EV Charging Cost Calculator
Work out what it costs to charge an electric car at home or at a public charger, per charge, per mile and per month, and compare it with gas. Charging losses are counted, prices start at the latest US averages, and every figure can be changed.
Your numbers
In the owner's manual or the maker's spec sheet.
From the car's trip screen. 3.5 is an example starting value, not a measured figure. Using the EPA label (kWh per 100 mi, which already counts charging losses)? Enter 100 ÷ that figure and set the loss to 0.
Energy lost between the wall and the battery. 16% is the DOE figure; set 0 if your efficiency is from the EPA label.
Starts at the US residential average for August 2026 (EIA). Your bill's total divided by its kWh is better; add a time-of-use EV rate if you have one.
Per kWh, from the charger's app or screen. Fast chargers often cost more than home power; some also bill by the minute or add a session fee.
Starts at 25.5 mpg, EPA's model year 2024 new-vehicle average without EVs and plug-in hybrids.
Starts at $4.27, the EIA US regular average for the week of October 26, 2026.
Cost per mile, charging at home
$0.06 a mile (6.2¢)
- One charge at home
- –
- Charging a month
- –
- Gas car per mile
- $0.17 a mile
- EV saves per mile
- $0.11
An estimate. Cold weather, highway speed, heating or cooling the cabin and short trips all use more energy than the display average.
Prices change: put in your own bill's rate, your charger's price and today's gas price. Fixed monthly charges, session fees and per-minute billing are not included.
The calculation runs in your browser and ParrotNotes does not store your numbers. They sit in the page address so you can bookmark or share the result.
How EV charging cost is worked out
Charging cost is the energy drawn from the wall times the price per kWh. The energy going into the battery is the battery size times the share you add; some of what comes out of the wall is lost as heat in the charger and battery on the way, so the wall energy is the battery energy divided by 1 minus the loss.
Worked example: a 75 kWh battery charged from 20% to 80% takes 45 kWh. With a 16% loss that is 53.6 kWh from the wall; at 18.16 cents a kWh, about $9.73. Driving 1,000 miles a month at 3.5 miles per kWh uses 340 kWh from the wall, about $61.77 a month at home, against about $167.45 for a 25.5 mpg gas car at $4.27 a gallon.
Charging losses and which efficiency figure to use
The Department of Energy estimates an energy loss of about 16% from the wall power to the battery during charging, and the calculator starts there. It is an average and differs from car to car and charger to charger, so you can change it.
Use the miles per kWh from the car's trip screen, which counts energy from the battery, with the loss on top. The EPA figure on the window sticker and fueleconomy.gov is in kWh per 100 miles measured from the wall, so it already includes charging losses: divide 100 by it for miles per kWh and set the loss to 0.
Home, public and the price of gas
Home power starts at 18.16 cents per kWh, the EIA's US residential average for August 2026 (Electric Power Monthly, released October 23, 2026; preliminary). Many utilities offer a time-of-use or EV rate that is cheaper overnight: put that in if you charge then. Public chargers set their own prices, so the public field starts empty; take the price per kWh from the charger's app.
The gas comparison starts at $4.27 a gallon, the EIA's US regular average for the week of October 26, 2026, and 25.5 mpg: EPA's Automotive Trends report puts model year 2024 new vehicles at 27.2 mpg real-world, 1.7 mpg lower without electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The comparison is fuel and electricity only, not maintenance, insurance or the price of the car.
For car sales and EV charger installers
The question on the lot or in the driveway is what charging will cost this buyer. Ask for their utility rate (or a recent bill), how far they drive in a month, whether they can charge at home and what they pay for gas now, then run their numbers rather than an average. Note what decides it for them, the monthly saving, range or the charger install, so the follow-up answers it.
Sources, each read on 2026-10-30. Results are estimates from your inputs; prices change, so use your own:
- U.S. DOE Vehicle Technologies Office, Fact of the Week #1045: about 16% lost from the wall to the battery during charging
- EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A: average residential price, August 2026 (released October 23, 2026)
- EIA Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update: US regular gasoline, week of October 26, 2026
- EPA Automotive Trends Report highlights (February 2026): model year 2024 real-world fuel economy
More for car and home energy sales: Car sales tips, Car sales follow-up, Solar sales.
The buyer's numbers come up in the conversation
How far they drive, what they pay for power and gas, whether they can charge at home: it all comes up on the lot or in the driveway. Record the conversation in ParrotNotes and get a transcript, a summary and the action items, so the follow-up uses their numbers.
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