Fuel and car costs · rates of EIA and EPA
EV charging cost calculator
Choose an electric model and a state: the cost of the miles you drive uses the EPA consumption of the car and the residential price EIA measured in your state.
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Charging cost for 1,000 miles
$91
275 kWh · $0.091 a mile
| Full EPA range (327 mi) | $30 |
| Per 100 miles | $9 |
| Home part | $91 |
| Public part | $0 |
| Same miles at the IRS business rate | $760 |
EPA kWh/100 mi counts the energy drawn from the outlet, charging losses included. A full charge here means the EPA range from empty, a slight overstatement of a real 10 to 90% session. How this is calculated.
Driving an electric car 1,000 miles costs about $50.02 at home at the U.S. average residential price of 18.19 cents per kWh (EIA, January to July 2026), for a 2026 Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD that draws 27.5 kWh per 100 miles from the outlet according to the EPA. The state moves that figure a lot: $33.99 in North Dakota at 12.36 cents, $91.44 in California at 33.25 cents. The calculator above starts from the residential average of the state you pick and from the EPA figure of the model; you can type the price on your own bill, and the share of charging you do at public stations with the price posted there. The EPA consumption already counts the energy lost while charging, so the result is what the meter records, not what reaches the battery.
Two numbers do all the work
The first is consumption. The EPA publishes, for every electric model, the electricity needed to drive 100 miles in its combined test cycle, measured at the wall (fueleconomy.gov). Efficient sedans sit near 25 kWh per 100 miles; large trucks and three-row SUVs above 40. The 2027 Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD is rated 31.1 kWh per 100 miles. The second is price: the residential average of your state in the EIA Electric Power Monthly, cumulated from January to July 2026, which smooths out a single month's swings.
Multiply miles by consumption and divide by 100 to get kWh; multiply by the price per kWh to get dollars. The calculator also returns the cost per mile, the figure to compare with gasoline: at the U.S. average, the Model Y above costs $0.05 a mile in electricity.
Charging at U.S. average residential prices
Electricity cost
$50.02
| Energy from the outlet | 275 kWh |
| Price: 18.19¢ per kWh | $50.02 |
| Per mile | $0.05 |
The model matters as much as the state
Consumption spreads widely between electric models. Over 12,000 miles a year at the U.S. average price, the 2026 Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD uses about 3,300 kWh, or $600; the 2027 Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD about 3,730 kWh, or $678. A heavy pickup can use half again as much as an efficient sedan for the same trips. When you compare cars before buying, run the calculator once per model with the same state and miles.
Home rates, time of use and your own bill
A state average hides a lot: utilities within a state charge differently, and many offer cheaper night rates for charging. The most accurate price is the one on your bill: divide the total of the bill by the kWh used, or use the off-peak rate if the car charges overnight on a time-of-use plan. Type it in the optional field and the state average is ignored.
Public charging
Fast chargers on highways price by kWh in most states, sometimes by minute, and their prices vary by network, location and membership. There is no public average of those prices comparable to EIA's, so the calculator asks for the price posted on the charger or in the app and the share of your charging done there. Someone who charges at home 90% of the time and on road trips the rest sees the public price weigh far less than its sticker suggests.
EVs and the mileage rate
The IRS mileage rates apply to electric cars as to gasoline ones: 76 cents a business mile since July 1, 2026. Because charging usually costs a fraction of that per mile, an EV driver reimbursed at the IRS rate keeps a larger share for depreciation and insurance. For a full budget, see the gas versus electric comparison and the Tesla charging cost page.