Energy and solar · no ZIP code asked
EV charging cost calculator
Pick your state and your car: the cost of charging at home per month and per mile appears next to the gasoline it replaces.
Built by Radif Partners · How prices are built · Editorial policy
Charging at home in Texas
$50 a month
5.0¢ a mile · gasoline would cost $174 a month
| Electricity per month | 310 kWh |
| Home charging per year | $597 |
| Gasoline per year | $2,090 |
| Saving per year | $1,492 |
Uses the EPA consumption rating as published on fueleconomy.gov; cold weather, highway speed and fast charging raise the real cost. Public fast chargers price differently. How this is calculated.
Charging an electric car at home for 1,000 miles a month costs about $56 at the 2026 U.S. average electricity price of 18.19¢ per kWh, or 5.6 cents a mile, for a Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD rated at 31 kWh per 100 miles. A 25 mpg gasoline car driving the same distance burns $174 of fuel at $4.35 a gallon, the U.S. regular price for the week of October 5, 2026, so home charging saves about $1,413 a year. The state you live in moves the electric side a lot: the same driving costs $38 a month in North Dakota and $143 in Hawaii. The calculator multiplies miles by the car's EPA consumption from fueleconomy.gov, then by your state's average residential price from EIA for January to July 2026. It adds nothing for charging losses beyond the rating, and it prices home charging only; public fast chargers bill on their own tariffs, often well above home rates.
From miles to kWh to dollars
An EV's efficiency is rated in kWh per 100 miles, the figure fueleconomy.gov publishes for each model. Multiply your monthly miles by that rating and divide by 100: at 1,000 miles and 31 kWh per 100 miles, the car takes 310 kWh a month. Multiply by the price per kWh and you have the cost. The calculator opens on Texas, where 16.06¢ per kWh gives $50 a month and 5.0 cents a mile.
On the gasoline side, miles divided by mpg gives gallons, and gallons times the pump price gives dollars. The default 25 mpg is a placeholder for the car the EV would replace; type the figure of your own car, from its window sticker or your fill-up log, and the weekly gasoline price where you live if it differs from the national figure from EIA.
| State | Price per kWh | Per month | Per mile | Gas price that would match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Dakota | 12.36¢ | $38 | 3.8¢ | $0.96 |
| Nebraska | 12.90¢ | $40 | 4.0¢ | $1.00 |
| Idaho | 12.96¢ | $40 | 4.0¢ | $1.00 |
| Utah | 13.16¢ | $41 | 4.1¢ | $1.02 |
| Maine | 29.99¢ | $93 | 9.3¢ | $2.32 |
| Massachusetts | 30.14¢ | $93 | 9.3¢ | $2.34 |
| California | 33.25¢ | $103 | 10.3¢ | $2.58 |
| Hawaii | 46.28¢ | $143 | 14.3¢ | $3.59 |
| United States | 18.19¢ | $56 | 5.6¢ | $1.41 |
Three EPA ratings, three monthly costs
The calculator lists three 2026 models with their ratings: the Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD at 27 kWh per 100 miles, the Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD at 31 kWh per 100 miles and the Ford Mustang Mach-E RWD at 31 kWh per 100 miles. At the national price and 1,000 miles, those ratings mean $49, $56 and $56 a month. For 12,000 miles a year the difference between the most and least efficient of the three is $87. Any other car works too: type its rating in the consumption field.
Why real use runs above the rating
Ratings come from standard test cycles. Winter heating of the cabin and battery, sustained highway speeds, roof racks, large wheels and short trips in the cold all raise consumption, sometimes sharply. If your car shows its own lifetime kWh per 100 miles, or miles per kWh (divide 100 by that number), use it instead of the label. The calculator applies no extra charging loss on top of what you enter, so a measured figure from the wall gives the truest result.
When gasoline would win
Home charging beats a 25 mpg car in every state at today's prices. In Hawaii, where power is dearest at 46.28¢, a gas car would need about 30 mpg to match the EV's cost per mile with gasoline at $4.35. The comparison tilts against the EV mainly when most charging happens at public fast chargers, whose prices per kWh are set by each network and can come close to gasoline per mile.
Home charging setup and rates
A standard outlet adds a few miles of range per hour, enough for short commutes; a 240-volt charger fills most batteries overnight. The cost of installing one depends on the panel and wiring and is not part of this calculator. Some utilities sell EV or time-of-use rates with cheap overnight power; if yours does, enter that off-peak price in place of the state average. The electric bill calculator shows what the extra 310 kWh do to a whole monthly bill, and the solar panel calculator can size panels with the car included.