How much it costs to charge an EV at home, by state

Home charging cost = kWh from the wall × your electricity rate.

The kWh part comes from the EPA label. Every EV sold in the US has an efficiency figure in kWh per 100 miles, measured at the wall outlet, so normal charging losses are already in it. A Tesla Model 3 RWD is rated at 25 kWh per 100 miles, a Tesla Model Y Long Range at 28, a Hyundai Ioniq 5 at 30, a Ford F-150 Lightning at 48. Our calculators use those EPA values as they are and add no extra loss factor on top.

So the cost per 100 miles is simply the EPA figure times your rate. For a Model Y at 28 kWh per 100 miles:

State	Electricity rate	Per 100 miles	Per month (1,000 mi, 85% at home)
Hawaii	47.2¢/kWh	$13.21	$112.29
California	29.8¢/kWh	$8.33	$70.80
Massachusetts	30.5¢/kWh	$8.53	$72.54
US average	18.2¢/kWh	$5.08	$43.22
Texas	15.9¢/kWh	$4.45	$37.87
Washington	14.6¢/kWh	$4.10	$34.82
North Dakota	13.3¢/kWh	$3.73	$31.68

The monthly column assumes 1,000 miles a month with 85% of the charging done at home, which is the default in our EV charging cost calculator: 1,000 × 0.85 × 28 ÷ 100 = 238 kWh a month. For every state's rate, see the electricity cost by state ranking.

"A full charge" is a less useful number than it sounds, because almost nobody charges from empty to full. The common day-to-day session is topping up from about 20% to 80%.

Worked example: a Model Y Long Range has a 75 kWh battery. Going from 20% to 80% puts 45 kWh into the battery. Our charge time calculator assumes about 90% of the charger's power reaches the battery, so that session draws roughly 50 kWh from the wall. That costs:

• $9.08 at the national average
• $14.88 in California
• $6.44 in Louisiana
• $23.59 in Hawaii

That session adds about 160 miles of range (45 kWh ÷ 0.28 kWh per mile). Bigger vehicles cost more per session simply because they hold and use more energy: an F-150 Lightning needs about 1.7 times the kWh of a Model Y for the same miles.

The charger level changes how fast you charge, not what a kWh costs. Both draw from the same meter at the same rate.

	Level 1	Level 2 (32 A)	Level 2 (48 A)
Outlet	Regular 120 V	240 V circuit	240 V circuit
Power	about 1.4 kW	about 7.7 kW	about 11.5 kW
Miles added per hour (Model Y)	about 4.5	about 25	about 37
20% to 80% on a 75 kWh battery	about 36 hours	about 6.5 hours	about 4.3 hours

Level 1 is enough if you drive 30 to 40 miles a day and the car sits plugged in overnight for 10 or more hours. Past that, it can't keep up, and you'll lean on public charging, which usually costs more per kWh than home.

A Level 2 charger is a one-time cost. Our Level 2 installation cost calculator puts a typical job at about $2,000: a $500 charger, $1,100 of wiring for a 30–60 ft run from the panel, a $250 breaker and a $150 permit, with local labor moving it anywhere from about $1,600 to $2,600. If the garage is next to a panel with spare capacity, it drops to about $1,250. If the panel needs an upgrade, add about $2,500.

A gas car's cost per mile is the pump price divided by its mpg. A 30 mpg car burns 3.33 gallons every 100 miles: $10.00 at $3.00 a gallon, $13.33 at $4.00. Compare that with $5.08 for 100 miles in a Model Y at the national average rate.

We ran the comparison for every state with the electricity and gasoline prices in our data (a Model Y on home charging against a 30 mpg car): the EV costs less per mile in all 50 states and DC. The margin is thinnest where electricity is expensive and gasoline is not, like Maine, Hawaii and Massachusetts, and widest in Washington, Nevada and Oregon.

The answer can flip against an efficient hybrid. Against a 40 mpg car, our data puts gasoline slightly ahead in Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts and New York. Against a 50 mpg hybrid, the gas car wins in about a dozen high-rate states, mostly in the Northeast plus California, Alaska and Hawaii. An electric pickup at 48 kWh per 100 miles against a 20 mpg gas pickup comes out roughly even in Hawaii and favors the EV in every other state.

Two things move this more than the state average does:

1. Time-of-use rates. Many utilities sell overnight power well below their standard rate. If you're on one and charge after midnight, enter that rate in the calculator's off-peak field instead of the state average.
2. Public fast charging. DC fast chargers price per kWh or per minute, often well above home rates. Every mile you charge away from home moves the EV's cost per mile closer to the gas car's. That's why the calculator asks what share of charging happens at home.

For a side-by-side with your own mpg and state, use the EV vs gas cost per mile calculator.

At 12,000 miles a year, all charged at home, a Model Y uses 3,360 kWh. That's:

• $610.18 a year at the national average
• $999.60 in California
• $447.22 in North Dakota

The same 12,000 miles in a 30 mpg car take 400 gallons of gasoline: $1,200 at $3.00 a gallon, $1,600 at $4.00.

The EV's kWh also land on your electric bill. 280 kWh a month is roughly a third of what an average US home uses, so it's normal to see your bill rise by about $50.85 at the national rate. To see how it stacks up against the rest of your house, add it to the electric bill estimator.

Winter matters too: cold batteries and cabin heating cut range, which means more kWh per mile in January than in June. Our cold weather range calculator estimates about 25% less range at 20 °F with a resistive cabin heater, and 20% less with a heat pump.

• Your real rate. Divide your bill's total (minus the fixed customer charge) by the kWh used. That's the number to plug in, not the state average.
• EV or time-of-use plans. Some utilities have a separate EV rate or a cheap overnight window. Ask before you install a charger, because some plans need a second meter.
• Your actual efficiency. Most EVs show kWh per 100 miles (or miles per kWh) on the dash. Highway driving and cold weather push it above the EPA figure; slow city driving in mild weather can beat it.

• EV charging cost: monthly home charging cost for 30 EPA-rated models, with an off-peak rate option.
• EV vs gas cost per mile: your state's electricity and gasoline prices, your mpg.
• EV charge time: hours to charge at Level 1, Level 2 or DC fast charging.
• Level 2 installation cost: what a home charger costs to put in.