Which is cheaper to own?

Total cost of ownership, or TCO, is the full cost of owning an e-bike over time, not just its purchase price. It adds up charging, maintenance and battery replacement, then subtracts the bike's resale value, to show what the bike really costs you across the years you own it.

We add the purchase price, total charging cost, total maintenance and any battery replacement needed over your ownership period, then subtract estimated resale value. Dividing the result by total kilometres gives a cost per kilometre, which is the fairest way to compare two bikes with different prices and efficiencies.

Charging (based on your annual distance, the motor's consumption and your electricity price), maintenance (higher for mid-drive motors than hub motors because they wear the chain and gears), battery replacement if you exceed the pack's lifetime, and resale value as a credit. Together these can change which of two bikes is actually cheaper.

We work out the battery's lifetime kilometres from its rated charge cycles and kilometres per charge. If your total distance over the ownership period exceeds that lifetime, we add a replacement at roughly 1.20 euros per watt-hour. A bigger or longer-lived battery may avoid a replacement entirely within your ownership window.

Resale value is estimated as a percentage of the purchase price that decays over time. We start from around 60 percent and apply a steady annual decline with a sensible floor, so a bike sold after a few years still returns some value. A higher resale credit lowers the effective cost of owning the bike.

A mid-drive motor pushes its power through the chain, cassette and chainring, so those parts wear faster and cost more to replace over time. A hub motor drives the wheel directly and leaves the drivetrain alone, so it is usually cheaper to maintain. We assume around 120 euros a year for hub bikes and 180 euros for mid-drives.

Pick a bike for slot A and another for slot B, set your ownership years, annual distance and electricity price, and the calculator shows each bike's total cost side by side with a cost breakdown and a clear verdict on which is cheaper to own. It is the best way to see past the sticker price.

Five years is a sensible default that captures at least one likely battery question and meaningful depreciation, but you can set anything from one to ten years. A longer window favours efficient, durable bikes that hold their value, while a short window weights the purchase price more heavily.

No. A bike with a low sticker price but an expensive, short-lived battery and high maintenance can cost more over five years than a pricier bike that sips power and holds its value. Comparing total cost of ownership rather than purchase price is the only way to know which is genuinely cheaper.

It depends on price and usage, but many quality e-bikes land somewhere around 0.20 to 0.40 euros per kilometre once everything is included, which is still far below the true cost of car travel. The calculator shows cost per kilometre for both bikes so you can judge value on a like-for-like basis.