True Costs to Charge an Electric Vehicle

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an Electric Vehicle

Some people choose to purchase an electric vehicle to save money. Is this true for your electric vehicle? Continue reading to discover the true cost of charging an electric vehicle. 

To know if charging an electric vehicle will save you money, and if so, what kind of savings you can expect, you will first need to understand your current electricity and petrol costs. This is unique to each individual as this cost can change drastically based on where you live, when you use your electricity, and how much you typically spend when filling up at the petrol station. 

Track and record the amount of money you spent in petrol in an average month. Now, figure out what you are paying per kilowatt-hour for electricity. You can find this by dividing the number of kilowatt-hours you used in your last monthly electric bill by the amount you paid. This will give you the price per kWh. To get a more accurate picture, you may want to find this out for a variety of months and then calculate the average.

An electric car gets about 4.8 kilometres per 1 kWh. Now, divide the total kilometres you drive each month by 4.8 to get the kWh you would need to use monthly. Multiply that number by your cost per kWh. (The current average cost is $0.30 to $0.60 per kWh at public charging stations. Some locations often fixed rates or membership fees. You will need to research what is available in your area.) Compare this to the amount of money you spent per month on petrol to see the difference. This will let you know how much you are saving, if any.

If you choose to install a level charger in your home, you will need to take into consideration the upfront cost of an electric vehicle charger installation. A level 2 charger alone can run between $1000 to $2500. This price can be used to decide how long it will take you to recover the cost of this initial investment. More efficient chargers are more expensive upfront but use less time to charge.

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