What It CostsHome vs Public EV Charging
Charging an electric car has the widest price range of anything on this site. The same kilowatt-hour can cost four times more depending on where the cable is plugged in.
The comparison, per mile
At 3.5 miles per kWh, which is typical for a mid-size EV in mild weather, with a 10% charging loss on AC:
| Where | Price per kWh | Cost per mile | 10,000 miles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home, overnight EV tariff (UK) | £0.07 | 2.2p | £220 |
| Home, off-peak (US) | $0.08 | 2.5¢ | $251 |
| Home, standard rate (US) | $0.17 | 5.3¢ | $535 |
| Home, standard rate (UK) | £0.25 | 7.9p | £786 |
| Home, household rate (Germany) | €0.35 | 11.0¢ | €1,100 |
| Public AC destination charger | $0.30 | 9.4¢ | $943 |
| Public rapid / DC fast charger | $0.45 | 14.1¢ | $1,414 |
For comparison, a petrol car at 30 mpg with fuel at $3.50 a gallon is 11.7 cents a mile; at 40 mpg with fuel at £1.45 a litre, about 16.5p.
The top and bottom rows are the same car doing the same miles. Everything in between is a decision about where and when it charges.
Why public charging costs more
Not profiteering, mostly infrastructure. A rapid charger is a substantial piece of hardware with a grid connection sized like a small factory’s, sitting idle much of the day, needing maintenance, payment systems and a site rent. That is a large fixed cost spread over the kilowatt-hours it delivers.
Destination AC chargers — car parks, hotels, supermarkets — sit in between, and some are still free as a customer draw.
The loss nobody mentions
Your meter always registers more than the battery receives. The onboard charger, the cabling and the battery’s thermal management lose energy: typically 8 to 15% on AC home charging, and more in cold weather when the pack has to be warmed before it will accept a charge.
DC rapid charging is more efficient at the vehicle end — the conversion happens in the charger — but you are paying the operator’s price, which dwarfs the difference.
This is why a car’s dashboard and your electricity bill never quite agree. The dashboard reports energy into the battery; the bill reports energy off the meter.
What actually decides the bill
Get a home charger and an EV tariff if you can. The overnight rows in that table are roughly a quarter of the standard ones, and the tariff applies to the whole house during the window — so the dishwasher and dryer come along for the ride.
Use rapid charging for journeys, not for routine. It is a travel expense, not a fuelling strategy. A driver who does 90% of charging at home and 10% on the road pays close to the home rate overall.
Winter is a 20–30% tax. Cabin heating and battery conditioning both draw from the pack, so enter your actual winter miles per kWh rather than the summer figure in the EV charging calculator.