Fleet Profit & TCO Calculator

Compare diesel vs electric truck profitability over the full vehicle lifetime

What is TCO — and why does profit matter more?

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is the full cost of running a truck over its lifetime — purchase price, fuel or energy, maintenance, insurance, and finance. Comparing TCO between diesel and electric trucks tells you which is cheaper to operate.

But cost alone does not tell you whether your fleet is profitable. This calculator goes further: enter your revenue rate (what you charge per km), and the tool shows you the profit generated by each truck type over its lifetime — and how much more profit an electric truck can generate compared to diesel.

Step 1: Set your revenue

Enter your selling price per km (your rate card), or use the default 10% profit margin. This is what you charge your customer per kilometre.

Step 2: Enter your parameters

Scroll down to the detailed input tables. Enter your actual fleet data — purchase price, fuel cost, maintenance, insurance, and finance terms.

Step 3: Optimise with sliders

Use the mixing desk sliders to test scenarios in real time. See how changes to diesel price, electricity tariff, or vehicle price shift the profit curves.

Step 4 & 5: Scale to your fleet

Set your fleet size to see total lifetime profit across all trucks. Then join a pilot project to implement — click the button at the bottom of the page.

Close this card once you have read it — it will not appear again in this session.

Diesel Truck

Monthly kilometres
km/month
Vehicle life
years
Purchase price
RZAR
Financed
Deposit
%
Finance rate
% p.a.
Finance term
months
Fuel consumption
L/100km
Diesel price
ZAR/L
Fuel price escalation
% p.a.
Maintenance
ZAR/km
Insurance (annual)
RZAR
Residual value
%

Electric Truck

Monthly kilometres
km/month
Vehicle life
years
Purchase price
RZAR
Financed
Deposit
%
Finance rate
% p.a.
Finance term
months
Energy consumption
kWh/100km
Electricity tariff
ZAR/kWh
Tariff escalation
% p.a.
Maintenance
ZAR/km
Insurance (annual)
RZAR
Residual value
%

Revenue & Profit Model

Selling price per km (same for both trucks)
Diesel margin%→R18.49/km
Diesel10.0%R16.64/km cost
Electric42.6%R10.62/km cost

Cumulative Cost (TCO)

Lifetime Cost Difference

−R5.4M electric saves

Total accumulated cost including purchase and operating costs.

Cumulative Profit

Lifetime Profit Difference

+R5.4M electric advantage

Total profit generated per truck after all costs, at your revenue rate.

Profit Optimiser

↔ drag sliders to optimise

Diesel

Monthly km
15,000 km
Vehicle life
5 yrs
Vehicle price
R2.2M
Finance rate
12%
Diesel price
R30.0/L

Electric

Monthly km
15,000 km
Vehicle life
5 yrs
Vehicle price
R4.2M
Finance rate
12%
Electricity tariff
R2.8/kWh
Monthly km and vehicle life are linked (same for both trucks)

Annual Profit per Truck

Year-by-year profit for each truck type.

Final year includes residual value from vehicle sale.

Cumulative Profit Advantage (Electric vs Diesel)

How much more cumulative profit the electric truck generates. Positive = electric ahead.

Fleet size

Scales lifetime savings and profit figures

1

Diesel TCO (per truck)

R15.0M

R16.64/km

Electric TCO (per truck)

R9.6M

R10.62/km

📈 Profit Advantage — Electric generates more profit

R5.4M

extra lifetime profit from electric vs the alternative

Diesel lifetime profit

R3.4M

per truck

Electric lifetime profit

R8.8M

per truck

📈 Electric overtakes diesel in cumulative profit at Year 1.

🌿

CO₂e Avoided per Electric Truck

GLEC WtW standard · 3.48 kg CO₂e/L diesel

CO₂e avoided (lifetime)

1190.2 t

Per year (average)

238.0 t

per year

Diesel litres avoided

342K L

lifetime total

Equivalent to

517 cars off road

for one year (avg 2.3 t/car/yr)

Calculated using the GLEC (Global Logistics Emissions Council) Well-to-Wheel emission factor for diesel: 3.48 kg CO₂e per litre. Assumes the electric truck displaces an equivalent diesel truck over the full vehicle lifetime.

Want to stress-test these numbers?

Run a sensitivity analysis to see which variables — diesel price escalation, BEV purchase price, electricity tariff, or annual km — have the greatest impact on your profit advantage.

Ready to implement?

The numbers show the opportunity. The next step is building the ecosystem to make it real — charging infrastructure, driver training, fleet finance, and operational support.

Join a TAG pilot project and be part of the first wave of operators deploying electric trucks profitably in Southern Africa.

Join the Pilot Project

Or call us to discuss your fleet: Contact TAG →