Originally published on the LK Forge blog, where the charts are interactive and you can plug in your own car and rate with the EV Charging Cost Calculator.
The honest answer to "how much does it cost to charge an electric car" is it depends — on your battery, your car's efficiency, and above all where you plug in. So I ran one transparent model across 10 popular EVs at three places you charge: at home, on a public Level 2 station, and on a DC fast charger. Here is what a charge actually costs, per full charge and per mile.
The savings are in the garage. Charging at home is where an EV is cheap to run — about 4.6¢ a mile for an efficient car. But at typical DC fast-charging prices the same car costs 13.0¢ a mile, and a big truck can top 27¢ — at or above what a 30-mpg gas car costs per mile. The road, not the car, decides the savings.
At home, a mile costs a few cents
Charged at home at $0.17 per kWh, every car here comes in under 10¢ a mile, and the efficient sedans sit near 4.6¢. The number tracks efficiency almost perfectly — the more miles a car gets per kWh, the less each mile costs. Heavy trucks use roughly twice the energy per mile of a Model 3, so they cost roughly twice as much to drive on the same electricity.
| EV | Home cost per mile |
|---|---|
| Tesla Model 3 (RWD) | 4.6¢ |
| Chevrolet Bolt EV | 4.8¢ |
| Tesla Model Y | 5.1¢ |
| Nissan Leaf | 5.4¢ |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 | 5.6¢ |
| Kia EV6 | 5.6¢ |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E | 6.3¢ |
| Volkswagen ID.4 | 6.3¢ |
| Rivian R1T | 8.2¢ |
| Ford F-150 Lightning | 9.4¢ |
Where you charge matters more than what you drive
The rate per kWh is the biggest lever on cost, and it swings hard by location. Public Level 2 typically runs around $0.30 per kWh and DC fast charging around $0.48 — roughly 2.8× the home rate. That multiplier lands on every mile:
| EV | Home ($0.17) | Public L2 ($0.30) | DC fast ($0.48) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tesla Model 3 (RWD) | 4.6¢ | 8.1¢ | 13.0¢ |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E | 6.3¢ | 11.1¢ | 17.8¢ |
| Ford F-150 Lightning | 9.4¢ | 16.7¢ | 26.7¢ |
For comparison, a 30-mpg gas car at $3.50 a gallon costs about 11.7¢ a mile. Home charging beats it comfortably for every EV here; DC fast charging meets or exceeds it for most. That is the practical takeaway: an EV is cheapest when you charge slowly overnight and treat fast charging as the convenience it is.
The full 10-car table
Full charge is a 0–100% home charge at $0.17/kWh; the per-mile columns use $0.17 (home), $0.30 (Level 2) and $0.48 (DC fast) per kWh, all at 90% charging efficiency.
| EV | Battery | mi/kWh | Full charge | Home | L2 | DC fast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tesla Model 3 (RWD) | 57.5 kWh | 4.1 | $10.86 | 4.6¢ | 8.1¢ | 13.0¢ |
| Chevrolet Bolt EV | 65 kWh | 3.9 | $12.28 | 4.8¢ | 8.5¢ | 13.7¢ |
| Tesla Model Y | 75 kWh | 3.7 | $14.17 | 5.1¢ | 9.0¢ | 14.4¢ |
| Nissan Leaf | 60 kWh | 3.5 | $11.33 | 5.4¢ | 9.5¢ | 15.2¢ |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 | 77 kWh | 3.4 | $14.54 | 5.6¢ | 9.8¢ | 15.7¢ |
| Kia EV6 | 77 kWh | 3.4 | $14.54 | 5.6¢ | 9.8¢ | 15.7¢ |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E | 88 kWh | 3.0 | $16.62 | 6.3¢ | 11.1¢ | 17.8¢ |
| Volkswagen ID.4 | 82 kWh | 3.0 | $15.49 | 6.3¢ | 11.1¢ | 17.8¢ |
| Rivian R1T | 135 kWh | 2.3 | $25.50 | 8.2¢ | 14.5¢ | 23.2¢ |
| Ford F-150 Lightning | 131 kWh | 2.0 | $24.74 | 9.4¢ | 16.7¢ | 26.7¢ |
How to work out your own cost
Every number here comes from two lines of arithmetic. To top up from one state of charge to another, the energy that reaches the battery is the battery size times the percentage added; you pay for a bit more than that because of charging losses. Then multiply by your rate:
- Charge cost = (battery kWh × percent added) ÷ efficiency × rate per kWh
- Cost per mile = (rate per kWh ÷ efficiency) ÷ miles per kWh
- Assumed rates: home $0.17, public Level 2 $0.30, DC fast $0.48 per kWh
- Assumed efficiency: 90% (wall to battery); battery and mi/kWh per the table above
These are illustrative assumptions, not measured field data — charging losses, network pricing and driving conditions vary. Plug in the rate from your own bill or charger for an exact figure with the EV Charging Cost Calculator, or estimate your whole monthly bill with the Electricity Bill Calculator.
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