CostWise
    Tesla · home · public charging

    Tesla Charging Cost Calculator

    Work out what a charge actually costs — a single Tesla session, a month of home charging on your tariff, or a public fast-charge with every fee itemised — then see what your real charging mix costs over a year. Every figure is billed on energy taken from the wall, not energy delivered to the battery.

    One charge of a specific Tesla, at home or at a Supercharger.

    Your vehicle

    kWh
    mi/kWh

    Preset pack sizes and efficiencies are approximate starting points for recent model years, not published specifications — overwrite them with the figures your own car reports.

    This charging session

    %
    %
    $/kWh
    $/kWh
    %

    Energy lost as heat between the plug and the battery. 8–12% is typical for AC home charging.

    Into the battery
    45 kWh
    20% → 80% of a 75 kWh pack · about 176 miles
    Charging at home
    $8.00
    50 kWh off the meter
    At the Supercharger
    $22.50
    at $0.450/kWh

    The same Tesla Model 3 Long Range, other ways

    Empty to full at home
    $13.33
    Empty to full on DC fast charging
    $37.50
    Cost per 100 miles — home
    $4.56
    Cost per 100 miles — fast charging
    $12.82
    Fast charging costs this much more, per session
    $14.50

    Supercharger pricing is set per site and often varies by time of day, so enter the rate your app shows rather than a national average. Membership plans lower the per-kWh rate but add a monthly fee that this session view does not carry.

    What your charging mix costs over a year

    Almost nobody charges in one place only. Set the split you actually live with and the annual bill follows.

    mi
    $/kWh
    $/kWh
    Blended rate
    $0.218
    per kWh billed
    Per month
    $57
    Per year
    $683
    $0.062 per mile
    vs charging only at home
    $182
    only public would be $1,410
    Annual charging cost by share of energy taken from public chargers
    Public shareAnnual costvs your mix
    0%$501−$182
    20%$683−$0
    40%$865+$182
    60%$1,047+$364
    80%$1,228+$545
    100%$1,410+$727

    What changes your charging cost?

    Each row changes one assumption and leaves the rest of your inputs alone, so the differences are directly comparable against your $683 baseline.

    Effect of a single change on annual charging cost
    AssumptionChangeNew annual costDifference
    Home electricity rate+$0.03/kWh$758+$75
    Public charging rate+$0.10/kWh$746+$63
    Public charging share+10 points$774+$91
    Annual mileage+2,000 mi$807+$124
    Charging losses+5 points$723+$40

    On your numbers the single most powerful lever is annual mileage — a +2,000 mi move is worth $124 a year on its own.

    What your numbers say

    Driving 11,000 miles a year at 3.9 mi/kWh puts about 2,820.5 kWh into the battery, but 3,133.9 kWh through the meter once your 10% charging loss is counted. At a blended $0.218 per kWh that is $683 a year, or $57 a month and $0.062 a mile.

    Public charging is 20% of your energy but 41% of your cost. Moving even a quarter of it home would be the cheapest change available to you. Compared with charging only at home you are paying $182 more per year; compared with relying only on public chargers you are saving $727.

    Charging losses alone add 313.4 kWh — about $68 a year. That is real money you never see in the battery, which is why it belongs in every cost-per-mile figure on this page. You have not entered an off-peak tariff — if your utility offers one, that is usually the largest single saving available to a home charger.

    Three charging patterns, three very different bills

    Garage, overnight tariff

    12,000 miles, 3.7 mi/kWh, 10% losses, 95% charged at $0.09 overnight. About 3,600 kWh metered for roughly $340 a year — around 2.8 cents a mile.

    Apartment, no home charger

    Same car and mileage, but everything at $0.45 public with a $1 session fee twice a week. The same 3,600 kWh costs about $1,720 a year — five times the garage case, and close to a 30 MPG gas car.

    Mostly home, road trips

    80% home at $0.16 and 20% Supercharging at $0.45 gives a blended $0.218/kWh, about $785 a year. The 20% of energy bought publicly accounts for roughly 41% of the bill.

    Related Calculators

    Content last updated: September 17, 2026

    How this calculator works, assumptions, and sources

    How this calculator works
    Formula

    Usable energy = usable battery × (target state of charge − starting state of charge) ÷ 100. Grid energy (what the meter or station bills) = usable energy ÷ (1 − charging loss). Blended home rate = off-peak share × off-peak rate + (1 − off-peak share) × flat rate. Home session cost = grid energy × blended home rate. Public session cost = (grid energy × station $/kWh, or minutes × $/min) + session fee + idle minutes × idle fee. Effective public $/kWh = total session cost ÷ grid energy. Annual battery energy = annual miles ÷ efficiency (mi/kWh); annual grid energy = that ÷ (1 − charging loss). Blended charging rate = home share × blended home rate + public share × public rate. Annual charging cost = annual grid energy × blended charging rate.

    Assumptions
    • Every cost is charged on grid energy taken from the wall, never on energy delivered to the battery, because that is what the meter and the station bill.
    • Home and public shares always total 100%, and the same charging loss is applied to both.
    • Per-kWh and per-minute public pricing are alternatives, not combined: a station bills one or the other, plus any fixed fees.
    • Session and connection fees are applied once per session; idle fees only when idle minutes are entered.
    • Vehicle presets are editable starting points for recent model years, not published specifications.
    Default values & where they come from
    • US residential electricity rate per EIA; public DC fast charging is typically two to four times that.
    • AC home charging losses of roughly 8–12% between the wall and the battery.
    • Tesla pack sizes are approximate usable capacity — Tesla publishes range, not usable kWh, and revises packs between model years.
    • Supercharger pricing is set per site and often varies by time of day, so the rate is always entered by the user.
    Limitations
    • Charging network membership plans, demand charges, solar self-consumption and free workplace charging are not modelled.
    • Charging losses vary with temperature and charge rate; a single percentage is an approximation.
    • Per-minute pricing outcomes depend on how quickly your car tapers, which this tool does not simulate.
    When not to rely on this calculator
    • Not a utility bill estimator and not a charging-network price comparison.
    • Not a road-trip planner — see the EV charging time calculator for duration.
    Sources

    Corrections welcome — see our corrections policy and editorial policy.

    Charging cost questions

    How much does it cost to charge a Tesla?
    It depends on the pack size, how empty it is and the rate you pay. A 75 kWh Tesla charged from 20% to 80% takes about 45 kWh into the battery, or roughly 50 kWh off the meter once charging losses are counted. At $0.16/kWh at home that session is about $8; at a $0.45/kWh Supercharger it is about $22. Enter your own rates above — Supercharger pricing varies by site and time of day.
    How much does it cost to charge an electric car at home per month?
    Take your monthly miles, divide by your car's miles per kWh, then divide again by one minus your charging loss to get the kWh your meter will record. Multiply by your electricity rate. For 1,000 miles a month at 3.5 mi/kWh, 10% losses and $0.16/kWh, that is about 318 kWh and roughly $51 a month.
    Why is my public charging bill higher than the per-kWh price suggests?
    Session fees, connection fees and idle fees are charged on top of energy. A $1 session fee and a few minutes of idle time can push a small 20 kWh session from $9 to $11, an effective rate well above the advertised one. The public mode above separates every fee so you can see the real per-kWh cost.
    What are charging losses and do they matter?
    Some energy is lost as heat in the charger, cables and battery, so the meter always records more than the battery receives. AC home charging typically loses 8–12%; DC fast charging is usually more efficient but varies with temperature. On 4,000 kWh a year, a 10% loss is roughly 400 kWh — about $64 at $0.16/kWh.
    Is off-peak charging worth switching to?
    Only your own tariff answers that. Enter your flat rate, your off-peak rate and the share you can realistically shift overnight, and the tool shows the annual difference. Where the off-peak rate is half the flat rate, moving most charging overnight commonly saves 30–40% of the electricity bill for the car.
    Does this calculator work for cars other than Teslas?
    Yes. Choose 'Another EV' in the vehicle list and enter your own usable battery size and efficiency. The home, public and charging-mix sections make no Tesla-specific assumptions at all.