How Much Does It Cost to Charge an Electric Car in Australia?
Home charging costs about $18 for a typical full charge, or $5 off-peak. Public fast charging runs 40c to 90c per kWh. Here are the real numbers.
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Charging a typical electric car with a 60kWh battery costs about $18 at home on a standard electricity rate of around 30c/kWh, and as little as $5 on an off-peak EV plan. At a public DC fast charger, the same charge costs roughly $25 to $40. Per 100 kilometres, that works out to between $1.30 and $10, compared with about $13 for a petrol car using 7L/100km at $1.90 a litre.
How much does it cost to charge at home?
Home charging is priced at whatever you pay for electricity. As of mid-2026, Australian residential rates mostly sit between 25c and 45c per kWh. Victoria and Tasmania tend to have the cheapest power, often in the high 20s, while South Australia is the most expensive state, with rates above 40c/kWh on many plans. Your exact rate depends on your retailer and tariff, so check your bill.
The maths is straightforward. Multiply your battery size by your rate:
- 60kWh battery x 30c/kWh = $18 for a full charge, which buys roughly 375 to 400km of driving in a typical mid-size EV.
- Per 100km, a typical EV uses about 16kWh. At 30c/kWh, that’s $4.80 per 100km.
In practice you’ll rarely charge from empty. Plugging in each night to replace a 40km daily commute costs around $2 a day at a flat rate, and well under a dollar on the EV plans below. Our home charging guide covers the hardware side, from a standard powerpoint to a 7kW wallbox.
How much do EV electricity plans save?
Several retailers now sell plans built for EV owners, with a cheap overnight window, usually midnight to 6am, priced from around 8c/kWh as of mid-2026. Some go lower; OVO has advertised overnight EV rates under 5c/kWh, and AGL’s Night Saver EV plan discounts the midnight-to-6am window. Plans change often, so verify current rates with the retailer before switching.
On an 8c/kWh overnight rate, a full 60kWh charge costs about $4.80, and your cost per 100km drops to about $1.30. That’s the cheapest motoring most Australians will ever do.
The catch: you need to actually charge in the window. Most EVs and wallbox chargers let you schedule charging, so set it and forget it. Also check the plan’s daytime rates, which are sometimes higher than a standard plan to offset the cheap overnight power.
What does public charging cost?
Public charging is priced per kWh by the network, and it’s significantly dearer than home because you’re paying for the hardware, the site and the speed. Here’s where the major networks sit as of mid-2026:
| Network | Typical price (mid-2026) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chargefox | ~40c to 60c/kWh | 60c/kWh at 350kW ultra-rapid sites; some partner-owned sites cheaper |
| Evie Networks | ~50c to 73c/kWh | Priced per site; check the Evie app for each charger |
| Tesla Supercharger | ~30c to 90c/kWh | Varies by site and time of day; non-Tesla EVs pay more unless on a membership |
| BP Pulse | ~55c/kWh | Mostly flat pricing; some sites have cheaper off-peak rates |
| NRMA | ~60c to 80c/kWh | Location-based pricing; NRMA Members get a 5c/kWh discount |
| JOLT | First 7kWh free daily | Paid rates apply beyond the free allowance |
Chargefox, Australia’s largest network, is a good benchmark: its 350kW ultra-rapid sites charge 60c/kWh as of mid-2026, with slower sites typically cheaper. Tesla uses time-of-day pricing at many sites, so charging before 8am can cost less than half the peak rate. For how sessions are started and billed across networks, see our guide to paying for public charging.
What does that look like per 100 kilometres?
Using a typical consumption of 16kWh per 100km:
| Charging method | Price per kWh | Cost per 100km |
|---|---|---|
| Off-peak EV plan | 8c | $1.30 |
| Home flat rate | 30c | $4.80 |
| Public DC fast charger | 60c | $9.60 |
| Petrol car (7L/100km at $1.90/L) | n/a | $13.30 |
Over a year of average driving, say 12,000km, that’s roughly $155 on an off-peak plan, $575 at a home flat rate, $1,150 if you only ever fast-charged, and about $1,600 in the petrol car.
Is charging always cheaper than petrol?
At home, yes, by a wide margin. On public DC fast charging, usually, but not dramatically: at the top of the price range (85c to 90c/kWh at a peak-time Supercharger in a non-Tesla, for instance) you’re approaching petrol-equivalent cost per kilometre. The economics of EV ownership rest on doing most of your charging at home or at cheap AC destination chargers, and saving DC fast charging for road trips. Our guide to public charging in Australia covers where to find chargers and how the networks compare.
How do you keep charging costs down?
- Charge at home overnight on an EV plan if your retailer offers one. This is the single biggest saving.
- Use free charging when it’s genuinely convenient. JOLT offers 7kWh free per day, and some shopping centres still host free AC chargers.
- Avoid peak pricing. Tesla and some BP Pulse sites are cheaper off-peak, often before 8am or late at night.
- Soak up solar. If you have rooftop solar, midday charging can cost you only the forgone feed-in tariff, often under 10c/kWh.
- Don’t pay ultra-rapid prices for slow charging. If your car’s maximum DC rate is 50kW, a cheaper 50kW site fills it just as fast as a 350kW one.
Prices across every network move regularly. Treat the figures here as a mid-2026 snapshot and check the relevant app before you plug in.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to fully charge an electric car at home?
For a typical EV with a 60kWh battery, a full charge at a flat residential rate of about 30c/kWh costs around $18. On a dedicated EV electricity plan with overnight rates around 8c/kWh, the same charge costs about $5. Most owners rarely charge from empty, so real-world top-ups cost less.
Is charging an electric car cheaper than petrol?
Almost always. Home charging works out at roughly $1.30 to $4.80 per 100km depending on your tariff, against about $13 per 100km for a petrol car using 7L/100km at $1.90 a litre. Even public fast charging at around 60c/kWh, roughly $9.60 per 100km, usually undercuts petrol.
How much does public fast charging cost in Australia?
As of mid-2026, most DC fast charging in Australia costs between about 40c and 90c per kWh depending on the network, charger speed, location and time of day. A 10 to 80 per cent top-up of a 60kWh battery typically costs $17 to $38.
Do EV electricity plans really save money?
Yes, if you can schedule charging into the cheap window. Plans with overnight EV rates around 8c/kWh cut a 60kWh charge from about $18 to about $5. Check the daytime rates too, because some EV plans charge more outside the off-peak window.