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🔌What does it cost to charge an electric car at home?

✓ Tested & verified Updated: How we calculate this

EV home charging cost

$6.73 for this charge ≈ $5.34 per 100 miles

36 kWh into the battery, 39.6 kWh off the meter — the difference is charging loss.

Range added
126 miles
Cost per mile
$0.05
Full battery, 0 to 100%
$11.22

On a night tariff, put the night rate in — that single field is usually worth more than every other saving on this site put together.

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How much does it cost to charge an electric car at home?

Charging a 60 kWh battery from 20% to 80% costs about $6.73 at $0.17 per kWh — £9.90 at £0.25, €13.86 at €0.35. That is 36 kWh into the battery and about 39.6 kWh off the meter, and it adds roughly 126 miles at 3.5 miles per kWh.

Per mile that is 5.4 cents in the US, 7.9 pence in the UK, 11 cents in Germany — against roughly 12 to 15 cents a mile for a petrol car at 30 mpg. On a dedicated overnight EV tariff the gap widens dramatically: at $0.08 or 7p a kWh, home charging costs a third of that again.

The meter always reads more than the battery receives. The onboard charger, the cables and the battery’s thermal management lose energy — typically 8 to 15% on AC home charging, more in cold weather. A car’s dashboard reports what went into the battery; your bill reports what left the meter, and that difference is why this calculator asks for it.

The comparison that matters is cost per mile, because that is the one that lines up with a tank of petrol. At 3.5 miles per kWh and a 10% charging loss:

Where and when you chargePrice per kWhCost per mile10,000 miles a year
US home, standard rate$0.175.3¢$535
US home, off-peak EV rate$0.082.5¢$251
UK home, standard rate£0.257.9p£786
UK home, overnight EV rate£0.072.2p£220
Germany, household rate€0.3511.0¢€1,100
Public rapid charger$0.4514.1¢$1,414

The two UK rows are the same car in the same driveway; the only difference is which hours it charges in. That is why the tariff field on this page is the most valuable input on the site.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to charge an EV from empty to full?

Battery size × your price per kWh, plus charging losses. A 60 kWh car at $0.17 is about $11.20 including a 10% loss; at £0.25 it is £16.50 and at €0.35 €23.10. On an overnight EV tariff at 7p, the same charge in the UK is about £4.60.

Why does the calculator add a charging loss?

Because the energy leaving your meter is more than the energy reaching the battery. AC home charging is typically 85 to 92% efficient — the onboard converter, the cabling and battery conditioning account for the rest, and cold weather makes it worse. Without that adjustment the cost comes out about 10% too low.

Is home charging cheaper than public rapid charging?

Almost always, and usually by a factor of two to four. Public rapid charging carries the cost of the hardware, the grid connection and the operator’s margin. Home charging on a standard tariff is already much cheaper; on an overnight EV tariff it is a different order of magnitude.

How does it compare with petrol?

Compare cost per mile rather than per fill. An EV at 3.5 miles per kWh and $0.17 is 5.4 cents a mile. A petrol car at 30 mpg with fuel at $3.50 a gallon is 11.7 cents. In the UK at 3.5 mi/kWh and 25p that is 7.9p a mile, against roughly 17p for a 40 mpg car at £1.45 a litre.

Should I charge to 100%?

For daily use, most manufacturers recommend 80% on lithium-ion packs to reduce battery ageing, and charging above that is also slower. Charge to 100% before a long trip. The cost per kWh does not change; only how much you buy does.

Does cold weather change the cost?

Significantly. Battery conditioning and cabin heating both draw power, so winter efficiency commonly drops 20 to 30% — a car doing 3.5 miles per kWh in summer may manage 2.5 in a cold month. Charging losses rise too. Enter your actual winter miles per kWh rather than the summer figure.

How we calculate this

Energy into the battery is capacity × (target % − current %). Energy off the meter is that divided by charging efficiency, entered here as a charging loss with a default of 10% — within the documented 8–15% range for AC home charging, and higher in cold weather. Cost is meter energy × your price per kWh. Cost per mile uses your own miles per kWh, which varies more in the real world than electricity prices do; the default of 3.5 mi/kWh is typical for a mid-size EV in mild conditions. Range added is battery energy × miles per kWh, using battery energy rather than meter energy, because losses do not reach the wheels. Rapid-charging efficiency and battery degradation are not modelled.

Worked example

With Battery size (kWh) 60, Charging loss (%) 10, Charge from (%) 20, Charge to (%) 80, Miles per kWh 3.5, Country United States (USD), Your price per kWh 0.17, this page works out $6.73 for this charge ≈ $5.34 per 100 miles. 36 kWh into the battery, 39.6 kWh off the meter — the difference is charging loss.

  • Range added126 miles
  • Cost per mile$0.05
  • Full battery, 0 to 100%$11.22

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