Across the United States, the average cost to charge an EV with a Level 2 home charger is $0.15 per kWh and a Level 2 public charger is $0.2 to $0.25 per kWh. While, a Level 3 public charger costs $0.4 to $0.6 per kWh.
So considering your EV has a 90kW battery, the total cost to fully charge the battery (from null to 100%) comes to around,
- $13 charging with Level 2 home charger,
- $20 with a Level 2 public charger,
- $40 with Level 3 public charger.
However, the unit price varies with different regions and it changes with time. Say, the unit cost of electricity in Nebraska and Louisiana is among the lowest in USA coming to $0.0937 to $0.0985 per kWh, while charging in Hawaii costs $0.44 per kWh, the highest one.
The exact cost of charging with a home charger and a public charger also varies. Normally public charging cost is coming to around 2x to 3x that of home charging.
The cost to charge your EV is mostly based on the ‘per unit’ of power consumption (i.e. per kilowatt-hour).
Calculate EV charging cost by Yourself:
So the simple formula to calculate the total cost of charging, multiply the kWh consumed in charging your EV by the unit price at that time.
Total Cost of charging = Total kWh consumed * Unit price
Formula to calculate cost of EV charging
You can use this formula to calculate daily, weekly or monthly costs to charge your EV by looking at historical charging stats of your EV.
(Certain EVs provide these stats in the vehicle dashboard or in the owner’s account. While there are also some third-party apps providing this feature among others)
However, some public chargers cost based on the time it takes to complete a charing session i.e. per minute or hour basis.
Per-hour charging cost for a level 2 public charger ranges from $1 to $5, while for a Level 3 charger ranges from $10 to $30.
Other Charging Costs – Using Public Charger
Apart from this direct cost of charging there are other costs as well that certain public chargers may charge at certain times, like parking fees, Idle fees, Congestion fees and subscription or membership fees.
Parking fees may be time-based or session-based fixed fees.
Idle fees are based on time depending on how long your EV remains in parking after completing the charging session.
Congestion fees are extra costs incurred if you go to charge your EV which is already at a certain State of Charge, mostly 80% and above.
However, these extra costs are totally subject to the individual charging network or station policies. Idle fees and congestion fees are mostly there to make charging accessible to more users when the charging site is busy.
Note: The cost details provided here are based on the rate at the time of writing. As this cost varies regularly, please visit the respective portal of the charging network or electricity utility provider to get accurate cost details for the particular location and time.
So now I hope you have thorough clarity about charging cost of an electric vehicle.
Then see you in the next article!
