not pay.
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Should I claim mileage or actual running costs?
For almost every delivery driver, the mileage method. It is worth more, needs no receipts, and the choice is locked in per vehicle once you make it.
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What MPG figure should I use for my car?
Your own measured figure, not the manufacturer's. Delivery driving is much harder on economy.
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Driving for DPD: owner driver, employed or Connect
There are three ways to deliver for DPD, and they are three different jobs for tax. An owner driver runs a route as a business, an employed driver is on PAYE, and a DPD Connect courier uses their own car on a local round. Here is how to tell which suits you.
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What it really costs you per mile
Your cost per mile is fuel plus tyres, servicing, insurance, repairs and the value the car loses, divided by the miles you drive. Fuel is usually less than half of it, which is why a driver who only counts fuel thinks the work pays better than it does.
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Fuel against electric for gig driving
On home charging an electric car is dramatically cheaper per mile than petrol, often by a factor of four or five. On public rapid charging the gap narrows to very little. Whether it works for you is mostly a question of where you charge, not of what you drive.
Vehicles & equipmentUpdated 27/08/2026