How Much Does It Cost to Charge an Electric Car?

The cost to charge an electric car varies from about $2.30 to $31.00 per 100 miles of range. The wide variation in cost to charge an EV is due to several factors, including:

• What EV you drive. Just like gas cars, some EVs are more efficient than others, which means they’ll need more or less power to travel the same distance. 

• Where you charge. Charging an EV at home is usually cheaper than using a public charger. 

• Where you live. Electricity rates vary by utility provider.

• How fast you charge. Fast public chargers cost more than slower options.

• What company you charge with. Public charging stations have different pricing structures. Some like EVgo offer lower prices for a monthly fee.

• When you charge. If your utility company uses dynamic pricing, your rates are determined by the time of day you charge. 

Even with different factors at play, it’s possible to closely estimate how much it costs to charge an electric car.

» MORE: How to use solar panels to charge an EV

Most drivers are familiar with the concept of how many miles per gallon (mpg) a gas-powered car gets, and how that translates to the total cost they pay for gasoline. It can be helpful to think about the cost of charging an EV in a similar way.

The basic formula for calculating how much charging an electric car costs is:

Cost to charge an electric car = Battery capacity in kWh x electricity cost per kWh

Here are the basic steps to calculate the cost of charging an EV.

1. Determine the EV's battery capacity.

Just as you can determine how many gallons a gas car’s tank will hold, you can know how much power or charge an EV’s battery will store — called the battery capacity.

Capacity is the number of kilowatt-hours (kWh) an EV battery can store, which varies by car make, model and battery size.

For example, some trims of the 2025 Lucid Air have a battery capacity up to 118 kWh, while the 2025 Nissan Leaf has a much smaller 40 kWh capacity. With a higher-capacity battery, going from empty to full will cost more, but you’ll fill up less frequently and get more range per charge.

When shopping for an EV, check specs on manufacturer websites to find battery capacity. Also, be aware that some EVs come with more than one option for battery size.

2. Figure the cost of fully charging the EV.

Multiply the number of kWh hours an EV’s battery can store by your electricity rate per kWh to figure the cost of fully charging the EV.

For example, if an EV’s battery capacity is 75 kWh, and you pay the U.S. national average of 18 cents per kWh for home electricity, your cost would be about $13.50 each time you charge to 100%^[0]

» MORE: Learn how long an EV battery lasts

3. Combine costs for different charging situations.

Think about where you plan to charge. You might do 80% of your charging at home and 20% at a public station, for example. In public, you could use a Level 2 charger or DC Fast charger. And, for each charging situation, the cost per kWh will differ.

To estimate your overall cost, find the per kWh cost for each place you plan to charge.

• Your home electricity bill may list the rate per kWh that you pay. If not, divide your total electric bill amount by the number of kilowatt-hours you used to get the price you pay per kWh.

• For public charging, you can usually find the cost per kWh on the charging station itself or the charging company’s app. Some public charging stations might be free — for example if a business has chargers that customers or employees can use — but you won’t find an abundance of these.

The power needed to travel a given distance varies by EV, similar to how a small car uses less gas when going the same distance as a heavy pickup truck. Even vehicles within the same size segment have different efficiency levels, with some costing less to operate.

A good way to compare efficiency of different makes and models is to find the cost of traveling 100 miles for each. Fueleconomy.gov has the kWh per 100 miles for most EVs.

• A 2025 Lucid Air Pure traveling 100 miles will use about 23 kWh, whereas a luxury Audi SQ8 e-tron will require about 56 kWh over 100 miles.

• Using the national average of 18 cents per kWh for home charging, the average cost to add 100-miles of range for a Lucid Air would be about $4.15. 

• For the Audi, the average cost would be about $10, making the Lucid Air much more efficient.

» MORE: See how much an EV battery costs

Using the lowest and highest home electricity and public fast charger rates in the U.S., along with kWh per 100 miles for the Lucid Air and Audi SQ8 e-tron, we arrive at these high and low estimates.

If you want to know how much you could save by switching from a gas car to an EV, you can compare the cost of adding 100 miles of range. A small SUV with a gas engine will use roughly three gallons of gas to travel 100 miles. A gas pickup truck uses about five gallons.

Using an average gas price of $3.25 a gallon, the cost to add 100 miles of range to a small SUV would be about $9.75, compared to a pickup truck at about $16. Here are estimates using the highest and lowest U.S. gas prices.

» MORE: Should I buy an EV?

To compare the efficiency of gas and electric vehicles, the Environmental Protection Agency created an MPGe measurement. MPGe stands for miles per gallon equivalent, and it represents an EV’s electricity consumption as if it were using gas.

According to the formula, using 33.7 kWh of power is equivalent to using 1 gallon of gas. So, as an example, an electric vehicle that travels 100 miles on 33.7 kWh would have a 100 MPGe rating. The MPGe rating isn't perfect, but it’s still a useful way to compare an EV's MPGe and a gas-powered car's mpg.

» MORE: EV Buying Guide: Know the Basics

• Season and geography. If you charge at home, your electricity rates can fluctuate throughout the year. Where you live makes a difference too. For example, people in North Dakota paid 9.93 cents per kWh in January 2025, while those in Rhode Island and California paid three times that amount^[0]

  U.S. Energy Information Administration. Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers by End-Use Sector. Accessed Apr 23, 2025.

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• Time of day. Some electric companies offer dynamic pricing, so what you pay depends on when you charge. Keep your bill lower by charging only during off-peak times. Many home chargers let you create rules about when your EV charges, much like you program a smart thermostat.

• Vendor pricing. Public EV charging stations are more expensive than home charging, especially if you’re using DC fast charging. With DC fast charging, you can add hundreds of miles of range in 30 minutes or less in some cases, but prices can be three times what you pay in your garage. Like charging at home, public charging rates might vary depending on time of day.

• Equipment costs. To charge your EV at home, you might have upfront costs for charging equipment and installation, which can run several thousand dollars. This isn’t an ongoing cost unless you finance it, but it’s still good to be aware of this expense if you’re thinking of buying an EV.