How much does it cost to charge an electric car?

Electric cars can be very cheap to run – at least for those who can charge at home.

How much it costs to charge an electric car largely depends on where you charge it. If you have off-street parking and a home charger, you'll have access to the cheapest rates and you'll save a considerable amount of money compared to refuelling a petrol or diesel car.

If you don’t have a home charger, or are on a long journey, you’ll need to make use of the public charging network, which is typically much more expensive than charging at home. When using public chargers, you could easily end up paying more per mile than it would cost to refuel a comparable petrol or diesel car. 

Keep reading to find out all you need to know about how much it costs to charge an electric car. Plus, we reveal the cheapest electric car to run based on our lab tests and explain whether electric cars really are cheaper to run than other types of car.

Cheapest electric cars for 2024: we show you the lowest-priced EVs we’ve tested.

What it really costs to charge an electric car

How much it costs to charge an electric car largely depends on where you're charging, the efficiency of your electric car and charging losses (the energy lost when charging your car).

Where you charge

It can be very cheap to charge at home, especially if you have an off-peak tariff that allows you to charge your car when demand for electricity is low (at night, for example).

While it can cost as little as 7p/kWh to charge at home, public chargers can cost more than 10 times this – 79p/kWh is a typical price for an ultra-rapid public charger.

EV efficiency

Like the familiar 'miles per gallon' (mpg) figure for petrol and diesel cars, the efficiency of electric cars can also be measured and is usually quoted in either 'miles per kWh' or 'kWh per 100km'. As you might expect, the more efficient your car is, the cheaper it is to run.

We give an overall efficiency figure for each electric car that passes through our intensive lab tests. Our lab measures the efficiency of each electric car in a range of driving scenarios and in exactly the same conditions, allowing you to accurately compare results across different models.

Charging losses

Because energy is needed to move electricity from a charger to the car’s battery, an electric car will most likely draw more energy to charge fully than the battery can hold. This is known as charging losses and is something we calculate when testing an EV. For example, our lab tests show that the 77kWh battery of the 2024 Skoda Enyaq L&K actually requires 88kWh to be fully charged when using an 11kW AC charger.

Typical electric car running costs

Below, we’ve given typical charging costs based on the average efficiency (3.1 miles per kWh) of all the different models and versions of EV we’ve tested, depending on where you charge.

As you can see, the cost per mile dramatically increases when you charge at a public ultra-rapid charger. 

For comparison, a typical medium petrol car costs 16p per mile, while for diesel it’s 13p (based on paying 150.12p for petrol and 158.13p for diesel). So when using a public ultra-rapid charger, you’re paying significantly more to refuel.

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Is charging an electric car cheaper than petrol or diesel?

Again, this largely depends on the electric car you drive and where you charge.

Based on our lab tests, we’ve calculated that if you pay more than around 50p per kWh to charge, it would be cheaper to run a traditionally fuelled equivalent. However, the precise point at which electric becomes more expensive than petrol or diesel depends on the car in question.

As an example, our lab tests show that medium-sized electric hatchbacks such as the VW ID.3 have an average efficiency of 3.2 miles per kWh. That means a car this size will typically use 2,203kWh over 7,050 miles (the average annual mileage from the latest Which? Car Survey).

If you were to pay 41p per kWh to charge, that would mean you’re paying 12.8p per mile, which is only slightly cheaper (by 0.1p per mile) than the equivalent-sized diesel car. Of course, this would be the case only if you charged solely using public charging points.

We show you the EV models we recommend, in our guide to the best electric cars for 2024. 

What’s the most efficient electric car?

Hyundai Ioniq 6

Hyundai (and related brand Kia) are industry leaders when it comes to making efficient electric cars. The Ioniq 6 is only the third car we've ever tested that achieves more than 4 miles per kWh in our tests, but the first two cars (the VW e-Up (2014-2023) and Hyundai Ioniq Electric (2016-2022) respectively) both had very small batteries with a small capacity: both under 30kWh. Smaller batteries make cars lighter and more efficient, but a smaller kWh capacity naturally reduces the maximum single range, so while they were efficient, the range isn't impressive by today's standards.

By comparison, the much newer Ioniq 6 has a large 77kWh battery which, combined with the car's excellent efficiency, gives the owner a very usable mileage from a single charge. It’s worth pointing out that this applies only to rear-wheel-drive models of this car; we’ve also tested an all-wheel drive Ioniq 6, which isn’t as efficient.

How many miles did Hyundai's Ioniq 6 manage in our independent tests? And how does it perform in other areas? Read our Hyundai Ioniq 6 (2022-) review to find out.

Can you charge an electric car for free?

Although it’s possible to find free electric car chargers, they’re not as common as they used to be.

If you do find a free charger, it’s likely to be owned by a business, so you’ll probably need to be a paying customer to use the charger. And in some places, even though the charging is free, parking restrictions/fees may still apply.

Bear in mind free chargers are also likely to be slow, so are usually good only for topping up your battery.

You can use services such as Zap-Map to look for charge points and filter by network, plug types, charging speed, payment method and more. 

New to public charging? Read our guide on how to use electric car charging points.

How much does it cost to drive 100 miles in an electric car?

Once you know how much it costs to run your EV per mile (as shown in all our electric car reviews), you can work out how much it costs to drive 100 miles (or any other distance).

For example, a Tesla Model Y, which based on our tests has running costs of 8.2p per mile, would cost £7.50 to travel 100 miles if you charged at home (at a rate of 22p per kWh). However, if you charged at a public rapid charger (at a rate of 79p per kWh), that 100 miles would cost £27.

How long does it take to charge an electric car?

The time it takes to charge an electric car varies, depending on factors including the charger speed, the maximum charge rate of your car and the size of its battery.

The charging times below are from our lab test results for the Tesla Model Y.

It's also important to note that electric cars often don't reach their advertised charge rate and that the actual rate will fluctuate throughout the charging process. 

For example, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 has an advertised maximum charge rate of 350kW. But our lab tests showed that the rear-wheel-drive model reached a maximum of 235.7kW, although it still only took 19 minutes to charge from 10-80% (just one minute slower than Hyundai claims).

Can I charge an electric car from a three-pin plug?

If you don’t have access to a dedicated home EV charger, you can still charge at home via a 13A three-pin plug, but it's not recommended.

A spokesperson from safety organisation Electrical Safety First told us: 'Charging an electric vehicle using a standard domestic three-pin plug and socket isn't recommended for long-term use. 

'These sockets aren't designed to handle the continuous high-power demand required for EV charging, and they can overheat over time, posing a fire risk, especially if extension leads or partially wound cable reels are used. However, if your outdoor socket has been specifically installed and designed for electric vehicles charging, it can be considered safe for use.'

Electrical Safety First strongly recommends using a registered electrician for all electrical installation work.

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