Electric Vehicles and the Standard Mileage Rate

Same rate, no bonus

The IRS business standard mileage rate is 70 cents per mile in 2026, and it applies to gasoline, diesel, hybrid and fully electric vehicles alike. The IRS makes no distinction by drivetrain. There is no electric-vehicle bonus, no higher rate, no separate table. Drive 10,000 business miles in an EV and the deduction is the same $7,000.00 it would be in a gas car.

If you have seen claims of a special EV rate, they are wrong. The rate is set by IRS Notice for 2026 and does not vary by fuel.

The real decision: standard rate or actual expenses

The standard rate is a flat figure meant to cover the whole cost of running a vehicle: energy, maintenance, repairs, insurance and depreciation. That average was built around gas cars. An electric vehicle changes the arithmetic. Electricity is usually cheaper than gasoline per mile, and an EV has fewer moving parts, so it tends to cost less to maintain.

Because the standard rate does not drop when your running costs drop, an EV driver often comes out ahead by taking the flat 70 cents. The actual-expenses method — where you deduct your real costs plus depreciation — can add up to less. Not always: a costly EV with heavy depreciation in the early years can tilt the other way. This is a genuine calculation, not a rule of thumb, and it is worth running both ways.

Tolls and parking are deductible on top of the standard rate either way. Charging costs are not deductible separately when you use the standard rate — the rate already accounts for energy, exactly as it does for gasoline.

The first year locks you in

Here is the part that catches people. The method you pick the first year a vehicle is available for business is not a yearly free choice.

If you take the standard rate that first year, you keep the option to switch between the standard rate and actual expenses in later years. If you take actual expenses that first year and depreciate the vehicle, you are generally committed to actual expenses for as long as you own that vehicle. For a leased car, choosing the standard rate means keeping it for the entire lease. So the first-year choice on a new EV shapes every return that follows.

The trade-off depends on your mileage, the price of the vehicle and how you depreciate it. Run the numbers for your own case, and check the current rules with the IRS or a tax professional before you commit — because the first year is the one that binds.

What does not change

Whichever method you choose, the substantiation is identical. The IRS expects a contemporaneous mileage log: for each trip, the date, the miles driven, the destination and the business purpose. An electric vehicle earns you no larger deduction, and no lighter record-keeping. A commute from home to a regular workplace is still personal, however far it is and however clean the car.

The mileage reimbursement calculator applies the 70 cent rate to your business miles. To record trips as you drive them, start from the free mileage log template.

Kilevo rebuilds your trips from your Google or Outlook calendar, computes the distance between the addresses, and exports the year as one report. The rate it applies is the same one this page reads: a page cannot show a figure the app does not apply.