EV Charging Cost Calculator

This EV charging cost calculator shows what it actually costs to charge your electric vehicle — for a full charge, a specific trip, or a typical month — including the energy lost to AC or DC charging inefficiency. Pick your vehicle to auto-fill its battery size and efficiency, or enter your own figures. Add a peak rate alongside your regular rate to see exactly how much charging off-peak saves you, and get your cost per mile alongside the total, so you can compare charging at home against public fast charging on the same terms.

Choose your scenario, pick your vehicle or enter specs manually, add your electricity rate, then calculate. Formula: Cost = (Energy Delivered ÷ (1 − Charging Losses)) × Rate.

Your Scenario

Pick the cost question you're trying to answer.

Your Vehicle

Optional — select your vehicle to auto-fill battery capacity and efficiency below, or skip this and enter your own values.

Make

Model

Trim / Battery

Vehicle battery and efficiency figures are typical published specifications per trim and may vary by model year, options, drivetrain, wheel size, and software updates. Always verify your exact vehicle's specs against your owner's manual, window sticker, or manufacturer's site.

Charge Details

Not sure what a field means? Tap the ⓘ next to its label.

Battery Capacity — usable kWh

Current Charge — % now

Target Charge — % goal

Efficiency — Wh per mile

Distance Unit

Electricity Rate & Charging Type

Add a peak rate to see an off-peak vs. peak cost comparison.

Your Rate — $/kWh

Peak Rate — optional, for comparison

Charging Type

Charging Losses — % editable

Your Results

Full Charge Cost

—

at your rate

Energy Delivered

—

kWh into the battery

Energy Drawn

—

kWh from the grid, after losses

Cost per Mile

—

at your rate

Cost at Peak Rate

—

for comparison

Off-Peak Savings

—

vs. charging at peak

Formula: —

Off-Peak vs. Peak Cost

Bars show your total cost for this scenario at each rate you entered. If you didn't enter a peak rate, only your rate is shown.

Results are for reference and estimation only. Actual cost varies with your equipment's real efficiency, utility rate structure, and vehicle-specific factors. See full disclaimer below.

How to Use the EV Charging Cost Calculator

Choose Your Charging Scenario

Pick Full Charge, Trip Distance, or Monthly to match the cost question you're trying to answer.

Select Your Vehicle or Enter Specs Manually

Choose your vehicle's make, model, and trim to auto-fill its battery capacity and efficiency, or skip the selector and enter your own values.

Enter Your Charge Details and Electricity Rate

Fill in the charge level, distance, or mileage fields for your chosen scenario, then enter your electricity rate. Add a peak rate to see an off-peak vs. peak comparison, and confirm your charging type and loss percentage.

Review Your Results

Click Calculate to see your cost, energy drawn from the grid, cost per mile, and — if you entered a peak rate — a chart comparing off-peak and peak cost. Use Print to capture the results as they appear on screen.

Related Tools

Want to know how long this charge will take? Try the EV Charging Time Calculator.

Curious how this stacks up against a gas car? Try the EV vs Gas Cost Comparison.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is this different from just multiplying my battery size by my electric rate?

The energy that actually lands in your battery isn't the same as the energy your utility bills you for. Charging always loses some energy to heat and AC-to-DC conversion, so this calculator first computes the energy delivered to your battery, then divides by your charging efficiency to get the energy actually drawn from the grid — that larger number, not the delivered figure, is what your rate is multiplied against.

What's a typical charging-loss percentage for AC vs. DC charging?

Home and public Level 2 (AC) charging commonly runs at roughly 85 to 94 percent efficiency, so this calculator defaults to a 12 percent loss for AC. DC fast charging is often assumed to be more efficient since it bypasses the onboard AC-to-DC converter, but the very high power involved generates more heat, so real-world DC efficiency commonly lands around 85 to 90 percent — this calculator defaults to a 10 percent loss for DC. Both figures are editable, since actual losses vary by charger, vehicle, cable, and temperature.

How much can charging off-peak actually save me?

It depends entirely on your utility's rate spread — some time-of-use plans price peak electricity two to three times higher than off-peak. Enter both your off-peak and peak rate and this calculator shows the dollar difference directly, rather than making you run the numbers twice by hand.

Why doesn't this calculator show charging time?

Charging speed depends on your charger's power output and your vehicle's onboard acceptance rate, not just cost math, so that's handled by a dedicated tool built specifically for it — the EV Charging Time Calculator. Keeping the two tools separate means each formula only has to be maintained in one place.

Why doesn't this calculator compare EV charging cost to gas?

A fair gas comparison needs its own inputs — fuel price, miles per gallon, and maintenance assumptions — so that comparison lives in its own dedicated tool, the EV vs Gas Cost Comparison calculator. Use the Related Tools below to jump there with your charging numbers already in mind.