How Much Does It Cost to Charge an Electric Vehicle?
Calculating the cost of charging an electric vehicle, at home or on the road, can be complicated. For the four out of five new-car buyers who can charge at home, often overnight, the cost is virtually always cheaper per mile than the cost of gasoline for a similar vehicle.
It’s tougher for apartment dwellers, who may pay a variety of rates to companies that fit charging stations in shared parking areas. For the DC fast charging that allows longer road trips beyond an EV’s range, prices vary—but it's common to find them to be roughly in line with gasoline prices on a cost-per-mile basis.
To look at best and worst cases, we picked three EVs that span a range: from small to large, from relatively efficient to huge and power-hungry. And we looked at the highest and lowest home-electricity rates, which can vary among states by a factor of 10. Finally, we calculated the cost of DC fast charging for a road trip.
Factors Affecting EV Charging Costs
Here’s a question to ponder: Do you know what you pay at home for a kilowatt-hour of electricity? Turns out very few people can answer that question accurately. (The average U.S. cost is now about $0.175 per kWh) EV drivers can often get the most bang for their buck if their utility company encourages electricity use and EV charging during low-demand hours (this is generally from around 11:00 pm to 6:00 am). You may have to sign up for a different rate plan to get the best deal for EV charging.
As for DC fast charging for road trips, the pricing is complicated. It varies among networks, may be lower at night, and may or may not require a session fee for each charging connection. Most networks also have membership plans with a monthly fee but lower per-kWh rates.
To give some perspective, we looked at the cost of driving 100 miles in a Tesla Model 3, Chevrolet Equinox EV, and GMC Hummer EV. For home charging, we used the EPA-rated range, which the government calculates using a mix of local and highway use. For DC fast charging, we used the results of our range tests (where available) under the assumption that these stations are often used to add electrons when going on high-mileage highway drives.
Overall, home charging is always much cheaper for 100 miles than paying for gasoline in a comparable vehicle, as little as one-third the price. On the other hand, on-road DC fast charging used for road trips can often be pricier than gasoline, depending on how high or low gas prices may be at the time of your drive.
Most EVs today cover the bulk of their miles from at-home or at-work charging, so the weighted average gives EVs a decisive advantage—though this may not apply to apartment dwellers without the ability to install their a charging station of their own.
How to Reduce Your EV Charging Expenses
First, charge at home whenever you can—and check whether your utility has special "EV charging" or "time of use" rates that make overnight electricity cheaper than it is during the day.
Second, check what charging stations exist in shopping centers, downtown parking lots, big-box stores, or other locations you regularly visit. You may be surprised to find that some are free, perhaps for a limited time, as a way to lure customers. You won’t get a full recharge, but "opportunistic charging" can save you money.
Third, check out workplace charging. If you drive to a building to work every day, it may have EV charging—even if you never noticed it. This can be a convenient way to recharge during the workday, especially for those drivers who can’t charge at home.
(Note: We added 10 percent to the recharge energy in all our home-charging calculations and 5 percent for fast-charging to account for losses during charging.)
Costs to Charge Different EV Models
2025 Tesla Model 3
In a best-case scenario, an efficient EV such as the rear-wheel-drive Tesla Model 3 Long Range can cost less than $3.00 to drive 100 miles. We're using the Tesla as our most optimistic case, looking at what a relatively efficient EV costs to recharge in a state with very low electricity rates. We picked Oklahoma, where a kilowatt-hour costs $0.113, fractions of a cent lower than the next-cheapest state, Louisiana.
HOME CHARGING
In the case of the rear-drive Model 3 Long Range, 100 miles is 27.5 percent of its EPA-estimated range of 363 miles. That percentage of its 79.7-kilowatt-hour battery pack is 22.0 kWh.
In Oklahoma, the cost of that 22.0 kWh is $2.73 in electricity to drive 100 miles when charged at home. Compare that to a BMW 330i that earns an EPA-estimated combined rating of 31 mpg. To go 100 miles, the gas vehicle requires around 3.2 gallons of premium fuel at the Oklahoma price of $3.46 per gallon, or around $11 worth of gas. Even if you cheap out and fill the four-cylinder BMW with 87-octane at Oklahoma's average price of $2.76 per gallon, you're looking at a bill of $8.90 (and that assumes the lower octane fuel won't affect the BMW's fuel efficiency).
FAST CHARGING ON THE ROAD
On our 75-mph real-world highway range test, the rear-drive Model 3 Long Range netted 310 miles of driving range. At that rate, we would need 25.7 kWh to cover 100 miles. Per kWh pricing on the Tesla Supercharging network varies depending on a number of factors, and drivers must use the Tesla app to get pricing for each location. Using the off-peak rate of $0.25 per kWh amounts to a cost of $6.75 to go 100 miles. But, it could also cost double that depending on what time you're charging. The aforementioned BMW, meanwhile, which returns an EPA-estimated 35 mpg on the highway, needs $9.89 worth of premium fuel to go 100 miles on the highway. That sum falls to $7.89 if you opt for regular instead.
2025 Chevrolet Equinox EV
We’re using the Chevrolet Equinox EV as our average case, looking at what a popular battery-powered vehicle in the U.S. costs to recharge at the average U.S. electricity rate of $0.175/kWh. The front-drive Equinox EV nets an EPA-estimated range of 319 miles in mixed local and highway use.
HOME CHARGING
Sticking with our methodology, traveling 100 miles in an Equinox EV uses 31.3 percent of the rated 319-mile range, or 26.6 kWh of the battery pack's 85 kWh of usable capacity. That equates to $5.13 at the average residential per kWh rate of $0.175.
Compare this to the front-drive gas-powered Chevrolet Equinox and its EPA-estimated combined figure of 27 mpg. This fuel-swilling compact SUV needs 3.6 gallons of gas to go 100 miles. That's a bill of $11.63 at the national-average regular gasoline price of $3.14.
FAST CHARGING ON THE ROAD
Highway travel is a different story, though. On our real-world highway-range test, a front-drive Chevrolet Equinox EV managed 260 miles of range. This equates to 32.7 kWh of electricity needed to cover 100 miles.
The EVgo network that GM pins its name to has variable costs for charging based on several factors, with the price per kWh often ranging from as little as $0.23 to as much as $0.69. Charge at the low end of that spectrum, and in the best-case fast-charging scenario, the Equinox EV costs $7.90 to travel 100 miles. Charge at the high end, though, and you're looking at a bill of $23.69, or $12.48 more than it costs in fuel to go 100 miles in a front-drive gas-powered Equinox getting 28 mpg on the highway, as the EPA estimates.
2025 GMC Hummer EV Pickup
This is our most pessimistic case: a huge, inefficient EV recharged in a state with the highest electricity rates in the nation: Hawaii, where a kWh of electricity costs $0.42. The GMC Hummer EV pickup has a truly massive battery pack, with a usable capacity of 205 kWh, which affords it an EPA-estimated range of 312 miles.
HOME CHARGING
Covering 100 miles would use 32 percent of the battery capacity, or 65.7 kWh. In Hawaii, that’d run you $30.36. Compare that to a Ford F-150 Raptor R, which the EPA estimates gets 12 mpg combined. At the average cost of around $4.91 per gallon for premium in Hawaii, getting 100 miles worth of regular gas for a Raptor R comes in at $40.92—$10.56 more than it costs to nab 100 miles worth of electricity at home for a Hummer EV.
FAST CHARGING ON THE ROAD
On our 75-mph highway range test, a GMC Hummer EV Edition 1 netted 290 miles of range. To cover 100 highway miles would require 34.4 percent of the 205-kWh battery, or 70.7 kWh. The rates at Hawaii's DC fast-charging stations seem to vary from $0.49 to $0.66 per kWh. That means fast-charging a Hummer EV in Hawaii could set you back between $36.37 and $48.99. The Raptor R and its EPA-estimated highway figure of 15 mpg, meanwhile, would need just $32.73 worth of premium gas to go 100 miles.
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