Home charging cost: what does it cost to charge your EV?
Set your electricity price, the charge you add and how far you drive. The calculator works out what a charge costs, your running cost per 100 km and your monthly charging bill — including charging losses and an optional day/night tariff. Every value is editable.
What charging costs
- This charge
- £10.44
- 20% → 80%
- Charging time
- 4 h 42 min
- 7.4 kW
- Range added
- +127 mi
- +60%
Monthly spending
≈ 7.3 charges/mo · 932 mi
£77 per month
Electricity tariff
Battery, car & usage
Optional — pick your car to prefill capacity, consumption and battery health, or edit any field for a custom one.
How to read the result
A charge costs the energy you draw from the grid times your electricity price. You pay for grid energy, not the energy that reaches the battery: home AC charging loses about 10% in your car's onboard converter, so the bill is a little higher than the battery's size suggests. The running cost per 100 km is the figure to compare against petrol or diesel — multiply it by your monthly distance to see the real saving. If you're on a day/night tariff, charging overnight on the cheaper rate is where most of the savings come from.
Good to know
- The effective price blends your day and night rates by how much you charge on each — set the night share to match your real habits.
- Charging losses (~10% on AC) are included, so the cost is grid-side, like your meter. A cold battery and a long, slow trickle on a small socket lose a little more.
- Public fast charging costs much more per kWh than home charging — this calculator is for charging at home. For a road-trip stop, use the charging-speed calculator.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does it cost to charge an EV at home?
- It's the energy you put in times your electricity price, plus about 10% for charging losses. For a typical 58 kWh car at €0.25/kWh, a full charge is roughly €16 and a 20–80% top-up about €10. Enter your own battery size and price above for an exact figure.
- Is it cheaper to charge at night?
- Usually, yes — if you're on a day/night (dual) tariff. The night rate can be a half or a third of the day rate, and since most home charging happens overnight you can shift nearly all of it to the cheap window. Switch on the day/night tariff above and set how much you charge at night to see the difference.
- Why is the cost higher than battery size × price?
- Because of charging losses. Some of the electricity from the wall is lost as heat in your car's onboard charger — around 10% on AC. You pay for what the meter records, not what reaches the battery, so the real cost is a little above capacity times price.
- How do I work out my cost per 100 km?
- Take your consumption (kWh/100 km), divide by the charging efficiency, and multiply by your electricity price. The calculator does this for you and shows it as the running cost — the cleanest number to compare against the fuel cost of a petrol or diesel car.