The same car, the same efficiency, four ways of paying for the energy. The spread between the cheapest and dearest row is far wider than the difference between any two electric cars — which is why where you charge decides an EV's running cost more than what you drive.
Power into the battery is min(charger kW, vehicle accept kW) × efficiency. A post faster than the car changes nothing.
On DC the car holds near peak to a knee around 50–60% charge, then tapers to roughly a sixth of peak by 100%. AC is flat, capped by the onboard charger.
price per kWh ÷ (miles per kWh × charging efficiency). Your meter bills what the charger draws, not what reaches the cell.
About 12% on home AC and 6% on DC rapids: cooling, the onboard charger and battery conditioning. Every figure here bills you for them.
Charging holds near peak power to a knee around half full, then tapers to protect the cell. On a 60 kWh car at 150 kW, 80→100% takes about as long as 10→80%. On a road trip the fast move is short stops between 10% and 80%, never topping to full.
A session runs at the lower of the two limits. A car peaking at 120 kW charges identically on a 150 kW and a 350 kW post: try it above and watch the answer not change. Ultra-rapid pricing is sometimes higher for exactly nothing.
Meters count what the charger draws. About 12% is lost on home AC and 6% on DC, so a “60 kWh” fill bills nearer 68 kWh at home. Every figure here is billed energy, because that is what appears on your bill.
Home off-peak to public rapid is roughly a tenfold price difference, and no two mainstream EVs differ in efficiency by even twofold. A driver on rapids in an efficient car pays far more per mile than a driver of a thirsty one who charges overnight.
Petrol cars are worst in town and best cruising; EVs are the reverse. Regeneration recovers braking energy in traffic, while drag rises with the square of speed and there is no idling to avoid. Motorway driving costs about 25% more per mile than mixed use here, and nearly 50% more than urban.
A petrol engine warms the cabin with waste heat it produces anyway; an EV takes it from the pack that moves the car, and the pack also has to warm itself. Near freezing, expect consumption around 25% higher, most of it the heater, not the chemistry.
Because a nearly full cell cannot take current as fast without damage. Charging runs at near-constant power to a knee, then tapers so voltage stays inside a safe window. On a 60 kWh car at 150 kW the last 20% takes about as long as the first 70% — which is why the advice is to unplug at 80% and drive on.
Only if your car can accept more than 150 kW. The session runs at the lower of the two limits, so a car peaking at 120 kW charges at exactly the same speed on both, and you may pay more for the privilege. The car is usually the bottleneck, not the post.
Public rapid electricity is several times the price of domestic electricity, and an EV's efficiency advantage is not large enough to cover a tenfold price difference. In the UK, charging exclusively on rapids typically costs more per mile than a reasonably economical petrol car. Charge at home and it costs a fraction.
Yes. The meter counts what goes into the charger, not what reaches the battery. Roughly 12% is lost on home AC charging and 6% on DC rapid — cooling, the onboard charger, and conditioning the battery. Every figure here bills you for the losses, because your supplier does.
Two reasons, and cabin heating is the bigger one: a petrol engine heats the cabin with waste heat it has anyway, while an EV pays for every kilowatt out of the same battery that moves the car. The pack also has to warm itself to charge and discharge properly. Expect consumption around 25% higher near freezing.
Representative vehicle classes rather than specific models — battery size, efficiency and peak charge rate are typical for the class, not a manufacturer figure. The charge curve is a smooth two-segment approximation of a real curve, which is stepped and chemistry-specific. Prices are editable defaults, not live tariffs. Battery degradation, preconditioning, standing charges, subscription fees and queueing are not modelled.
Releases in which this page changed, newest last. Derived from the archived copy of every release, not from notes written afterwards — so it reflects what actually shipped. Site-wide passes are left out; they are in the full changelog.