EV Charging Cost Calculator
Estimate your daily and monthly charging costs. Compare home vs. public charging rates.
Last Updated: January 2026
What this calculator does
Estimate EV driving cost using distance, efficiency, electricity price, and charging losses. The tool reports cost per mile or kilometer and monthly totals for home vs public charging.
Inputs explained
- Currency: Symbol used to display costs (USD, EUR, GBP, and more).
- Daily driving distance: Miles or kilometers driven per day.
- Days driven per month: Number of days you typically drive.
- Vehicle efficiency: Choose the unit you know (mi/kWh, Wh/mi, kWh/100mi, kWh/100km, or Wh/km).
- Home electricity rate: Price per kWh from your utility bill.
- Charging loss percent: Energy lost to heat and conversion, entered as a percent.
- Public charging markup percent: Extra percent added to the home rate to model public charging prices.
How it works / Method
- Convert your efficiency to kWh per selected distance unit (mi or km).
- Adjust for charging losses to estimate grid energy per mile or kilometer.
- Multiply by your electricity rate to get cost per distance and cost per 100 units.
- Scale by monthly distance and apply public markup to compare home vs public totals.
Formula(s) used
kWh_per_unit = convert(efficiency)
grid_kWh_per_unit = kWh_per_unit / (1 - loss%/100)
cost_per_unit = grid_kWh_per_unit * rate
monthly_distance = daily_distance * days_per_month
monthly_kWh = monthly_distance * grid_kWh_per_unit
monthly_cost_home = monthly_kWh * rate
monthly_cost_public = monthly_kWh * rate * (1 + markup%/100)
savings = monthly_cost_public - monthly_cost_home
Units: distance in mi or km, energy in kWh, rate in currency per kWh. Assumes losses and markup remain constant during the month.
Inputs
Results
Cost per mi
-
Cost per 100 mi
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Monthly Cost (Home)
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Monthly Cost (Public)
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Potential Monthly Savings
-
Step-by-step example
Example inputs: 30 miles per day, 22 driving days per month, 3.5 mi/kWh efficiency, $0.15 per kWh home rate, 10% charging loss, and a 30% public charging markup.
- Convert efficiency: 1 / 3.5 = 0.286 kWh per mile.
- Account for losses: 0.286 / 0.90 = 0.317 kWh per mile from the grid.
- Cost per mile: 0.317 * $0.15 = $0.048 per mile.
- Monthly distance: 30 * 22 = 660 miles.
- Monthly home cost: 660 * 0.048 = $31.43.
- Public rate: $0.15 * 1.30 = $0.195 per kWh, monthly public cost about $40.86.
- Estimated monthly savings: $40.86 - $31.43 = $9.43.
Use cases
- Budget monthly charging costs for commuting and errands.
- Compare home charging with public charging when planning trips.
- Test how efficiency changes affect cost per mile or kilometer.
- Estimate savings after switching to a time of use electricity plan.
- Cross-check results with the EV vs ICE fuel cost calculator.
Assumptions & limitations
- Efficiency is treated as a steady average.
- Temperature, HVAC use, and tire pressure can increase energy use beyond rated values.
- Charging loss varies by charger type and battery temperature; a single percent is used here.
- Public pricing may include fees; markup is a simplification.
- Electricity prices are a single blended rate.
- Battery aging and regeneration effects are not modeled directly.
Disclaimer: Results are estimates for planning only. Real world charging cost and range vary by conditions and driving behavior.
Frequently Asked Questions
Energy drawn from the wall is higher than energy stored in the battery. Losses come from AC to
DC conversion, battery heating or cooling, and electronics. The calculator divides by (1 -
loss%) to estimate grid kWh per mile, which raises the cost per mile even if driving efficiency
stays the same. Real losses depend on charger type, temperature, and battery conditioning, so
use a conservative value if you are unsure.
Use the unit your vehicle reports today. Many dashboards show mi/kWh or Wh/mi, while some apps
list kWh/100km or kWh/100mi. If you only have an EPA rated value, enter it in its unit and the
calculator will convert it. For best results, use a recent average from your normal driving
because efficiency changes with speed, weather, terrain, and accessory use.
Check your utility bill for the energy charge in currency per kWh. If you have time of use
pricing, use the rate that applies to most of your charging hours or compute a weighted average
based on your schedule. Delivery charges and taxes can increase the effective price, so include
them when they are billed per kWh. If a public station charges per minute or session fee, use
the Session Pricing calculator.
Public networks pay for site construction, maintenance, demand charges, and payment processing.
Pricing may also reflect convenience or high power delivery, which can push the effective rate
above typical residential electricity prices. Some stations bill per minute, which becomes
expensive when charging slows at higher state of charge. The markup input provides a simple way
to model that premium if you do not know the exact public price.
No. This calculator focuses on energy cost to drive, not long term ownership or depreciation.
Battery aging can reduce usable capacity and may change real world efficiency, but it does not
change the electricity price per kWh you pay. If your efficiency changes over time, update the
efficiency input to reflect recent driving. For total cost of ownership, combine this with
maintenance and depreciation estimates.
Yes. For workplace charging, enter the price per kWh if known, or enter zero if charging is
free. For solar charging, use an effective cost per kWh based on your system or the value of
electricity you would have bought from the grid. Net metering and time of use credits can change
that value, so an average rate is usually the most practical input.
Sources & references
- U.S. Energy Information Administration: Measuring electricity - Defines kW and kWh used in cost calculations.
- DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center: EV charging options for consumers - Charging level overview and typical power ranges.
- U.S. EPA: Plug-in electric vehicle charging basics - Explains charging behavior and real world charging speeds.
- U.S. DOE Energy Saver: Fuel economy in cold weather - Shows how temperature and accessories affect energy use.
- Schema.org: FAQPage, WebPage, and BreadcrumbList - Structured data definitions used on this page.