Operating cost is what the truck costs you per hour once you own it. It is the number that decides which of two trucks is actually cheaper, and it is almost never the number on the invoice.
The five components
1. Energy or fuel
Price per unit multiplied by consumption per hour. For an electric truck, remember that the energy you pay for at the meter is more than the energy the truck receives, because charging is not perfectly efficient. Our calculator has a charging efficiency field for exactly this reason.
2. Maintenance
Scheduled servicing, parts, tyres and repairs. The cleanest way to get this figure is to ask your dealer for the service contract cost and divide by expected annual hours. Engine-powered trucks generally cost more per hour here than electric ones, because there is more to service.
3. Battery or major component replacement
For electric trucks, the battery is a consumable with a known cost and a finite life. Spread the replacement cost over that life rather than treating it as a one-off shock in year five. For engine trucks this line is usually zero, unless you want to provision for a major overhaul.
4. Other fixed costs
Insurance, statutory inspection, licences, telematics subscriptions. These are annual rather than hourly, so divide by annual hours to bring them into the same unit.
5. The operator
The largest number in most operations, and the one most often left out. Including it changes which truck looks cheaper, because a faster truck that costs more per hour can still be cheaper per pallet moved. Our operating cost calculator has an operator field that defaults to zero so that you include it deliberately rather than by accident.
Why annual hours drive everything
Every fixed cost – the battery, the insurance, the truck itself – is divided by the hours you run. Double the hours and the fixed cost per hour halves. This is why a truck that is uneconomic at 500 hours a year can be obviously correct at 2,500, and why the first question in any costing is how many hours the truck will actually run.
What this calculation cannot tell you
Cost per hour says nothing about throughput. A truck with a tighter turning radius may complete more pallet movements per hour in your aisles, which can matter more than its cost per hour. Use the specification comparisons alongside the cost figures rather than instead of them.