By EV Charge Cost Editorial Team. Published September 28, 2026, updated October 26, 2026.
Start with the numbers
Your charging cost has three parts: miles, energy per mile and price per kWh. For the examples below we use 13,500 miles a year, a typical EV at 33.5 kWh/100 mi and the U.S. average price of 18.16¢/kWh (EIA, August 2026), which gives $821.29 a year. Where we use a percentage, it is an illustration; your results depend on your utility and your car.
Lower the price you pay per kWh
- Know your real rate. Divide the usage-based charges on your bill by the kWh used. You cannot optimize what you have not measured. See how to find your rate.
- Move to a time-of-use or EV plan if it fits your household. As an illustration, a 30% off-peak discount would save about $246.39 a year here. Compare a full year of bills first. See the cheapest time to charge.
- Schedule charging automatically. A plan only saves money if the car actually charges off-peak. Set the schedule in the car or charger, and check the first bill to confirm it worked.
- Keep daily charging at home. At an example public price of $0.45/kWh (enter your own in the calculator), shifting just 10% of your energy to fast chargers adds about $121.38 a year.
- Stop fast charging around 80%. Charging slows sharply near full, and on per-minute pricing the last part costs the most per kWh.
- Use free charging where it is convenient. Covering 20% of your energy with free workplace or destination charging would be worth about $164.26 a year at home prices. See free EV charging.
- Watch tiers. On a tiered plan, reducing other household use keeps more of the EV's kWh out of the expensive tier. See tiered rates.
Use fewer kWh per mile
- Ease off at highway speed. Aerodynamic drag rises steeply with speed, so a few mph less on long trips saves real energy. On a typical trip the extra driving time is small compared with a charging stop you may avoid.
- Precondition while plugged in. Heating or cooling the cabin and battery from the grid before you leave means less energy drawn from the battery on the road, and on a TOU plan you can do it at a cheaper rate.
- Keep tires at the recommended pressure and remove roof racks when unused. Both reduce rolling resistance or drag. If poor habits raise consumption 10% (an illustration), that costs about $82.12 a year.
- Use seat and steering-wheel heaters. Heating the person instead of the whole cabin uses far less energy in cold weather than running the cabin heater at a high setting.
Choose efficiency when you buy
- Compare kWh/100 mi before you buy. Among popular models, the Tesla Model 3 (26.4 kWh/100 mi) and the Chevrolet Silverado EV (49.6) differ by about $568.18 a year at these prices. Smaller wheels on the same model usually help too. See the cheapest EVs to charge.
What these add up to
| Change | Assumption | Yearly effect |
|---|---|---|
| Off-peak plan | Illustrative 30% discount on all charging | $246.39 |
| Avoid fast charging | 10% of energy moved from $0.45/kWh to home | $121.38 |
| Free charging | 20% of energy free | $164.26 |
| Efficient driving | Illustrative 10% less energy | $82.12 |
| Efficient model | Tesla Model 3 vs Chevrolet Silverado EV | $568.18 |
The savings do not simply add up, since each one shrinks the base the others apply to. Put your own numbers into the charging cost calculator to see where you stand.