EV Charging Costs

Home Charging Costs

Charging at home is the default for most EV owners, and it’s where the real savings over petrol are made.

On a standard flat-rate electricity tariff, most Australians pay 28–35c/kWh. At that rate, a full charge on a 75kWh battery costs $21–$26. Real-world consumption is typically 18–20kWh per 100km for a mid-size EV, putting the cost per km at around 5–7 cents on a flat tariff.

Switch to a time-of-use (TOU) tariff and overnight off-peak rates drop to 18–22c/kWh across most networks. The same 75kWh charge now costs $13–$17 — a saving of roughly $8 per full charge. At that rate, cost per km falls to 4–5 cents.

To put that in context: a petrol car averaging 7.5L/100km at $1.90 per litre costs around 14 cents per km to run. An EV owner driving 15,000km a year on a TOU tariff spends roughly $600–$750 on charging — versus $2,100 in petrol. That’s a saving of $1,350–$1,500 per year in fuel costs alone, before any maintenance difference is factored in.

Most owners never do a full charge from empty. Day-to-day charging means topping up 20–40kWh at a time, which costs $4–$9 at off-peak rates.

Public Charging Costs

Public charging is convenient on long trips and essential if you live in an apartment without home charging access, but it costs considerably more than charging at home.

DC fast chargers from the major Australian networks currently charge the following rates:

• Chargefox Ultra Rapid: 45–65c/kWh depending on location and membership
• Evie Networks: 45–60c/kWh
• Tesla Supercharger: 52–68c/kWh for non-Tesla vehicles; slightly lower for Tesla owners

At 50c/kWh, a 75kWh charge costs $37.50 — roughly $15 more than the same charge at home on a flat tariff, and $20 more than overnight off-peak. Cost per km on a DC fast charger works out to 10–15 cents, closing much of the gap with petrol.

AC destination chargers are a different category. These 7–22kW chargers at shopping centres, hotels, car parks, and workplaces are often free or charge a flat session fee of $2–$5. If you can access them regularly — particularly at work — they effectively bring your charging cost down to near zero.

For apartment dwellers without home charging, the economics shift: if you rely primarily on public DC charging at 50c/kWh, your per-km cost is higher than a home charger user, but still typically 30–50% cheaper than petrol on a per-km basis.

Charging on Solar

Owners with rooftop solar can reduce EV charging costs to near zero. The key is using solar surplus — the generation that exceeds your home’s real-time consumption — rather than drawing from the grid.

Feed-in tariff rates across Australia currently sit at 3–10c/kWh for most retailers (based on AER and IPART data). Every kWh you export earns 3–10 cents. Every kWh you divert to your EV instead saves you 28–35 cents at flat tariff rates, or 18–22 cents at off-peak rates. The effective saving of diverting solar to the car is 18–30 cents per kWh over what you’d earn exporting it.

Solar-divert chargers make this automatic. The Myenergi Zappi, Wallbox Pulsar Plus, and Smappee EV Wall all monitor your home’s solar generation and consumption in real time, adjusting the charger’s output to match surplus solar before it reaches the meter. Charging cost on solar surplus effectively comes to 0–3 cents per km.

The limitation is timing: solar generation peaks at midday, not overnight when most people charge. If your car is parked at home during the day — weekend use, working from home — solar divert works well. If it’s at work all day, pairing a home battery with a smart charger lets you store solar surplus during the day and use it for evening charging.

How to Minimise Your Charging Bill

Four practical steps cover most of the savings available:

Switch to a time-of-use tariff. If your network and retailer support TOU pricing, overnight off-peak rates of 18–22c/kWh are available in most states. Set your car or charger to charge between 11pm and 6am to consistently hit the cheapest window.

Schedule charging through your charger or car app. Most modern EVs and wall chargers let you set a charge start time and target charge level. This prevents the car from drawing at peak times when rates can hit 35–55c/kWh.

Use solar divert if you have panels. A solar-divert capable charger (Zappi, Wallbox, Smappee) pays for itself within a few years if you have a system generating meaningful surplus during the day.

Get a dedicated home charger if you don’t have one. A 7kW wall charger ($800–$2,000 hardware, $400–$900 installed) charges safely at continuous rated current and integrates with scheduling apps. Charging from a standard powerpoint is slower, less efficient at higher states of charge, and not recommended as a long-term solution.