EV Charging Cost Calculator
Estimate what it costs to charge your electric vehicle. Get your monthly charging cost, cost per mile, and yearly savings versus a comparable gas car.
Miles Driven Per Month
How many miles you drive in a typical month. The US average is about 1,000–1,200 miles per month.
Vehicle Efficiency
How far your EV travels per kilowatt-hour. Found in your car's interface or EPA rating. Pick a preset or enter your own.
Electricity Rate
Your cost per kWh. Find it on your utility bill by dividing total charges by total kWh used. US average is about $0.16/kWh. On a time-of-use plan, use your overnight rate.
Compare to a gas car
Gas Car MPG (for comparison)
The fuel economy of the gas car you're comparing against. Used only for the savings comparison — leave the default if you're not comparing.
Gas Price (for comparison)
The price you'd pay per gallon of gasoline. Used only for the savings comparison.
Charging efficiency (outlet-to-battery losses). A sensible default is used unless you change it.
Your EV Charging Cost
$52
per month
5.2¢
per mile
+$777
saved vs. gas / yr
Estimate only. Charging cost reflects the energy you're billed at the wall (after charging losses) and excludes any charger fees, demand charges, or monthly plan costs. The gas comparison covers fuel only — not maintenance, where EVs typically save further. Actual costs vary with weather, driving style, and utility rate plans.
💡About this calculator▼
The pitch for an electric vehicle is cheap "fuel" — but what does charging actually cost you? It comes down to three things: how far you drive, how efficient your car is, and what you pay per kilowatt-hour. Plug those in and the monthly number is usually lower than people expect, often around fifty dollars for an average driver on typical residential rates.
This calculator turns your driving into a real charging cost. Tell it your monthly miles, your EV's efficiency, and your electricity rate, and it works out what you'll spend each month, what each mile costs, and how much energy you'll add to your electric bill. It accounts for charging losses too — the energy lost between the wall outlet and the battery — so the figure reflects what your utility actually charges you, not just the energy stored in the pack.
It also answers the question every new EV owner asks: am I actually saving versus gas? Enter the MPG and gas price of the car you're comparing against and you'll see your yearly fuel savings side by side with your charging cost — the cleanest way to see what going electric is really worth.
Charging cost comes down to one chain: miles turn into energy, and energy turns into dollars.
Your vehicle's efficiency — miles per kilowatt-hour — sets how much energy it takes to cover your driving. An efficient car (4 mi/kWh) needs far less than a heavy truck (2.3 mi/kWh) for the same miles. The calculator also accounts for charging losses: some of the energy you pull from the wall never reaches the battery, so your utility bills you for a bit more than what ends up in the pack. Apply your electricity rate to that billed energy and you have your charging cost.
From there the calculator reframes that cost in the ways that are easiest to judge — per month, per year, and per mile — and adds the kWh that'll show up on your electric bill.
Finally it sets your charging cost against gas. Using the MPG and gas price you enter, it works out what the same miles would cost in a gasoline car and shows the yearly difference. That gap is usually comfortably in the EV's favor, because electricity per mile is typically far cheaper than gasoline — though the exact margin depends on your rate, your efficiency, and the car you're comparing against.
The step-by-step formulas and a worked example are below.
📐How it's calculated▼
The calculation runs in a few clean steps.
Step 1 — Energy into the battery: Battery energy (kWh) = Monthly miles ÷ Vehicle efficiency (mi/kWh)
Step 2 — Energy you're billed for (accounting for losses): Billed energy (kWh) = Battery energy ÷ Charging efficiency
Step 3 — Charging cost: Monthly cost = Billed energy × Electricity rate Annual cost = Monthly cost × 12 Cost per mile = (Monthly cost ÷ Monthly miles) × 100 ¢
Step 4 — Gas comparison: Gas monthly cost = (Monthly miles ÷ MPG) × Gas price Gas annual cost = Gas monthly cost × 12
Step 5 — Your savings: Annual savings vs. gas = Gas annual cost − Annual charging cost
Example: 1,000 mi/mo, 3.5 mi/kWh, $0.16/kWh, 30 MPG gas car at $3.50/gal, 0.88 efficiency
→ Battery energy: 1,000 ÷ 3.5 ≈ 285.7 kWh
→ Billed energy: 285.7 ÷ 0.88 ≈ 324.7 kWh
→ Monthly charging cost: 324.7 × $0.16 ≈ $51.95
→ Cost per mile: ≈ 5.2¢ (vs. ≈ 11.7¢ for the gas car)
→ Gas annual cost: (1,000 ÷ 30) × $3.50 × 12 ≈ $1,400
→ Annual savings vs. gas: $1,400 − $623 ≈ $777
📎Source: U.S. Department of Energy — Alternative Fuels Data Center
🔍Finding your inputs▼
Miles Driven Per Month: Your typical monthly driving distance. If you only know your annual mileage, divide by twelve — the US average works out to roughly 1,000–1,200 miles per month. This scales everything: double the miles and you roughly double both the cost and the savings.
Vehicle Efficiency: How many miles your EV travels per kilowatt-hour. You can find this on your car's interface (often shown as mi/kWh, or as Wh/mi which is 1,000 ÷ that number) or from its EPA rating. Use the presets as a starting point: about 4.0 for an efficient compact EV, 3.5 for a typical sedan, 3.0 for an SUV, and 2.3 for a large electric truck. Cold weather and highway speeds lower real-world efficiency.
Electricity Rate: What you pay per kilowatt-hour. The most accurate way to find it is to divide your total monthly electric charges by the total kWh used, both shown on your bill. The US residential average is about $0.16/kWh, but it ranges from under $0.11 in some states to over $0.30 in California and Hawaii. If you're on a time-of-use plan, use your off-peak (overnight) rate, since that's when most EVs charge. If you charge mostly at public stations instead, enter that rate (DC fast charging typically runs $0.40–$0.60/kWh).
Gas Car MPG (for comparison): The fuel economy of the gasoline car you're comparing against — usually the car your EV replaced or the gas version you'd otherwise buy. A typical sedan is around 30 MPG; a thirsty SUV or truck might be 18–22. This input only affects the savings comparison, not your charging cost.
Gas Price (for comparison): The price per gallon you'd pay for that gas car. Use your local pump price. Like MPG, this only affects the savings figure. Together these two inputs set the gasoline baseline your EV is measured against.
Charging Efficiency (advanced): The fraction of energy from the outlet that actually reaches your battery. AC home charging loses roughly 10–15% to conversion and thermal losses, so 0.85–0.90 is typical. DC fast charging can be comparable or slightly more efficient at the car, since it skips the onboard AC-to-DC converter. Leave the default unless you've measured your own losses; it nudges your cost up slightly to reflect what you're really billed.
⚠️Special situations▼
My utility charges different rates at different times of day (time-of-use)
Many utilities offer cheap overnight "super off-peak" rates specifically to encourage EV charging — sometimes half the standard rate. Since most charging happens overnight, enter your off-peak rate rather than your blended household average for the most realistic cost. If you sometimes charge during peak hours, your real cost sits between the two; run the calculator once at each rate to see the range. A dedicated EV time-of-use plan is often the single biggest way to cut your charging cost.
I charge mostly at public fast chargers, not at home
This calculator uses a single electricity rate, so if you rely on public charging, enter that rate instead of a home rate — DC fast charging typically runs $0.40–$0.60/kWh. Note that some networks bill per minute rather than per kWh; if so, divide a typical session's cost by the kWh it delivered (both on your charging receipt) to get an effective per-kWh rate. Public-only charging costs noticeably more per mile than home charging, and at high rates your EV's cost per mile can approach that of gasoline.
I get free charging at work or through my automaker
If a meaningful share of your charging is genuinely free, your real cost is lower than a single rate can capture. The simplest approach is to enter the rate you pay for the charging you actually pay for, and mentally discount the cost by the free share. If essentially all your charging is free, your charging cost is effectively zero and your savings versus gas equal the full gas cost. Keep in mind promotional free-charging deals often expire after a few years, so it's worth also running the numbers at normal rates.
My efficiency is much worse in winter
Cold weather can cut EV range 20–40% because of battery heating and cabin climate control, which means more kWh per mile and a higher bill. The calculator uses a single efficiency figure, so for a winter estimate, lower your mi/kWh (e.g., from 3.5 to 2.5) and re-run it. For an annual average, you might split the difference. Preconditioning the car while it's still plugged in, and using seat heaters over cabin heat, both help recover some of that lost efficiency.
I want a fair total cost comparison against gas, not just fuel
This tool compares fuel/energy only — it does not include maintenance, insurance, or depreciation. EVs typically save further on maintenance (no oil changes, less brake wear from regenerative braking), which widens the gap in the EV's favor beyond the fuel savings shown here. Gas cars may have lower upfront cost. For a purchase decision, treat the fuel savings as one important piece and layer in those other costs separately.
❓Common questions▼
How much does it cost to charge an electric car per month?
For a typical driver — about 1,000 miles a month in a car getting 3.5 mi/kWh, at the US average rate of $0.16/kWh — charging runs roughly $50 a month after charging losses. Your number scales with how much you drive, how efficient your car is, and your local electricity rate. Someone in a high-rate state like California might pay double; an efficient EV driven modestly could be under $35. Enter your own figures above for a personalized estimate.
How much can I save charging an EV instead of buying gas?
For an average driver, charging at home instead of fueling a 30 MPG gas car saves roughly $700–$900 a year in fuel alone — and more if you drive a lot, have cheap electricity, or replaced a thirsty truck. The savings come from electricity being far cheaper per mile than gasoline: about 5¢/mile versus roughly 12¢/mile. Enter your gas car's MPG and your local gas price above to see your specific yearly savings. Note this counts fuel only; EVs usually save further on maintenance.
What is a good cost per mile for an electric vehicle?
Charging at home, most EVs land between 4¢ and 7¢ per mile — comfortably below a typical gas car's roughly 11–13¢ per mile in fuel. Relying on public DC fast charging pushes that to 12–18¢ per mile, which can match or exceed gasoline. The calculator shows your cost per mile right at the top so you can see where you fall. The takeaway: an EV's fuel savings depend heavily on your electricity rate — cheap home or overnight power is what makes electric dramatically cheaper to drive.
What is charging efficiency and why does it matter?
Charging efficiency is the share of electricity drawn from the outlet that actually makes it into your battery. Some energy is lost as heat and in converting AC power from the grid to the DC your battery stores — typically 10–15% for home AC charging, so 85–90% efficiency. It matters because you pay for the energy at the wall, not the energy in the battery. The calculator accounts for this so your estimated cost reflects what your utility actually bills, not just the theoretical battery energy.
Does charging an EV at home raise my electricity bill a lot?
It adds a noticeable but manageable amount. A typical driver adds roughly 300 kWh a month — the calculator shows your exact figure as 'Energy Used Per Month.' At average rates that's around $50, which simply moves your former gas spending onto your electric bill, usually for less money overall. Many utilities offer special EV rate plans with cheap overnight pricing that can cut this substantially, so it's worth asking yours whether one is available.