Cost of Charging an Electric Car: What to Expect

Buying an electric car comes with more than the sticker price at the dealership. You’ll need to include the cost of charging your car when updating your monthly budget. Even charging at home comes with an additional cost.

The cost of charging an electric car is significantly lower than filling up a traditional vehicle's gas tank. But total costs vary widely by where you live, accessibility to public charging, and setting up your house for at-home charging. 

WorkMoney guides you through the total cost of charging an electric car.

Cost of Charging an Electric Car at Home

To find out how much you’ll pay by charging your car at home, first figure out how much your electric company charges you per kilowatt hour. This is not a one-size-fits-all charge; costs vary widely by where you live and when you make payments, as electric companies charge based on kWh.

Review your electric bill to determine the rate you’re charged per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Then multiply that by the size of your car’s battery. That’ll give you the cost of a full charge. Here’s an example: 

The Ford F-150 Lightning standard range battery is 98 kWh. Let’s say you live in Colorado, where the average kWh rate is 156.16 cents. 98 x .15616 = 15.8368, or $14.705.84 for a full charge. This is significantly cheaper than filling the equivalent F150 with gasoline.

Your monthly costs come from how frequently you drive and charge your car. Let’s say you charge the same F150 Lightning twice per week. That means you’ll pay $31.68 per week, or $126.72 per month. Keep in mind that most folks don’t run their battery down to zero or charge their cars up to 100%. Instead, many EV drivers charge 80% of the total available battery for daily driving. Costs also fluctuate during peak and off-peak hours (essentially overnight when most of your appliances aren’t in use). For this example, however, it shows the absolute most you’ll pay.

Equipping Your Home to Charge an EV

You’ll need to make sure your home is equipped to take on the extra work. While you could use a standard home outlet (120 volt), this method could take days to fully charge your car. A Level 2 charger (what your clothes dryer machine uses) takes you from a 120-volt to a 240-volt, doubling your power and charging speed. You can plug your car in at night and wake up to a fully charged car.

Outfitting your home with a Level 2 charger could cost you $1,150 to $2,750, including the charger and installation. You can buy one on your own but you’ll have to install it yourself. Unless you’re familiar with electrical panels, it’s best to get an experienced electrician to install a Level 2 charger. While this is a one-time purchase, you’ll need to factor in this additional cost when you buy an EV.

Cost of Public Charging for an Electric Car

Public chargers are either a Level 2 or a Level 3 charger. A Level 2 charger is the most common type of charger, whether it’s for homes or public charging. Level 2 chargers can recharge an EV battery in 4-10 hours, depending on the car. 

Level 3 charging is “direct charge,” or DC. Tesla’s Superchargers are Level 3 DC chargers. These chargers can charge a completely depleted battery up to 80% in less than an hour.

Extra-fast charging comes with an additional cost. Nationally, it’s $0.49/kWh to charge at fast charging stations.

If you can’t charge at home or outfit your home with a charging upgrade, you might have to resort to public charging. This can be a more expensive option, especially if you charge every few days.

Cost of Charging vs. Gas

Using the Ford F-150 Lightning example from above, you’re paying almost $127 to charge your car at home. Remember that’s for full charges from 0 to 100%, even though most EV owners charge up to 80% and don’t run down to 0. 

Let’s compare the usage of a gasoline-powered F150 to that of the Lightning. The cost per mile for EV charging is $0.23 and $0.33. Between electricity use and fuel or electricity cost, the annual operating cost of a Ford Lightning EV is $2,802. For the regular F150 pickup, the yearly operating cost is $3,922.

Tesla has a calculator for how much you could save on EV charging compared to gas. For instance, a Model Y driving 25 miles a day will cost $34.09 to charge your car monthly, saving you $84.61 in gas.

How to Find Free EV Charging

There are some places that allow you to charge your car while you’re using their facilities. For instance, many Whole Foods locations have EV charging stations for you to plug in while grocery shopping. IKEA also has charging stations for customers.

Some businesses offer charging as an incentive for workers. Condo and apartment complexes sometimes have free charging available to residents. 

You can use apps like ChargePoint to find free charging in your area. You can filter by location, speed of charging, and available stations. 

The Bottom Line

EVs are an excellent way to reduce emissions and your carbon footprint. While EVs are more expensive in sticker price, it’s cheaper to charge your EV than fill up a gas-powered car. Financing an electric car might be what you need to get into the world of EVs, and you could significantly save in the long run when it comes to charging an EV compared to filling up a gas tank.