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Charging an electric vehicle in public can range in price from free to very expensive. When we recently charged a new 2022 Chevrolet Bolt at an EVgo DC fast charger (DCFC) in Bedford, NH, we discover the pricey end of the spectrum can be more than it would cost to fuel a "gas-guzzling" V8-powered muscle car.
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$10.15 To Add 34 Miles of EV Range
We charged up a Chevy Bolt using the EVgo DC fast charger, and the bill was $10.15. That amount of money added 34 miles of range to the Bolt. So, the cost per mile of energy was 30 cents per mile. Let’s compare that to a 2021 Dodge performance car we tested the prior week.
The Dodge had 797 hp, and it returned a combined fuel mileage of 24 MPG in our use on the same route we tested the Bolt. We paid $2.90 per gallon for the gasoline it uses. Doing some “goes in’tahs,” the cost per mile for energy in the muscle car turns out to be 12 cents. Thus, the cost per mile to energize the Bolt was roughly triple what the V8 gas-powered car cost us.
Charging Etiquette
When charging in public one is supposed to quit charging when one’s EV reaches 80% state of charge. The reasons for this are two-fold. First, the rate at which charge can be added to an EV battery is more rapid below 80% and much more time-consuming as the battery reaches full. Second, EV chargers are in very short supply. We need to ration them.
On my route from the metro Boston area to the lakes region of New Hampshire, there are exactly zero public DC fast chargers. In order to charge at a DCFC, I took a slightly longer by time route to swing by one of only two DCFC charging spots in that area. Google “Henniker NH DC Fast Chargers” if you want to see what I mean about no chargers. I needed to top-off in order to complete the 200+-mile route I was making. So, I broke charger etiquette, and I charged to full.
I also charged at the DCFC because I wanted to test my EVgo membership RFID card and account and see how long the DCFC took to add back miles. Both were successful tests.
Charging For Free
Coincidental to my test, GM was running a free-to-charge promotion day during the week I had the Bolt. I think free anything is great, but I always wonder, what’s the hidden agenda? If charging up an EV is very affordable anyway, why does there need to be a promotion to make it “free?” If Dodge offered free gas to muscle car owners, I suppose folks would jump at the chance for a free fillup. But why make EV charging free?
The answer is to get EV owners to the chargers and have them try out the experience. You see, when we poll owners of EVs, most report that they only charge at home, and almost none report using DC fast chargers.
When I plugged into the EVgo DC fast charger, I hadn’t thought about the cost. After all, we constantly hear how affordable EVs are to power up. I have done the math at my own home, and I know that the cost is typically about five to seven cents per mile of range I add back on my home charger using my relatively pricey Boston-area electricity. $10.15 for just 34 miles was a “shock.” Get it, shock. Bet you never heard that in an EV story before.
Related Story: New Hampshire Innkeepers Demonstrate EV-Driving Guest Best Practices
Feel free to tell us in the comments below what you typically pay to charge in public at a DC fast charger and how that cost compares to your cost at home.
John Goreham is a long-time New England Motor Press Association member and recovering engineer. John's interest in EVs goes back to 1990 when he designed the thermal control system for an EV battery as part of an academic team. After earning his mechanical engineering degree, John completed a marketing program at Northeastern University and worked with automotive component manufacturers, in the semiconductor industry, and in biotech. In addition to Torque News, John's work has appeared in print in dozens of American newspapers and he provides reviews to many vehicle shopping sites. You can follow John on TikTok @ToknCars, on Twitter, and view his credentials at Linkedin
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Comments
My Tesla can not use those
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My Tesla can not use those chargers. Maybe that is why Tesla made their own chargers to keep us from getting ripped and pay way less than polluter vehicles. However it is time to stop polluting. We have the tech for all vehicles to be EV. Also caty converter theft would be no more
Terry, when I signed up for
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In reply to My Tesla can not use those by Terry (not verified)
Terry, when I signed up for EVgo I noticed that the brand does now offer Tesla connectors at its newer installations, and in older locations an adapter can be used with the CHAdeMO EVgo handle. Hope this expands your emergency options. More here: https://www.evgo.com/tesla/
Definitely the exception here
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Definitely the exception here.
30 minutes to add 34 miles on
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30 minutes to add 34 miles on a DC fast charger.... Yikes. So glad I got a Tesla.
One underlining item that get
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One underlining item that get forgotten is once there is critical number of EV on the road, that experience may happen more frequently. Cheap fast recharge on the road won't be forever.
There was a time when ATM transaction, including withdrawal, were all free too. Once people stopped going inside that became a money maker for bank.
Telsa and other charging location will not be free forever either, at one point that will be a revenue stream too
Well said, Zach. FYI, Tesla
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In reply to One underlining item that get by Zak (not verified)
Well said, Zach. FYI, Tesla stopped providing free supercharging to its customers buying new vehicles in November of 2016.
Tesla is moving fast to
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In reply to One underlining item that get by Zak (not verified)
Tesla is moving fast to reduce charging cost. Currently solar is among the least expensive form of energy to add to the grid.
There are articles explaining this in detail. You just need to read them.
I charged my 2020 Nissan leaf
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I charged my 2020 Nissan leaf at a charge Plus the other day in Stockton California and they charged a $10 parking fee plus .36 cents a minute.
Talk like that will get you
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In reply to I charged my 2020 Nissan leaf by Stacey L Nelson (not verified)
Talk like that will get you labeled a conspirator, Stacey ;)
That's very much on the super
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That's very much on the super high end and is a little misleading. Driving across country, I pay about the same as I would as a car getting 40mpg (might be better with rising gas prices)
But as the article said, I charge 99% at home where I get about 100 miles for $1.40
- Cars charge slower from 80%
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- Cars charge slower from 80% to full to preserve the battery
- The charger in question bills per minute. Other companies sometimes do per kWh.
- You can get a 50 kWh rate on that car under 80%. You got about a 20 kWh rate here.
- EvGO has some chargers that reach 200 kWh or more which brings the per-kWh cost under 15 cents in some cases. This is great for Teslas. Any per-kWh cost under 30 is probably better than gas so yes, these 50 kWh chargers are probably at least 15% more expensive than they should be even in the most optimal conditions. They shouldn’t be any more than 25 cents a minute, preferrably 20 to be competitive.
I drove from ottawa to
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I drove from ottawa to Halifax and back on the Tesla network it cost me $50 would have cost me $100 if I had not had free referral miles. My wife has a Kia Soul and we have had similar “expensive” charging experiences. When I use to drive gas cars you would hit expensive gas stations in remote areas that were 20 or 25 cents more than typical gas stations in your area. If you live in an apartment and 100% of your charging is public EV go type charging then one of the big benefits of EV ownerships is lost for you. What I ask people is how often do you fill up 2 times in a day. It’s only on a road trip and for most of us even in non covid times that’s 2 or 3 times a year. If 90 % of your driving is around your city then any EV will be great. If your local driving is a lot less than your road trip driving then you need a Tesla. Tesla is the only ev company that has affordable road trip driving.
Craig, I mostly agree. Indeed
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In reply to I drove from ottawa to by Craig Sweetnam (not verified)
Craig, I mostly agree. Indeed Tesla has Superchargers on this route perfectly placed, and they are on both the North and Southbound side of the highway. I consider PHEVs like the RAV4 Prime EVs, and they can make this trip without breaking a sweat. If you live in an apartment, why not a 50 MPG hybrid, or a 133 MPGe PHEV? Why live for the car's needs and not your own?
I drove a hybrid for 5 years
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In reply to Craig, I mostly agree. Indeed by John Goreham
I drove a hybrid for 5 years before buying a Tesla I would never buy a hybrid again! You have the worst of all worlds for very little benefit. I would agree with you if your someone who hates tesla and or Elon Musk and refuse to buy a Tesla on principal then maybe a hybrid is an ok option if you do a lot of trip driving vs local driving.
Why I hate hybrids
A) room you have to have both gas and electric systems so for the same size car you have a lot more room devoted to car operations vs personal storage. my ford fusion hybrid was virtually the same size as my tesla model 3 but for useable storage for groceries and suitcases etc it has 4 times the storage space. The frunck of the model 3 has almost as much storage as my 2013 Ford Fusion had in the entire trunk. My hybrid was old enough that I could not plug it in at all so my cost per KM was still at least double that of my model 3. I also had to pay for oil changes and the other service that I have spent nothing on for my Model 3. I am well over 10,000 KM and I have bought a new pair of wipers for the model 3 because I always want the gold standard wipers for my car but I went through wipers often on my Ford. I feel like the dealership is practically stealing from my wife by charging her almost $300 a year for "annual" service on her Kia Soul EV. I spent nearly that a quarter on my Hybrid for oil changes.
my hybrid went to the dump after me after only 5 years because the transmission was going and who wants to pay 5K for a new transmission on a 250,000 KM ford fusion. even with really bad battery degradation on a Tesla you will get enough range to make the car drivable in a city even after 10 years of use so a tesla should last a lot longer than my Ford hybrid did. With Hybrids you have everything to go wrong in both systems so your likelihood of needing service is increased.
in conclusion my hybrid was great when I bout it in late 2012 it was less than half the cost of a model S that was really the only fully electric car available in late 2012. but compared to today's car line up you must have a reallllly compelling reason to not want to buy a Tesla and want to ignore Total cost of ownership to buy a hybrid today.
Thanks for your comment,
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In reply to I drove a hybrid for 5 years by Craig Sweetnam (not verified)
Thanks for your comment, Craig. In fairness to hybrids, yours was a 2013. And a Ford. Which 2013 Tesla BEV sedan of the same price was comparable to that Ford you owned? Do you think that owners of Toyota hybrids feel like the cars provide a bad bang for the buck? If so, why do Prius cars dominate rideshare (Google it)? The Prius hybrid has an unbroken record of perfect 5/5 Consumer Reports reliability scores from 2009 through 2021. Name any vehicle that can match that reliability. Model 3 cars are fantastic. There is no denying it. However, the ATP (average transaction price) is in the $50ks and the ATP (average transaction price) for Prius, Corolla, and Camry hybrid cars in the high $20K to low $30ks. And congrats on getting a quarter million kilometers on your Ford hybrid before you had a major problem. That is 155,000 miles for those who don't have the conversion handy. Finally, Toyota includes 2 years of maintenance in the US market. That sure helps with the 5-year COO calculations. Particularly on 24 or 36-month leases for those who use the cars in businesses.
Given weather catastrophes
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In reply to Craig, I mostly agree. Indeed by John Goreham
Given weather catastrophes occurring all around you due to carbon emissions your comment is just sadly head in the sand.
Let's say that charge took 30
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Let's say that charge took 30 mins and gave 10 kWh: that's an average charge rate of 20 kW. For a DC charger that's almost a trickle. My EV routinely charges at >150 kW, and anything below 40 kW I always unplug.
Why would anyone use a DC fast charger to charge at such slow rates, probably getting billed by the minute, unless it was to try to make EVs look bad? Oh... to try to make EVs look bad to those who don't know any better (the muscle car comparison kinda emphasizes it too!).
Orac, great insight. Here are
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In reply to Let's say that charge took 30 by Orac (not verified)
Orac, great insight. Here are a couple more "Or ifs" Or if an EV owner wanted to ensure their EVgo account and RFID card were working before they needed it. Or if the EV driver was headed on a trip into a rural area and this was the last DCFC, or charging option of any type, on that journey.
Yes. Extreme edge-cases, not
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In reply to Orac, great insight. Here are by John Goreham
Yes. Extreme edge-cases, not worthy of using as a comparison to operating costs of a gasoline car.
Can you do the math based on
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Can you do the math based on $7.60/gallon Cdn. That's our gas price today here on Vancouver Island:) so, EV or Hybrid might be better for us.
Like you said. Most people
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Like you said. Most people charge at home and where I live, it's extremely cheap compared to a gas vehicle. My son recently was in Calgary, AB for a trip with the Tesla. He topped up from near dead at a Tesla charging station - $12 Canadian. So I think your situation is completely untrue for most EV owners.
While the title is actually
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While the title is actually true, this is a somewhat rare situation. Even when you do a DC fast charge session at a public station, most of the time you will be paying around $0.10 to $0.20 per mile of range. And on a gas gluzzer you would need to take in account also the cost of oil and regular maintenance. On a car whose oil change is $50 every 5000 miles, it is already $0.01 per mile. On a performance car that uses snake oil for $300 every 3000 miles, that alone is $0.10 per mile.
Your article uses lies to
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Your article uses lies to deceive the uninformed. Yes you are at a fast charging station, with one chademo charger, the fast one, and one slow charger, the one you are plugged into, as the fast charge is an upgrade for the crap bolt. Now the fast charger would charge the car at 50kw were as the slow charges at around 7kw. You show a doctored photo that shows a 30 min time at the 35 cents a min charge which would be that $10 but that would have put you close to full charge, instead however you used the slow charger which is $1.50 an hour. Go get 30 miles in your other car for $1.50!!
Hi Brandon. The Bedford NH
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In reply to Your article uses lies to by Brandon P (not verified)
Hi Brandon. The Bedford NH EVgo location has two charging spots served by 3 different connectors. The old-school CHAdeMO connector and also a CCS connector serve the spot I am parked in and both provide a 50 kw rate of charge. There is a third option for Level 2 charging in a second spot next to it. You can view images by Google reviewers for the Bedford Whole Foods EVgo location online or you can just look at the DCFC machine the Bolt is shown plugged into. DCFC machines require a much larger apparatus than Level 2 stations. They are the ones with the huge fans and thicker cables. It is now common for DCFCs to have multiple charging handles. There are even Tesla handles starting to show up as options.
As many others pointed out,
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As many others pointed out, you used a per minute DC fast charger on a slow to charge car. You should have used a level 2 charger instead of a DC fast charger, you wouldn't have lost much speed at all and you would have paid a reasonable price.
The comparison doesn't really make a whole lot of sense because nobody with a whole lot of sense would use a DC fast charger with that vehicle to top off that way.
What is the bisiness case for
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What is the bisiness case for providing EV chargepoints? If they charged $10/hr, making say $7 on 20kwhrs, that compare with gas fill usage at maybe 8 users / hr making say $1 per tank ie $8/hr. Ive made up these numbers, perhaps someone on here has some real data?
Yeah, it's a rip off. Again,
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Yeah, it's a rip off. Again, companies trying to make more money. There is no way the electricity cost them that much. I get a few extra cents to pay for the space the charger resides at, but this is ridiculous!
What is also interesting, gas should be much much more expensive than it is. But due to subsidized fuel, yep through our taxes, the prices stay a good $200 or so a gallon lower than they should cost.
Is this an attempt to turn people off to go electric?
I charge at home and have used free chargers. So far I have not yet needed to pay for charging at a public charger. I do have to admit, I have a Tacoma for road trips. Hopefully the network of chargers improves because this is the bottleneck.
Shad, what does the cost of
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In reply to Yeah, it's a rip off. Again, by Shad (not verified)
Shad, what does the cost of electricity have to do with what EVgo will charge for electricity at a DCFC station? The up-front costs for these pricey chargers is estimated to average $50K. and imagine what the lease for the real estate runs. Recouping the costs of installation and operation are way more expensive to charging point providers than the nearly-free electricity costs. Here is some interesting reading https://www.propertymanagerinsider.com/how-much-do-ev-charging-stations-cost/
I had a Volt for 6 years.
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I had a Volt for 6 years. Over that time, I never found a functional "pay" (like ChargePoint) charger, but if I could have, charging would have taken 4 hours and cost about $12.00. For that I would have added an equivalent of just over a gallon of gas used in the range extender engine. So, obviously not with the $$ and time. Charleston SC is not an EV friendly city.
The biggest problem with
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The biggest problem with these cars and chargers is the time needed to refuel. At this point in time where people will shoot you because your not doing at least 10mph over the limit, there certainly not going to wait 20-30 minutes to refuel. And lord help you if you have to wait to even get to a refueling port. I'll stick with my hybrid that I dont need to plug in. I'm very happy with the 42 mpg I get with it.