What does it really cost to charge an electric car?

What does it really cost to charge an electric car?

There is no getting away from it the cost of charging an electric vehicle has increased with the current fuel crisis.

How do you calculate the running costs of an electric vehicle?

Starting with the battery - the capacity of an electric cars battery is expressed in kWh – that’s kilowatt hours to you and me and it is the measure of the energy storage available in the cells. The size of the batteries vary from car to car – so for example a Tesla Model Y packs a 82kWh battery whereas a Nissan Leaf for example comes with a 40kWh battery and the Jaguar I Pace 90kWh

To calculate how much it costs to charge your car all you do is look at the cost of the electricity (either at home or at a public charging point) and do the maths.

The cost is worked out by multiplying the size of the battery (kWh) by the cost of the electricity (pence per kWh) and that will be the cost to charge from empty to full – like filling up your fuel tank.

You can see how much your electricity costs on your bill.

So taking the Tesla Model Y as an example:

Tesla Model Y with a 82kWh battery. If you charged at a rapid public charging point in the UK typically the cost may be 45p per kWh, so the total cost would be 82 x 45p = £37 if in theory you were charging from empty to full.

Charge at home from a cheaper supply which may be 28p per kWh and you are looking at £23 for the charge in round figures.

Install a smart charging point at home and buy your electricity from a provider with a special EV tariff and your costs will drop.  This works  because the smart charger talks to the electricity provider and  your battery is charged when the demand on the grid is at its lowest. The charge may be trickling into your battery on and off during the wee small hours, but all you need to worry about is programming your charger so that you wake up to a full battery. 

That looks like a great saving compared to £120 odd per tank for a conventional petrol or diesel car but a Tesla Model Y might give you 250+ miles for that charge whereas a petrol or diesel car may go 500 miles between fill ups. For the Tesla to do the same it would have to be charged twice – so £74 total at the public charger or say up to £46 if charging at home.

So you can see there are still savings to be made, although it is best to go for the cheaper charging solution and use the public charging stations when out and about on longer runs if possible. That is just the charging, when doing the maths don't forget to factor in the reduced cost of servicing an electric vehicle.