What does it cost to charge an electric car at home?

How we work it out

We assume 18 kWh per 100 km from the socket. That is a typical compact or mid-size electric car on the WLTP cycle plus around 10 % charging losses; a small car needs less, a big SUV in winter quite a bit more. For your own car, enter its consumption in our charging planner.

Where we calculate the final price, we take the average of the last 30 days, taxes and network charges included, and compare it with charging only in the four cheapest hours of each day. For the other countries we use the average household price published by Eurostat.

Charging at home, country by country

Cost of 100 km and of 15,000 km a year at 18 kWh per 100 km. 'Cheapest hours' means charging only in the four cheapest hours of each day; with an 11 kW wallbox that is about 44 kWh, enough for some 240 km.

In Germany, 100 km of home charging cost about €7.45 at the average price of the last 30 days, or €5.90 if you charged only in the four cheapest hours. Over 15,000 km a year that is €1,117 against €885.

Country	Price per kWh	100 km	100 km, cheapest hours	15,000 km a year
Hungary^*	€0.114/kWh	€2.05	–	€307
Sweden	€0.192/kWh	€3.46	€2.44	€519
Norway^*	€0.199/kWh	€3.59	–	€538
Luxembourg	€0.220/kWh	€3.95	€2.55	€592
France^*	€0.249/kWh	€4.47	–	€670
Spain	€0.260/kWh	€4.67	€2.24	€701
Denmark	€0.277/kWh	€4.98	€3.36	€747
Slovenia	€0.288/kWh	€5.19	€3.45	€778
Poland	€0.288/kWh	€5.19	€3.58	€778
Portugal	€0.297/kWh	€5.35	€3.10	€801
Belgium	€0.313/kWh	€5.64	€4.31	€845
Italy^*	€0.314/kWh	€5.66	–	€848
Czechia	€0.331/kWh	€5.97	€4.42	€894
Netherlands	€0.341/kWh	€6.14	€4.58	€920
Austria	€0.354/kWh	€6.37	€4.70	€954
Germany	€0.414/kWh	€7.45	€5.90	€1,117

* Average household price from Eurostat (latest half-year); we do not model the daily final price for this country yet.

Final prices: day-ahead prices plus the official tariffs in our price model, default grid area and a sample supplier margin. Eurostat: household electricity prices, 2,500–4,999 kWh a year.

Public charging is a different story

Fast chargers on motorways and in town often cost twice as much per kWh as charging at home, or more, because the operator pays for the hardware, the grid connection and expensive peak capacity. If you can charge at home or at work, those are almost always your cheapest kilowatt-hours.

Getting the cheap hours without thinking about it

Most wallboxes and many cars can be set to charge at a fixed time or to follow tomorrow's prices. Enter when you need the car and how much charge, and let it pick the hours. Our charging planner shows which hours those would be, based on the published prices for today and tomorrow.

Questions and answers

How much does a full charge cost at home?

Battery size times your price per kWh, plus about 10 % for losses. A 60 kWh battery at 30 cents per kWh comes to roughly €20.

Is it cheaper to charge at night?

Often, but not everywhere. Where there is a lot of solar power, midday is now frequently cheaper than the night; with time-of-use network tariffs the night can still win. The planner on your country's page works it out with the real prices.

Does charging at 11 kW cost more than at 3.7 kW?

Not per kWh. A faster wallbox simply lets you fit the charge into fewer, cheaper hours.