EV charging cost: home or public

See what it costs to charge an electric car at home, at a public AC charger and at a fast DC charger, how a mix of the three works out over a year, and how that compares with petrol.

Energy use, kWh per 100 km Most EVs use 14 to 20. Find yours in the car’s trip computer.

Kilometres per year

Charged at home, % of your charging

Public AC chargers, % Fast DC chargers: 15%

Your prices: change these to match what you actually pay, in cents per kWh

The numbers shown to start with are examples only. Replace them with what you pay: your home rate is on your electricity bill, and public charging prices are in your charging app or on your receipts. Public prices change often, and Tesla prices vary by site and time of day.

Home plan

Home, c per kWh With solar, count the feed-in tariff you give up, not zero.

Public AC, c per kWh Example only. Many AC chargers are free or cheap.

Fast DC, c per kWh Roundups in early 2026 put Australian DC networks at about 43c to 73c.

Other costs and the petrol car to compare

Charging losses at home and AC, % Some energy is lost as heat between the wall and the battery. DC is billed on energy delivered, so no loss is added.

Fee per public charging session

Average kWh per public session

Home charger and installation

An example. Many people plug into a normal power point.

Petrol car, litres per 100 km

Petrol price, cents per litre NRMA weekly report, 5 October 2026. Replace with your local price.

Worked out from the prices and charging mix you entered above. Change them and the answer updates.

Where you charge	Share	kWh you pay for	Cost per year

How this is worked out

Energy needed = kWh per 100 km × kilometres ÷ 100. Home and public AC add the charging loss, because you pay for what leaves the wall. Fast DC is billed on what reaches the car.
Each kind of charging costs its share of the energy × its rate. Session fees, if you add them, apply to public charging only.
The break-even figure is the share of DC fast charging, with the rest at home, at which the EV costs the same to run as the petrol car.
The charger payback compares your mix with doing your home charging at a fast DC charger instead. It does not count the car’s other costs.
Not included: servicing, tyres, insurance, rego and depreciation. The electric vs petrol page covers rego, duty and servicing for each state.