A Free Calculator · Your Rate, Your Car · Updated 2026
What does it actually cost to charge your EV?
Charging cost is not a national average — it's your electricity rate, your battery,
and how you drive. Enter those below and the calculator returns the energy you'll
draw, the cost for that charge, your cost per mile, and how it stacks up against a
gas car. Every formula is shown, nothing is hidden, and no figure is presented as
gospel.
Cost per charge & per mile·EV vs gasoline comparison·Your own electricity rate
Read this first
This calculator does the arithmetic exactly — but it's only as accurate as your inputs.
The built-in EV battery sizes and the 3.5 mi/kWh efficiency are approximate and
vary by trim, model year, weather, and driving style; override them with your car's real
numbers when you have them. It does not look up your utility rate — enter your own from
your electric bill. It assumes home charging at a flat rate; public DC fast charging is
priced differently (see the FAQ).
Pick your EV (or type a battery size), set your charge range and electricity rate, and the results update as you go. Adjust the efficiency and loss factor for a more precise estimate.
Your vehicle & charge
Approximate usable capacities — vary by trim/year. Picking a model fills the box below; you can still edit it.
kWh
Use your vehicle's usable (not gross) capacity if you know it.
%
%
$/ kWh
From your electric bill. The U.S. residential average runs around 16–17¢/kWh but varies widely — check current EIA data.
%
Energy lost as heat while charging — typically ~10–15% (approximate). Raises the energy your meter records.
For cost-per-mile & the gas comparison
mi / kWh
Default 3.5 mi/kWh is an approximate mid-size figure. Use your car's lifetime readout for accuracy.
$/ gal
MPG
The gas car you'd otherwise drive, for a fair per-mile comparison.
This charge costs
Energy added to battery
Energy drawn from the grid
EV cost per mile
Range added this charge
Cost per mile — EV vs gasoline
Electric
Gasoline
The formulas, in full
Nothing here is a black box. These are the exact calculations the tool runs — the same
arithmetic you could do on paper. The only judgment calls are the inputs you supply.
The charging level changes how fast you charge, not the per-kWh price your
home utility bills — that stays the same. What differs is speed, efficiency, and (for
public DC fast charging) the network's marked-up pricing. All figures below are typical
ranges and are approximate; your real numbers depend on the vehicle's onboard charger,
the circuit, and the station.
Level
Voltage / source
Typical power
Range added per hour
Where & cost note
Level 1
120 V — standard household outlet, included cordset
~1.2–1.4 kW
~3–5 mi
Home, no install needed. Slowest; slightly less efficient (more overhead). Billed at your home rate.
Level 2
240 V — dedicated circuit + wall charger (like a dryer outlet)
~3.8–19.2 kW
~15–40+ mi
Home or workplace/public. Needs install. Billed at your home rate; main cost is upfront equipment + wiring.
DC fast (DCFC)
400–800 V DC — public network station, bypasses onboard charger
~50–350 kW
~100–1,000 mi
Public only. Priced by the network per kWh or per minute — commonly ~$0.40–$0.60+/kWh, well above home rates.
Power and range figures are approximate and vary with the vehicle's onboard charger,
battery state, temperature, and station capability. DC fast charging slows significantly
above roughly 80% state of charge to protect the battery, so the per-hour figures are not
linear across a full charge.
Why your electricity rate is the number that matters
Charging cost lives or dies on your rate per kWh — and that figure is not national. It
varies by state, by utility, by season, and increasingly by time of day. This tool
deliberately makes you enter your own rather than baking in an average that would be
wrong for most people.
Find your real rate on your bill, not from an average
Your electric bill lists a price per kWh (sometimes split into supply and delivery charges — add them for an all-in rate). The U.S. residential average published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration tends to sit around 16–17¢/kWh, but state averages range from roughly 11¢ to well over 40¢. Use that average only as a sanity check — your bill is the source of truth, and it's what the calculator above expects.
Time-of-use rates can cut home charging cost dramatically
Many utilities offer time-of-use (TOU) plans with cheap overnight "off-peak" rates designed for EV charging — sometimes half the daytime price or less. If you can schedule charging for overnight hours (most EVs and chargers let you), entering your off-peak rate in the calculator will reflect what you actually pay. Check whether your utility has an EV or TOU plan; the savings often dwarf the difference between charging levels.
Public fast charging is a different price entirely
This calculator assumes home charging at a flat rate. Public DC fast charging is sold by networks at a marked-up price — frequently ~$0.40–$0.60+ per kWh, and sometimes billed per minute rather than per kWh. To estimate a fast-charging session, enter the network's per-kWh price in the rate field; if it bills per minute, that's outside this tool's model. For most owners, home charging covers daily driving and fast charging is a road-trip expense.
How to get the most accurate estimate
Five inputs drive the result. Tightening up the two that vary most — your rate and your
efficiency — does the most to make the number trustworthy.
Pull your all-in electricity rate
Look at your latest electric bill and total the supply + delivery charges, then divide by kWh used to get your true blended rate. If you're on a time-of-use plan and charge overnight, use the off-peak rate instead.
Use your car's real efficiency
Most EVs display a lifetime efficiency figure (mi/kWh or kWh/100mi). Use it instead of the 3.5 mi/kWh default. Expect it to drop in winter and at highway speeds — if you want a worst-case number, enter your cold-weather efficiency.
Enter usable capacity, not the headline number
Marketing materials often quote gross capacity. Use the usable figure — what you can actually draw. The dropdown values are approximate usable capacities; your owner's manual or a spec database has the exact number for your trim and year.
Set a realistic charge window
You almost never charge 0–100%. Daily charging is often something like 20–80% to preserve battery health. Set the from/to percentages to match how you actually charge for a representative per-charge cost.
Tune the loss factor if you charge on Level 1
The 10% default suits Level 2 home charging. Level 1 (120-volt) charging carries more overhead and is often closer to 12–15% loss. Bump the factor up if you're trickle-charging from a wall outlet.
Where to buy
Got your numbers? Here's where to pick up what you need:
The units and acronyms that show up on a charger, a spec sheet, or an electric bill —
in plain English.
Kilowatt-hour (kWh)
A unit of energy — one kilowatt of power sustained for one hour. It is both how your utility bills you (a price per kWh) and how battery capacity is measured. Adding 50 kWh to your battery at $0.16/kWh costs $8.00 of energy before charging losses.
Kilowatt (kW)
A unit of power — the rate at which energy flows. A 7 kW Level 2 charger delivers about 7 kWh per hour. Power (kW) times time (hours) equals energy (kWh).
Level 1 (L1) charging
Charging from a standard 120-volt household outlet using the cordset that ships with the car. Draws ~1.2–1.4 kW and adds only a few miles of range per hour. No installation required; slowest option.
Level 2 (L2) charging
Charging from a 240-volt circuit and a dedicated wall charger — the same voltage as an electric dryer or oven. Draws roughly 3.8–19.2 kW and is the standard for home charging. The energy price is your home rate; the cost is the upfront install.
DC fast charging (DCFC)
High-power public charging (~50–350 kW) that feeds DC straight to the battery, bypassing the car's onboard charger. Fast but expensive — networks mark up the per-kWh price well above home rates, and slow the rate above ~80% to protect the battery.
Charging efficiency & loss
Not all energy drawn from the grid reaches the battery — some is lost as heat in conversion and thermal management. Home charging is commonly 85–90% efficient, so 10–15% is "lost." The energy you pay for is the energy added divided by the efficiency fraction.
Usable vs gross capacity
Gross capacity is the battery's total size; usable capacity is what you can actually draw, after the management system reserves a protective buffer. Usable is the right number for cost and range estimates — it's smaller than the headline gross figure.
Efficiency (mi/kWh)
How far the car travels per kWh of battery energy — the EV equivalent of MPG. A mid-size EV is roughly 3–4 mi/kWh; sometimes expressed inversely as kWh/100mi (divide 100 by mi/kWh to convert). It falls in cold weather and at high speed.
State of charge (SOC)
The battery's current charge level as a percentage of usable capacity — the EV equivalent of a fuel gauge. Charging "from 20% to 80%" means raising SOC across that range, which on a 75 kWh battery adds 45 kWh.
Time-of-use (TOU) rate
A utility pricing plan where the per-kWh price changes by time of day. Off-peak (often overnight) rates can be far cheaper and are well suited to scheduled EV charging — entering your off-peak rate above reflects what you really pay.
Frequently asked
For most drivers charging at home, yes — but it depends entirely on your electricity rate versus your local gas price. Divide your electricity rate ($/kWh) by your EV's efficiency (mi/kWh) to get EV cost per mile, then divide your gas price by your car's MPG for gas cost per mile, and compare. At $0.16/kWh and 3.5 mi/kWh, this shortcut gives about $0.046/mile (the calculator adds charging losses, so it shows nearer $0.051); a 30 MPG car at $3.50/gal costs about $0.117/mile — roughly 2.5x more either way. The math flips if your electricity is expensive (some peak rates exceed $0.40/kWh) or you rely on premium-priced DC fast charging. Use the calculator above with your own numbers.
Cost = energy added (kWh) × your rate ($/kWh), adjusted up for charging losses. A full charge of a 75 kWh battery at $0.16/kWh with a 10% loss factor draws about 83 kWh from the wall and costs roughly $13.30. But you rarely charge 0–100%: going 20%→80% on that battery (45 kWh added) costs about $8.00 at the same rate and loss factor. Your real cost depends on your utility rate, which varies widely by state and time of day. Enter your own rate above and the calculator shows the exact arithmetic.
A kilowatt-hour (kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt (1,000 watts) drawn for one hour. It's the unit your utility bills in — your monthly bill lists a price per kWh — and it's also how battery capacity is measured (e.g. a 75 kWh battery). So at $0.16 per kWh, adding 50 kWh to your battery costs $8.00 of energy before losses. Power (kW) is the rate of flow; energy (kWh) is the total delivered over time — a 7 kW charger running 2 hours delivers about 14 kWh.
Charging isn't 100% efficient — energy is lost as heat in AC-to-DC conversion, the battery, and thermal management. Real-world home charging is commonly 85–90% efficient, so losses add roughly 10–15% to the energy you pay for versus what reaches the battery. Level 1 tends to be less efficient than Level 2 because more of the draw is overhead. The calculator defaults to a 10% loss factor and lets you adjust it: the energy your meter records is the energy added divided by the efficiency fraction, which is why a 50 kWh charge pulls about 56 kWh from the wall at 90% efficiency.
Level 1 uses a standard 120-volt outlet and the included cordset, draws ~1.2–1.4 kW, and adds only ~3–5 miles of range per hour — fine for low-mileage drivers, but slow. Level 2 uses a 240-volt circuit (like a dryer or oven) and a dedicated charger, drawing ~3.8–19.2 kW and adding ~15–40+ miles per hour. The energy cost per kWh is the same — your utility charges the same rate regardless of level — but Level 2 is faster and usually slightly more efficient. The real cost difference is the upfront 240-volt install. These kW figures are approximate and vary by vehicle and equipment.
Home charging bills at your residential rate, often $0.10–$0.25/kWh. Public DC fast charging is sold by a network that marks up energy to cover expensive high-power equipment, grid demand charges, real estate, and profit — commonly $0.40–$0.60+/kWh, sometimes priced per minute. So fast charging can cost two to four times more per mile than home charging, occasionally approaching gasoline's per-mile cost. Most owners charge at home for routine driving and use fast charging mainly for road trips. This calculator is built around a home rate you enter; for fast charging, substitute the network's per-kWh price.
Manufacturers quote two numbers: gross (total) capacity and usable capacity. The battery management system reserves a buffer at the top and bottom of the pack to protect longevity, so you can never use the full gross figure. Usable capacity is what you can draw to drive — the more meaningful number for cost estimates. The capacities in the dropdown above are approximate usable figures and vary by trim, model year, and software updates; treat them as a starting point and override with your vehicle's actual spec.
The arithmetic is exact for the inputs you provide — the page shows every formula. Accuracy depends on your inputs, and efficiency (mi/kWh) is the biggest variable: it drops in cold weather, at high speed, with heavy loads, and on hills, and improves with regenerative braking in stop-and-go driving. The 3.5 mi/kWh default is a rough mid-size figure; a heavy truck might do 2.0 mi/kWh and an efficient compact 4.5+ mi/kWh. For the most reliable number, use your car's own lifetime efficiency readout.
Common mistakes
EV charging cost errors almost always come from applying the wrong electricity rate, or confusing energy added to the battery with energy drawn from the wall.
Using the average utility rate instead of the time-of-use rate that applies at charging time
Many utility customers on time-of-use (TOU) plans pay significantly less per kWh for overnight charging — sometimes half the peak daytime rate or less. Using your average blended rate when you actually charge overnight overstates your real cost. Check whether your utility offers a TOU or EV rate plan and enter the rate that applies during your actual charging window.
Treating energy added to the battery as equal to energy drawn from the wall
Every charger has conversion losses. Level 1 and Level 2 AC chargers are typically 85–90% efficient — for every 10 kWh delivered to the battery, roughly 11–12 kWh are drawn from the outlet. Fast DC chargers have different loss profiles. Calculating cost on battery kWh alone understates the electricity bill by 10–15%. The more accurate input is wall kWh, which your charger or utility meter can report if the vehicle's onboard display does not.
Assuming public DCFC charging costs the same per mile as home charging
Public DC fast chargers price by the minute or by the kWh, and the effective cost per mile is routinely two to four times higher than home Level 2 charging. The cost difference is large enough to affect the economics of an EV road trip versus a comparable gas vehicle. This calculator is designed for home or destination charging scenarios — for DCFC pricing, use the network's own cost estimator with the session fee and per-kWh or per-minute rate included.
Calculating range from rated EPA miles instead of your actual efficiency
EPA range ratings are measured under standardized conditions. Cold weather, highway speeds above 65 mph, and HVAC use can reduce real-world range by 20–40% versus the EPA figure. If you need to plan charging stops on a trip, use your vehicle's displayed energy consumption (Wh/mile or mi/kWh) from recent driving in similar conditions, not the EPA sticker range.