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TravelCostKit

Electric vehicles

EV road trip charging cost calculator

Enter the distance, your car's efficiency and the price you pay per kWh. You'll get the energy used, the energy you actually pay for after charging losses, and the cost per mile or kilometre.

Your trip

miles
kWh / 100 mi

Check your car's display or specs. Lower is better; many EVs use 25–35 kWh/100 mi (15–22 kWh/100 km).

$/ kWh

Home rate or the public charger's price. Example value — enter what you actually pay.

%

Energy bought but not stored. Around 10% is typical for home AC charging; fast DC can be higher.

Estimated charging cost

$15.00

$0.050 per mile over 300 miles
Energy the car uses
90 kWh
Energy you pay for (incl. 10% losses)
100 kWh
Cost per mile
$0.050

How the charging cost is calculated

energy used (kWh) = distance × efficiency ÷ 100
energy paid for = energy used ÷ (1 − losses %)
cost = energy paid for × price per kWh

The two energy figures are deliberately separate. Energy used is what the car's battery actually delivers to drive the distance. Energy paid for is what you buy from the charger — always a bit more, because some energy is lost as heat while charging. Your bill is based on the second figure.

Worked example

A 300-mile trip in an EV rated at 30 kWh/100 mi uses 300 × 30 ÷ 100 = 90 kWh. With 10% charging losses you pay for 90 ÷ 0.9 = 100 kWh. At $0.15 per kWh that's $15.00, or 5 cents per mile. The same trip at a $0.45/kWh fast charger would cost $45 — the price per kWh matters more than anything else.

Finding your numbers

  • Efficiency: most EVs show mi/kWh or kWh/100 mi on the trip computer. If yours shows miles per kWh, convert with kWh/100 mi = 100 ÷ mi/kWh. Cold weather, high speeds and roof boxes all raise consumption.
  • Price per kWh: home charging is usually your tariff's rate; public chargers show their price in the app or on the unit. Rapid chargers often cost several times the home rate.
  • Losses: around 10% is a reasonable default for home AC charging. DC fast charging and very cold batteries can lose more.

Comparing with a petrol or diesel car

Run the same distance through the fuel cost calculator and compare the two totals — or use the cost per mile calculator to add maintenance and depreciation on either side. Weighing the drive against a flight? Try the driving vs flying calculator.

Frequently asked questions

Is the electricity price live?
No. The pre-filled price is only an example; enter the rate you actually pay at home or at the charger.
Why is energy paid for higher than energy used?
Charging isn't perfectly efficient — some electricity is lost as heat in the charger and battery. You pay for all the energy drawn from the outlet, not just what reaches the wheels.
Can I use kilometres?
Yes — switch the distance unit to kilometres and enter efficiency in kWh/100 km.
Does this include public charging session fees?
Not separately. If a charger adds a fixed session fee, add it to the result, or fold it into a slightly higher price per kWh.

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