Calculations of Mott elastic scattering cross section of electrons for most elements of the periodic table up to element number 94 in the energy range 20 eV–20 keV have been performed. The Dirac equation transformed to a first‐order differential equation was solved numerically. The influence of the choice of atomic potential on the scattering factor was studied in comparison to a simple muffin‐tin approximation of the atomic potential in solids. The application of calculated cross sections to a conventional Monte Carlo model for electron scattering using modified Bethe equation is described and results concerning the electron backscattering for different atomic potentials are compared.