EV charging cost calculator: home and public

What it really costs to run your electric car: home charging on a standard or EV tariff, public chargers, and how it compares with petrol.

Your electric car (optional)

Miles per kWhBattery (kWh)

Miles a year

Home electricity

EV off-peak tariff (9.4p)Standard tariff (26.3p)My own rate

Public charging (%)Public price (p/kWh)

Compare with a petrol car doing (mpg)

Charging cost

£415

a year, or 5.2p a mile

Home charging: £215
Public charging: £201
Electricity bought: 2,540 kWh
Same miles in petrol: £1,386

Charging saves about £971 a year against petrol.

A 10% to 80% charge costs £4 at home and £37 on a public charger.

Includes about 10% lost while charging. Tariffs and petrol prices start at current UK averages.

How much does it cost to charge an electric car at home?

On an EV off-peak tariff at around 9.4p per kWh, a car doing 3.5 miles per kWh costs about 3.0p a mile to charge, allowing for charging losses. On a standard tariff at 26.3p it's about 8.3p a mile. Rapid public chargers often charge 70–85p per kWh, which can cost more per mile than petrol.

Getting the cheapest charging

Switch to an EV tariff with a cheap overnight rate and set the car or charger to charge then.
On a half-hourly tariff like Agile, charge in the cheapest hours: see today's Agile prices.
Use slower public chargers (7–22kW) where you can: they're usually much cheaper than rapid ones.

Efficiency and range for each model are official figures from the Vehicle Certification Agency (© Crown copyright); battery size is estimated from them. Tariff defaults are the average of Octopus Energy's published rates across all regions.

Frequently asked questions

›How much does it cost to fully charge an electric car?

A 60kWh battery from empty costs about £6.27 on a 9.4p off-peak tariff or £17.53 at 26.3p. Most drivers top up from 20% to 80% rather than charging from empty.

›Is it cheaper to run an electric car than petrol?

Almost always if you charge mostly at home, especially on an off-peak tariff. If you rely on rapid public chargers, it can cost as much as petrol or more.

›How many kWh does an electric car use per mile?

Most use 0.25–0.35kWh per mile (3–4 miles per kWh). Efficiency drops in cold weather and at motorway speeds.