How much does it cost to charge an electric car?
We compare the cost of charging up an electric vehicle at many of the different public charging points around the UK...
If you’re lucky enough to be able to charge up your EV for free at work, or cheaply at home, you’ll be quids in when it comes to replenishing your car’s batteries.
However, it’s estimated that around a third of the UK’s 27 million households don’t have off-street parking, so many electric car owners will need to use public charging points. A decade ago it was possible to charge up for free, or for very little, at a number of sites around the UK, often with free parking thrown in as an added incentive.
But that situation has changed now that a growing number of big businesses have got into the charging game. Although there are still many places where you can recharge an EV for little or nothing, they are generally the oldest and slowest machines, which will take more than 17 hours to restore the battery of a large electric SUU, such as the BMW iX3. If you want to replenish your car’s battery in an hour or less you’re likely to have to pay a significant price to do so.
How much does it cost to fully charge an electric car at home?
The cost of charging an EV will depend on the size of its useable battery; the larger the battery, the longer, and pricier it will be to charge. EV battery packs vary in size far more than petrol and diesel car fuel tanks, so the differences can be far greater.
To replenish a Fiat 500 with a useable battery capacity of 21kWh, using a home charger, at the UK’s average electricity rate of 30 pence per kilowatt hour (kWh), costs £5, but a Mercedes EQS with a useable battery capacity of 108kWh will cost £23. However, the most popular EVs will be medium-sized hatchbacks or SUVs, like the Volkswagen ID 3, which is far more reasonable to recharge at £12.
These figures are for charging a battery from 10% to 80%, it will cost more if the battery has less charge or you want to get up to 100%.
Is it cheaper to run an electric car than a petrol model?
Recent rises in the cost of electricity have seriously increased the cost of running an electric car, and in some cases it is more expensive to run an EV than a petrol car, especially if you use can't charge up cheaply at home and have to use the most expensive public EV charging stations.
However, if you can charge at home, the electric BMW electric iX3 is cheaper to live with than its petrol sibling, the X£. The iX3 costs 14p per mile to run while the petrol X3 costs 16p per mile.
Where’s the cheapest place to charge an electric car?
For the majority of EV drivers, the cheapest place to charge by far is at home, especially if you have an EV home electricity tariff. If you're using the public charging network, the costs vary enormously – but by how much?
To answer this question, we compared the cost of 58 different public charging options offered by 23 different companies. We chose the iX3 for this price comparison because, as an electric SUV, it’s bang on trend. It can be charged at a rate of up to 150kW (faster than many other EVs) so it can benefit from using many of the most powerful public rapid chargers available.
We chose only to calculate the cost of charging the car from 10% to 80% as letting an EV’s batteries drop below 10% isn’t recommended, and it’s good practice to only charge to 80% to prolong battery life.
What are the cheapest and priciest ultra-rapid charging option?
Our research showed that the most expensive charging companies were Shell Recharge, whose top rate is 89p per kWh, followed by BP Pulse and Instavolt at 85p per kWh. At these prices, it’ll cost £46 and £44 respectively to charge a BMW iX3 from 10%-80%. All of these costs are for a pay-as-you-go charge at an ultra-rapid (100kW-plus) charger with quick and easy payment methods and no need to use an app.
BP Pulse subscribers pay almost as much as this – £43.59 for their first charge of the month at this speed because it includes a monthly fee of £7.85. However, subsequent charges within the month will cost £35.74, so you’ll save money if you’re a frequent user. Subscribers also receive their first month for free.
If you want a cheaper ultra-rapid charge, you’ll be better off with the likes of Fastned, which costs 69p per kWh, as well as Be.EV and Geniepoint which cost 75p per kWh. For the iX3, that’s a cost of £35.74 and £38.85 respectively. However, the Geniepoint cost is only for overnight charging, and it rises to 79p during the day.
The cheapest ultra-rapid EV charging comes from E.on at 63p per kWh, meaning charging the iX3 costs £32.63. However, you don’t get many of the fastest chargers.
EV owners in Northern Ireland can use ESB charging points from 63p per kWh, and Tesla owners can also save money by making use of its off-peak tariff of just 53p per kWh.
The most costly 50kW chargers are operated by BP Pulse and Revive, which cost 79p and 83p respectively at their pay-as-you-go rates. At these stations, charging up an iX3 will cost you £40.92 or £42.99. However, if you can charge overnight at a Be.EV station, you’ll only pay 65p per kWh, and you’ll save around £6.
Newcomer to the UK, EVPoint looks very reasonable, with a fee of 55p per kWh, but it doesn't have many ultra-rapid chargers, and you need to use an app to charge on them.
Pod Point is the cheapest network with good national coverage; it charges 62p per kWh at Tesco stores and 65p at Lidl supermarkets; using these chargers takes the cost down to £32.12 and 33.62. And joining Fastned’s Gold scheme could help you get a faster charge for less because those who sign up benefit from a 48p per kWh fee. This means the first charge costs £34.85 and subsequent ones £24.86.
The cost of using rapid and ultra-rapid public EV chargers
| Network and service name | Monthly fee | Cost per kWh | Total cost |
| Shell Recharge - 50kW-300kW | £0.00 | £0.89 | £46.10 |
| BP Pulse contactless PAYG 150kW | £0.00 | £0.85 | £44.03 |
| Instavolt - 50kW to 150kW | £0.00 | £0.85 | £44.03 |
| BP Pulse subscription 150kW | £7.85 | £0.69 | £43.59 |
| BP Pulse free membership 150kW | £0.00 | £0.83 | £42.99 |
| Revive 50kW Contactless | £0.00 | £0.83 | £42.99 |
| ESB NI member 100kW+ | £4.99 | £0.73 | £42.80 |
| BP Pulse Contactless PAYG 43/50kW | £0.00 | £0.79 | £40.92 |
| Geniepoint peak (8am to 19.59) 50kW | £0.00 | £0.79 | £40.92 |
| Gridserve 43/50kW to 350kW | £0.00 | £0.79 | £40.92 |
| MFG EV Power 50-150kW | £0.00 | £0.79 | £40.92 |
| Osprey up to 175kW | £0.00 | £0.79 | £40.92 |
| Pogo DC | £0.00 | £0.79 | £40.92 |
| ESB One Time Payment 100kW+ | £0.00 | £0.78 | £40.90 |
| BP Pulse subscription 43/50kW | £7.85 | £0.63 | £40.48 |
| Mer PAYG up to 43/50kW | £0.00 | £0.78 | £40.40 |
| Applegreen Electric | £0.00 | £0.77 | £39.89 |
| BP Pulse free membership 43/50kW | £0.00 | £0.77 | £39.89 |
| ESB NI PAYG 100kW+ | £0.00 | £0.77 | £39.89 |
| Tesla public 120-250kW | £0.00 | £0.77 | £39.89 |
| Mer member up to 43/50kW | £0.00 | £0.76 | £39.37 |
| Be.EV PAYG 150kW | £0.00 | £0.75 | £38.85 |
| Geniepoint off-peak (8:00pm-7:59am) | £0.00 | £0.75 | £38.85 |
| Ionity up to 350kW | £0.00 | £0.74 | £38.33 |
| Revive 50kW | £0.00 | £0.74 | £38.33 |
| Source London PAYG DC Ultra-rapid (100-200kW) | £0.00 | £0.72 | £37.30 |
| ESB NI member 43-50kW | £4.99 | £0.62 | £37.11 |
| Tesla owner 120-250kW off-peak | £8.99 | £0.53 | £36.44 |
| Be.EV membership 150kW DC daytime (7am-9pm) | £0.00 | £0.70 | £36.26 |
| Charge Place Scotland (Glasgow) 50-150kW | £0.00 | £0.70 | £36.26 |
| Believ membership 50-75kW | £5.00 | £0.60 | £36.08 |
| Alfa Power 22kW to 100kW | £0.00 | £0.69 | £35.74 |
| Fastned 43/50-300kW | £0.00 | £0.69 | £35.74 |
| Pod Point Tesco 75kW | £0.00 | £0.69 | £35.74 |
| ESB One Time Payment 43-50kW | £0.00 | £0.68 | £35.22 |
| Fastned Gold member | £9.99 | £0.48 | £34.85 |
| ESB NI PAYG 43-50kW | £0.00 | £0.67 | £34.71 |
| Believ PAYG 50-75kW | £0.00 | £0.66 | £34.19 |
| Be.EV PAYG 50kW DC | £0.00 | £0.65 | £33.67 |
| Be.EV membership 150kW DC off-peak (9pm to 7am) | £0.00 | £0.65 | £33.67 |
| Pod Point Lidl 50kW | £0.00 | £0.65 | £33.67 |
| Source London PAYG DC Rapid (50kW) | £0.00 | £0.65 | £33.67 |
| Ionity Passport Motion up to 350kW | £5.49 | £0.53 | £32.94 |
| Ionity Passport Power up to 350kW | £10.50 | £0.43 | £32.77 |
| E-on 100-150kw | £0.00 | £0.63 | £32.63 |
| Pod Point Tesco 50W | £0.00 | £0.62 | £32.12 |
| Be.EV membership 50kW DC daytime (7am-9pm) | £0.00 | £0.60 | £31.08 |
| Be.EV membership 50kW DC off-peak (9pm-7am) | £0.00 | £0.55 | £28.49 |
| EVPoint 360kW | £0.00 | £0.55 | £28.49 |
What’s the cheapest and most expensive slow EV charging cost?
There’s a lot of money to be saved in taking advantage of the off-peak tariffs some network operators offer. For example, Char.gy offers a night-time rate of just 39p per kWh when you charge between midnight and 7am; compared with the daytime tariff, the cost of charging the iX3 decreases by almost £10, to £20.20.
If you live in or frequently drive around Scotland, then one of the cheaper networks you could use is Charge Place Scotland. Its rates vary, but its 40p per kWh rate for users in Glasgow is great value, working out at £20.72. For EV owners elsewhere in the UK, Believ and E-on are good options, with both costing 45p per kWh.
At the other end of the spectrum, Shell Recharge’s slower chargers are the most costly at 79p per kWh. At £40.92, this is even more expensive than some of the faster charging options.
If you live in London, you could opt for a resident tariff at Source London stations, with a rate of 48p an hour and a monthly fee of £4. This means the first charge will cost £28.86 and subsequent ones £24.86.
The cost of using slower public EV chargers
| Network and service name | Monthly fee | Cost per kWh | Total cost |
| Shell Recharge 7-22kW | £0.00 | £0.79 | £40.92 |
| ESB NI member 7-22kW | £4.99 | £0.59 | £35.55 |
| ESB NI PAYG 7-22kW | £0.00 | £0.63 | £32.63 |
| Source London Full up to 22kW | £4.00 | £0.53 | £31.45 |
| BP Pulse subscription 7kW charger | £7.85 | £0.44 | £30.64 |
| BP Pulse free membership 7kW charger | £0.00 | £0.59 | £30.56 |
| Char.gy PAYG daytime (7am to midnight) 7-22kW | £0.00 | £0.59 | £30.56 |
| Source London PAYG up to 22kW | £0.00 | £0.59 | £30.56 |
| Mer up to 25kW PAYG | £0.00 | £0.56 | £29.01 |
| Pogo AC | £0.00 | £0.56 | £29.01 |
| Source London Resident up to 22kW | £4.00 | £0.48 | £28.86 |
| Be.EV PAYG 22kW AC | £0.00 | £0.55 | £28.49 |
| Mer up to 25kW member | £0.00 | £0.55 | £28.49 |
| Revive 7-22kW | £0.00 | £0.55 | £28.49 |
| Believ membership 7-22kW | £5.00 | £0.45 | £28.31 |
| Be.EV membership 22kW AC daytime (7am to 9pm) | £0.00 | £0.50 | £25.90 |
| Connected Kerb 7kW and 22kW | £0.00 | £0.50 | £25.90 |
| Gridserve Electric Highway 22kW | £0.00 | £0.49 | £25.38 |
| Pod Point Tesco 22kW | £0.00 | £0.49 | £25.38 |
| Believ PAYG 7-22kW | £0.00 | £0.48 | £24.86 |
| Be.EV membership 22kW AC off-peak (9pm to 7am) | £0.00 | £0.45 | £23.31 |
| E-on 22kW | £0.00 | £0.45 | £23.31 |
| Pod Point Tesco 7kW | £0.00 | £0.44 | £22.79 |
| Charge Place Scotland Glasgow 7-22kW | £0.00 | £0.40 | £20.72 |
| Char.gy night time (12am to 7am) | £0.00 | £0.39 | £20.20 |
| E-on 11kW | £0.00 | £0.25 | £12.95 |
Read more: Electric car public charging networks rated >>
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