How Much Does It Cost to Charge an Electric Car?

One of the major obstacles slowing the adoption of electric vehicles globally is the lack of information on electric vehicles in general, and in particular, the costs and fees associated with new energy vehicles. While new-energy vehicles fare more than petrol or diesel vehicles with similar characteristics, the cars will be priced closer after removing the financial incentives introduced in many countries over the past few years.

What's more, it's almost always cheaper to keep an EV with a fully charged battery than to fill up the gas tank.

The mistake most people make is thinking about charging an EV on the same terms as filling up a gasoline car - the difference is staggering. First, there are more factors to consider as an EV driver, but this puts you in control of the EV, not the other way around. Where to charge, when and how fast, and in what time slots all matter and affect how much you pay to charge your EV.

And that's not even considering the number of free charging options that exist today. EV charging is cheap and easy and just requires a few new calculations and charging habits. So, how much does it cost to charge an electric car? Find out all the answers in our ultimate guide.

To understand how much it will cost to charge an EV, you need to know how much energy an EV uses per mile and how much energy it uses while charging.

If you're charging at a public charging station, whether using a public charging point in a city or a motorway service station down the road, you'll see this when you connect or plug into a charging station. The price will be shown in kW/h or per kWh as it is when it comes to any type of electricity usage.

Conversely, if you're using your own femtocell, the electricity cost will usually show up on your bill per kilowatt-hour.

Once you know what your cost per kilowatt-hour is, then all you need to do is multiply that by the kilowatts your EV needs to fully charge the battery - and that's the final electricity bill.

For example, if your EV battery has a capacity of 60kW and your home electricity price is around 17.5p per kWh, which is the UK average, then charging your EV at home will cost you £8.58.

Of course, most of the time you won't be charging the battery entirely from scratch, but the numbers above are always a good starting point to get a better idea of the cost of charging an EV.

In most cases, you won't spend this many times, and basically, a full charge will be around £7.

Where you charge your EV can affect the final price you pay for a full battery. Fortunately for EV owners, there are many places to charge your EV, each with a specific set of pros and cons: public charging, highway charging, and home charging are all available, and now more than ever All more within reach.

Most people only use home charging stations to charge their EVs. Even so, many people rely on these fast chargers at work or at motorway service stations on frequent road trips, while others even have the luxury of planning around these free public chargers and being able to save money.

That's why we'll explain in depth how the cost per kWh of each different type of charge point will vary and depend on a range of factors.

A good rule of thumb is to pay close attention to and take advantage of pricing during off-peak hours and its overall convenience. Since these off-peak times are usually in the middle of the night when demand is the least, prices are lower. With a smart charging station, you can be sure that your car should be charged when the cost per kWh is lowest, making it one of the most cost-effective options.

When you can't charge during off-peak hours, the next best option may be to charge during periods of high electricity demand. This option is more expensive and you have to keep in mind not to overuse the amount of energy allocated to the whole house.

Every day more people have access to public charging points across Europe. While the UK is still working on developing its charging infrastructure consisting of fast charging and fast charging stations, the task of finding public charging points to charge electric vehicles is not as difficult as it used to be.

Best of all, public charging points can be found just about anywhere these days - in stores, shopping malls, in the middle of streets, and in the parking lots of workplaces, hotels, and restaurants - just to name a few. These charging points are often also used for fast charging.

In order to connect to these charging points, you'll need some sort of physical key, such as an RFID card or a smartphone app that works the same way -- identifying both the driver and the different car chargers trying to establish a connection.

Being able to charge your electric car without paying anything may seem like a dream, but it's definitely a reality. Many supermarkets, like the aforementioned chains, have started offering free charging when you shop there. Some shopping centers also offer similar services.

To take advantage of these, you'll most likely need to download a specific app and use some sort of charge point, but it won't cost your car any electricity. There is no cheaper way.

When EVs make long-distance journeys, they must be able to access charging points when needed. In these cases, EV charging almost has to happen, no matter what the cost of doing so. So, charging points on the highway tend to cost slightly more, similar to when a gasoline or diesel car drives on the highway. While some fees have been removed over time, the cost per kWh is still a bit high, and public charging points are an overall cheaper option.

Motorway service stations often have a mix of fast and fast charging at prices similar to public stations. This means that new energy vehicles have the same two options as public charging stations. Fortunately for most EV owners, these gas stations tend to have more fast chargers available to take advantage of.

When you fill up your petrol or diesel car, you'll pay an average of £1.35 per liter. If a typical petrol car can travel 12.5 miles on a liter of fuel, the average price per mile would be around 10.8p.

By comparison, an electric car with a regular battery can travel about 4 miles in one kilowatt-hour. As we said before, the cost of electricity is close to 17.5p per kWh. This translates to a cost of around 4.37p per mile.

Here, it's easy to see that EVs are more cost-effective than those powered by gasoline. An electric car costs less than half that of a gas-powered car per mile driven.

The above introduces some relevant information about charging new energy vehicles. If you want to know more or want to buy new energy vehicles, please contact us.

Yitongda is a comprehensive second-hand car service provider. It is committed to building the largest foreign trade base for the second-hand car export industry in the central and southern regions and an important window for China-Africa electromechanical exports. Products are mainly exported to more than 30 countries and regions in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South America, Russia, etc., including new energy vehicles (pure electric and hybrid), gas vehicles, commercial vehicles, excavators, concrete pump trucks, semi-trailers, tractors, dump trucks, graders, loaders and other categories.