Electric vehicles (EVs) are a key part of the ongoing attempt to move away from fossil fuels and electrify America. This is why agencies like the Department of Energy promote these technologies and educate the American public about EV benefits. It’s also why there are so many incentives to purchase electric vehicles, including tax credits and rebates in places like Texas.
If you’re considering making the switch away from a gas-powered car, you’re likely wondering how much does it costs to charge an electric car? Let’s learn a little bit about the factors that determine the amount you’ll pay.
Electric Cars vs. Gas-Powered Cars: How Do They Work and Compare?
Today, most vehicles are gas-powered. They have an internal combustion engine that burns fuel like gasoline or diesel in order to produce the energy that moves the vehicle.
Electric vehicles, on the other hand, operate with a different set of internal components, and this is relevant in understanding how much it costs to charge an electric car. Instead of a gas tank and an engine, they have a battery that provides the energy that moves the vehicle. This battery must be charged at a charging point, such as a roadside charging station or an outlet in your home.
There are several types of electric vehicles:
- EV/BEV: Battery-powered electric vehicle that runs on battery power exclusively
- HEV: Hybrid electric vehicle, which has a chargeable battery as well as a gas tank and engine
- PHEV: Same principle as the HEV, except that it plugs into a power outlet to charge
EVs are becoming more popular every year. One sign of this is the brisk sales of EVs, such as the Tesla Model 3 over the past few years. Another is the fact that automotive giants have also begun offering their own EVs and PHEVs: there’s the Nissan Leaf, the Ford Mustang Mach-E, the Toyota bZ4X, the Hyundai IONIQ6, and many others.
Being powered by electricity instead of internal combustion, EVs famously produce far fewer greenhouse emissions. They don’t produce any tailpipe emissions, which come directly from the vehicle itself. At present, however, there are still usually emissions associated with charging an electric vehicle. Unless the electricity used to charge the vehicle came from a renewable source like wind or solar, fossil fuels had to be burned to provide the charge.
PHEVs can generally operate on either gasoline or electricity. They produce emissions like any other gas-burning vehicle when they’re using gasoline as a fuel source, and they produce no tailpipe emissions when they’re using electricity as a fuel source.
One commonly cited drawback to EVs is that they tend to have smaller miles of range than gasoline-powered cars. That means they can’t go as far on a full battery charge as a gasoline-powered car can go on a full tank of gas.
While this limited range is still mostly the case, things are changing with more recent EV models. Today, the majority of electric vehicles can travel between roughly 120 and 300 miles on a single charge, making them more than enough for most daily commuting, and even a short road trip.
How Does Charging an Electric Vehicle Work?
Figuring out how much it costs to charge an electric vehicle requires us to establish some context by discussing the mechanics of charging.
Charging an EV or a PHEV looks a lot like charging your computer or cellphone: you simply plug the vehicle’s charging cable into an outlet and wait for the battery to replenish. How long it takes to get to full charge will depend on various factors, including how depleted the battery currently is, its storage capacity, and ambient temperature.
Though most EV charging is done at home, there’s also a charging network consisting of tens of thousands of special-built EV charging stations all over the United States, with more being constructed every day. You will generally pay for this service with a credit card, subscription fee, or mobile app, but there are some EV charging stations that offer free charging.
There are also three kinds of EV charging:
Level 1: This charging level uses a standard connector plugged into a regular electrical outlet on the wall, and charges fairly slowly (3-5 miles of range per hour charge).
Level 2: Level 2 charging happens at home at a dedicated power source, and charges at a faster 15-30 miles of range per hour charged.
DC fast charging: DC fast charging uses several different connector types, usually occurs at a dedicated charging station near a highway, and charges at a quick 150-400 miles of range per hour charged.
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How Much Does It Cost to Charge an Electric Vehicle?
Calculating the total cost to charge an electric car will depend on many factors, including the type of charging equipment you use, the make and model of your vehicle, and the cost of electricity per kilowatt-hour in your area. If electricity rates are high, then you can expect a higher electricity bill than if they are much lower.
According to data from a 2020 study put out by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory, the national average cost of charging an electric vehicle was 15 cents per kilowatt-hour. This was based on the assumption that most (81%) of the charging happened at home, with a relatively small fraction happening at public charging stations and DC fast charging stations (14% and 5%, respectively.)
Calculating Your EV Charging Costs
To estimate your total annual expenditure for charging an electric vehicle, you need to multiply your EV’s kilowatt-hour/100 rate (which is the number of kilowatt hours it requires to drive 100 miles) by your local electricity rates. Then calculate roughly how many miles you drive in a year, and you’ll have a good guess as to what your final annual expenditures will be.
Let’s work through an example:
The Tesla Model 3 RWD has a kWh/100 of 25 – it takes 25 kWhs to drive 100 miles.
In Denver, Colorado, the price for a kWh of electricity in January of 2023 was $.153.
To go 100 miles, therefore, you’d have to spend $3.83 (25 x $.153).
On average, people drive approximately 13,500 a year, so they could expect to pay a little over $500/year (13,500/100 x $3.83) to charge their Model 3.
Another thing to keep in mind is that time of day can impact the rate based on what your electricity provider charges you. This can also be a factor if you’re using a charging station. Certain Tesla supercharger stations also have different rates for peak and off-peak hours.
Is It Cheaper to Charge an Electric Car Than Fill Up a Gas-Powered Car?
One way to compare electric vehicles to their gas-powered counterparts is by looking at their fuel economy, which is defined as the distance a vehicle can travel using a particular amount of fuel.
With a standard gasoline-powered car, this quantity is measured as miles-per-gallon (mpg), i.e., the number of miles you can go on a single gallon of gas. We can’t use mpg for electric vehicles because they don’t use gas. However, manufacturers will sometimes calculate the miles per gallon of gasoline-equivalent (mpg-e), which is the number of miles an electric vehicle can travel using a charge that contains the same amount of energy as a gallon of gasoline.
Fuel economy is a place where EVs shine, with drivers seeing their annual spending on fuel decline by as much as 60% on average.
Whether this means that an EV is cheaper than a gas car will depend on the average price to fill up at a gas station in your area. Fuel costs vary a lot across the United States, and if gas prices are low enough where you live it might still ultimately be cheaper to drive a gas car.
What Is the Cost of Charging an Electric Vehicle at a Charging Station in the US?
Every EV owner needs to know how it works. If you’re an EV driver wondering how much EV charging costs, the answer will depend on many factors. Some public charging stations are free, some offer a subscription service you can pay for, and others charge you a certain number of cents per kilowatt-hour based on local electricity rates.
Cities and states also sometimes set their own unique local policies. In Longmont, Colorado, for example, charging at any level 2 station in the city will only set you back $1 an hour.
Is Home Charging Cheaper Than Using an EV Charging Station?
This will depend a lot on your local electricity rates and the kind of home charger you use. Generally, getting an EV charger for home use does involve some upfront expense, but once you’ve made the purchase then you’re only paying for the electricity.
The charging stations around the country also charge variable rates, sometimes subject to special local policies. Before setting out on a road trip, be sure to plot out the charging stations you’ll have available, and check their rates.
How Long Does It Take to Charge an Electric Car?
Electric car charging time will depend on the kind of vehicle you have, the EV battery it uses, and the kind of charger you’re using.
There are three basic kinds of charging setups an EV driver will need to be familiar with. Level 1 is the slowest and cheapest option, level 2 is faster but requires a dedicated charging station, and direct current fast chargers are the quickest option.
You can expect level 1 charging to get you 5 miles per hour you spend charging, level 2 to get you 25 miles per hour you spend charging, and DC fast chargers to get you 100-200 miles per half-hour you spend charging.
The total time required will depend on how empty your EV battery is and what its total capacity is.
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How Long Do Tesla Batteries Last?
Based on statements made by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, a Tesla battery should last somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 miles, which works out to 1,500 battery charges. Assuming you drive an average of 40 miles a day, this means one battery should last you 20 or 30 years.
Charging Into the Future with Electric Vehicles
EVs are incredibly exciting, especially for anyone who wants to save money in the long run and do their part to help the Earth. Still, owning and maintaining electric vehicles isn’t free. Be sure to take stock of the expenses that determine how much it costs to charge an electric car, such as local electricity rates and battery replacements, before you buy one.
While gas-powered vehicles are still part of our daily lives, the continued growth of electric cars on the road is an important part of our clean energy transition.
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