EV Charging Cost Calculator
Enter your battery size and how full you want it, and this prices the charge at home or at a public fast charger, counting the energy lost between the wall and the pack, which most charging calculators quietly skip. A second mode prices a month of driving, and every answer shows the cost per mile next to what gas would have been.
The formula, with the part most calculators skip
The divide is the honest part. Charging is not lossless: between your meter and the battery, the onboard charger and the cable turn some of the electricity into heat. On a Level 2 home charger about 12 percent is lost, on a regular Level 1 wall outlet about 20 percent, and on DC fast charging about 7 percent. Your utility bills the wall side of that divide and your car's screen reports the battery side, which is why the kWh on your bill never quite match the kWh your car says it took. A calculator that multiplies battery kWh by your rate understates every home charge by about an eighth, and this one does not.
So how much does it cost to charge a Tesla?
The question everyone actually types, so here it is with real numbers. A Model Y's roughly 75 kWh pack, charged at home on Level 2 at the US average residential rate of 18 cents per kWh: a full charge is about $15.34, and the everyday 20-to-80 top-up is about $9.20. The same top-up at a Supercharger, at a typical 47 cents per kWh, runs about $22.74. Per mile that is roughly 5 cents at home and 14 cents on the road. Every one of those figures came from the calculator above, so change the pack size and rate and it becomes your car instead.
Home and public charging are different products
The spread is about 2.6 to 1: 18 cents at home against roughly 47 at a fast charger, and the difference is what you are buying. A fast charger sells speed, grid demand charges and real estate; your garage sells none of those. The planning consequence is simple: an EV charged at home is genuinely cheap to run, and an EV charged mostly on public fast chargers is not. There is a number that makes this precise: at today's average gas price, electricity breaks even with a 27 MPG gas car at about 53 cents per kWh. Home charging sits at a third of that line. Typical fast charging sits just under it, keeping only a sliver of the advantage, which is worth knowing before assuming every electric mile is a cheap mile.
The overnight rate is the real EV discount
Many utilities offer time-of-use or EV-specific plans that charge half the standard rate or less overnight, which is exactly when a car is parked anyway, and every modern EV can schedule its charging into those hours. At 9 cents off-peak, the $9.20 top-up above becomes about $4.60 and the per-mile cost falls under 3 cents. If you own an EV and have never asked your utility about an EV rate, that phone call is probably worth a few hundred dollars a year; enter the off-peak rate above and see.
Worked example
A 75 kWh pack charged from 20 to 80 percent on a home Level 2 charger at 18 cents per kWh:
The battery gains 45 kWh, but at 88 percent efficiency the wall supplies 45 ÷ 0.88 = 51.14 kWh, and 51.14 × $0.18 = $9.20. The same charge on a Level 1 outlet bills 56.25 kWh and costs $10.13 for identical miles: the slow cord's extra losses are a real, if small, surcharge.
What this page deliberately hands elsewhere
How long the charge takes is its own arithmetic, with charging curves and the 80 percent taper, and our EV charging time calculator owns it. Whether an EV saves money overall against a gas car, counting both fuels and the emissions ledger, is the EV savings calculator's job, and pricing the gas side of any trip is the fuel cost calculator's. Planning charging stops on a long drive belongs to the EV road trip calculator. This page answers one question well: what the electricity for a charge actually costs.
Data reviewed: September 2026. Figures here come from published sources and change over time. How we verify
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Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to charge a Tesla?
At home, a Model Y with a 75 kWh pack costs about $15 for a full charge at the average US residential rate of 18 cents per kWh, once charging losses are counted. The everyday 20 to 80 percent top-up runs about $9. At a Supercharger the same top-up is around $23, because public fast charging averages roughly 47 cents per kWh. Per mile, that is about 5 cents at home and about 14 cents on the road.
Why does my electric bill show more energy than my car gained?
Charging is not lossless. Between the wall and the battery, the onboard charger and the cable turn some electricity into heat: roughly 12 percent is lost on a Level 2 home charger, about 20 percent on a regular Level 1 outlet, and about 7 percent on DC fast charging. Your meter bills the wall side, your car reports the battery side, and this calculator prices the side you actually pay for.
Is charging an EV cheaper than buying gas?
At home, clearly: about 5 cents a mile against roughly 15 cents for an average gas car at current prices, a threefold difference. At public fast chargers the gap nearly closes: around 14 cents a mile, only a little under gas. The break-even electricity price works out to about 53 cents per kWh at today's gas average, and typical fast-charging networks sit just below it. The rule of thumb: an EV charged at home is cheap to run, and an EV charged only on the road is not.
Why do people charge to 80 percent instead of full?
Two reasons. Charging slows down sharply above 80 percent, so the last fifth takes a disproportionate share of the time at a fast charger. And lithium batteries age less when they are not held at full, so most manufacturers recommend an everyday limit of 80 or 90 percent, saving 100 percent for road trip days. The cost per kWh is the same either way; it is the time and the battery that care.
Does Level 1 charging cost more than Level 2?
For the same miles, yes, by around 10 percent. A regular wall outlet charges so slowly that a larger share of the energy is lost as heat along the way, about 20 percent against 12 percent for a Level 2 charger. Level 1 is fine for a short commute and costs nothing to install, but the electrons themselves are slightly more expensive per mile of range.
What do public fast chargers charge per kWh?
Typically between 40 and 60 cents per kWh in the US as of late 2026, with 47 cents a reasonable planning average. Some networks price per minute in certain states, and idle fees apply if you stay plugged in after finishing. Membership plans knock 20 to 30 percent off some networks, which matters if road trips are a regular thing.
How can I lower my home charging cost?
Ask your utility about time-of-use or EV-specific plans. Many charge half the standard rate or less overnight, exactly when a car is parked anyway, and every modern EV can schedule its charging for those hours. At 9 cents per kWh off-peak, the Model Y top-up in the example drops from about $9 to about $4.60, and the per-mile cost drops under 3 cents.
Do these numbers include the cost of installing a home charger?
No. This page prices the electricity. A Level 2 home installation typically runs a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars depending on your panel and wiring, and it is a one-time cost that spreads over years of charging. Our EV savings calculator is the right place for the whole gas-versus-electric ledger, and the charging time calculator answers how long each of these charges takes.