EV Charging Cost Calculator

What decides the cost of charging

Three numbers decide it, and the size of the battery is not one of them.

Efficiency, not battery size

A full charge is range multiplied by consumption, so it grows with the battery; the cost of each mile does not. Across these 50 cars consumption runs from 23.1 kWh per 100 miles (Lucid Air) to 63.9 (GMC Hummer EV Pickup) — $4.49 against $12.41 per 100 miles at the national average. The Fiat 500e costs less to fill than the Lucid Air ($8.45 against $18.84) but more to drive each mile.

Your electricity price

State averages run from 13.11¢ per kWh in Nevada to 52.72¢ in Hawaii. For the car in the middle of the efficiency table, the Nissan Ariya, 12,000 miles a year costs $541 in Nevada and $2,176 in Hawaii.

The price at which petrol wins

A 30 mpg petrol car at $4.09 a gallon costs $13.62 per 100 miles. An EV matches that at an electricity price of 39.6¢ per kWh for the Nissan Ariya, 58.9¢ for the Lucid Air and 21.3¢ for the GMC Hummer EV Pickup. On residential rates the Nissan Ariya is cheaper per mile than petrol everywhere except Hawaii; the GMC Hummer EV Pickup is dearer in 15. At a 48¢ public fast charger, 7 of the 50 cars still beat petrol per mile.

Reading a charging page

• Full charge, per 100 miles and per year. The full charge is what filling up costs; per 100 miles is the figure to compare cars on; the yearly figure assumes 12,000 miles.
• Charge from and to. The sliders price a real session: charging from 20% to 80% costs 60% of a full charge.
• The rate is a state average. Replace it with your own tariff, including a time-of-use or EV rate if you have one.
• The fast-charging button switches to 48¢ per kWh, 2.5 times the national residential average.

Common mistakes

• Comparing battery sizes. A bigger battery costs more to fill and nothing extra per mile; kWh per 100 miles is the comparison.
• Adding charging losses to EPA figures. They are measured at the wall and already include them.
• Pricing home charging at public rates, or the reverse. The public price used here is 2.5 times the national residential average.
• Using the national average in an expensive state. In Hawaii the residential rate is 2.7 times the average.

Where to go next

• Pick your car below for its cost in every state, or start from your state.
• 18 brand pages compare every model of a make in this dataset.
• GPU running costs — the same state electricity prices applied to a gaming PC.
• Methodology — the charging formula, the defaults and the sources.