How much does a Tesla robotaxi earn?
A line-by-line look at one robotaxi’s year: fares, platform fees, charging, cleaning, insurance and depreciation, with low, base and high scenarios.
By Fleetsly · Updated
Short answer: in our base case, one robotaxi makes about $6,596 a year after every cost, including depreciation. But small changes in fares, platform fees and how many miles the car is paid for swing that from a loss of $7,302 to a profit of $30,000. This guide shows where the money goes, line by line.
These are illustrative assumptions, not market data. Tesla has not published the revenue split or the terms for third-party owners yet (as of October 2026), so treat every input as something to test, and run your own numbers in the earnings estimator.
One robotaxi, one year: the base case
| Line | How it’s calculated | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Fares | 100 paid miles a day × $1.25 × 330 days | $41,250 |
| Platform fee | 30% of fares | −$12,375 |
| Charging | all miles, incl. 30% empty, at 5.5 mi/kWh and $0.30/kWh | −$2,571.43 |
| Maintenance | $0.05 per mile | −$2,357.14 |
| Cleaning | $15 a day | −$4,950 |
| Insurance | per year | −$4,000 |
| Parking | $200 a month | −$2,400 |
| Depreciation | $30,000 car over 5 years | −$6,000 |
| Profit | after depreciation | $6,596.43 |
Before depreciation the car makes $12,596.43 a year, so a $30,000 car pays for itself in about 2.4 years.
Low, base and high scenarios
| Scenario | Paid miles a day | Fare per mile | Platform fee | Profit per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | 60 | $0.90 | 35% | −$7,301.62 |
| Base | 100 | $1.25 | 30% | $6,596.43 |
| High | 140 | $1.60 | 25% | $30,000 |
What moves the number most
- Paid miles per day. Every idle hour is lost fares. Uptime, meaning fewer cars off the road waiting for a repair or a charge, is the biggest lever an owner controls.
- Fare per mile and the platform fee. These are set by the market and the platform, and they decide which side of zero you land on.
- Empty miles. Miles driven between rides cost charging and wear but earn nothing.
- Cleaning and parking. Small per day, but they add up to thousands a year per car.
From estimate to actual
An estimate is where buying decisions start. Once the car is on the road, the real question is whether it hits the base case. That means tracking each car’s fares, fees, charging, cleaning and repairs every month, and comparing them with the estimate. Our guide How to manage a robotaxi fleet covers how to run that work day to day.