There are many ways to answer this question, so I’ll try my best to give as many options as possible.
- It’s simple: Take a look at your electricity bill. The cost per KWH is usually between 8-15 and 13-30 cents in North America, and the equivalent in Europe. The specifications for the electric car that you are interested in will show the total KWH required for the battery. This range is typically between 30-90 KWH (Leaf to Tesla). Add these two numbers together to calculate the cost of full charging your battery. If electricity costs 10 cents per KWH, and you have a Nissan Leaf 30KWH battery, then it will cost $3 to fully charge the battery. This is roughly two-thirds the cost of a cup Starbucks coffee.
- You should not fully drain your battery in electric cars. This is a bit more nuanced. According to one source, the average US driver drives 29 miles per day. This is approximately a third of the range of a Nissan Leaf and about tenth of that of a Tesla. You don’t need to charge the battery full every day. Instead, you can put in between 8-10 KWH for $0.80 and $1.00. This means that you can get your transportation fuel for five days for as little as a cup of coffee from Starbucks.
- It is even more complicated: Many places offer time of use billing. Overnight charges are often much lower than those for daytime or average usage. This signals to companies and people to use less electricity in the day, and more at night, to even the curves. This means that charging at night, which is easy to set up, can lower your cost of charge by 20 to 50%. This brings the cost of charging down to $0.40-$0.80. We now have six to twelve days to pay Starbucks for a cup coffee.
- Wait, there’s more! Some utilities have different pricing structures for heavy users, which can sometimes be more costly. This assumes that the majority of these users are not residential homes but businesses. If you filled up your Tesla every night, you could be charged a higher rate. The average American household uses about 10,932 KWH each year, or 30 KWH per daily. It is about a third less in Europe. Surprisingly, 8-10 KWH per daily is not that much.
- Wait, what about solar power! Many people who purchase electric cars also have solar panels. Although they don’t always drive their cars in the sun, this is a good thing. However, many people pay no incremental cost to fill their cars with fuel because the sun shines through their roofs. This reduces the incremental cost of charging your car to about $0.00
- Isn’t Tesla giving away electricity for free? : Yes. They do. You can take your Tesla on road trips. There are hundreds of Superchargers around the world. Plug your car in and you will get 200 miles in 30 minutes. While you wait, you can enjoy a cup of coffee at Starbucks or a stretch while paying nothing for electricity. You can also be sure that your electricity comes from solar and wind farms. Tesla is quite sensible in this regard. It’s an additional cost for the new Model 3s but the referral program offers Supercharger usage at no extra charge.
- What happens if you don’t own a Tesla? You are then subject to the charging network pricing and jurisdiction. Some towns and regions make free charging available to all. Others simply ignore electric cars, hoping they will go away or leave it to market. There are many different charging methods available, some incompatible and some not. The rates vary from reasonable to exorbitant (but still less than gasoline per mile or kilometre).