The headline you usually hear is "an EV costs a fraction of petrol to run." That's true — if you charge at home, on the right tariff, most of the time. It's much less true if you live in an apartment and rely on public fast chargers, where the per-kilometre cost can creep up close to a small, efficient petrol car. The real answer depends entirely on where you plug in, so this guide does the maths for each case and states every assumption behind every number.
We're not a charger network and we don't sell electricity, so there's no spin here — this is just the numbers, laid out plainly so you can work out what charging actually costs you versus filling up at the pump.
What does it cost to charge an EV at home?
Home charging is the cheapest electricity most drivers will ever buy for their car. A typical EV uses around 16 kWh per 100 km. On a standard residential tariff of roughly 30 c/kWh, that's about 4.8 cents per kilometre. Shift that same charging to an off-peak or EV tariff around 18 c/kWh and it drops to under 3 c/km.
Here's the maths in full so you can swap in your own numbers. Energy use per 100 km (16 kWh) multiplied by your tariff gives the cost per 100 km, then divide by 100 for cents per kilometre:
- Standard tariff (~30 c/kWh): 16 × $0.30 = $4.80 / 100 km → ~4.8 c/km
- Off-peak / EV plan (~18 c/kWh): 16 × $0.18 = $2.88 / 100 km → ~2.9 c/km
- With rooftop solar (self-consumed): close to free for the kWh you'd otherwise export
Two honest caveats. First, efficiency varies a lot — a small hatch might do 14 kWh/100 km, a big dual-motor SUV 22 kWh/100 km, so check your own car. Second, these figures assume you can charge at home at all. No driveway, no off-street parking? Then the home numbers don't apply to you, and the public ones below do.
How much more does public fast charging cost?
Public DC fast charging is convenient and slow on the wallet. Rates in 2026 commonly sit around 60 to 80 c/kWh on the major networks — roughly two to three times a standard home tariff, and four times a good off-peak plan. At 70 c/kWh, that same 16 kWh/100 km car costs $11.20 per 100 km, or about 11.2 c/km.
There's a tier system worth understanding, because not all "public" charging costs the same:
- AC destination chargers (shopping centres, hotels, kerbside) — often the cheapest public option, sometimes 25–45 c/kWh, occasionally free, but slow (hours, not minutes).
- DC fast (50–150 kW) — the everyday road-trip workhorse, typically 60–80 c/kWh.
- DC ultra-rapid (175 kW+) — fastest, and usually priced at the top of the range; some networks charge a premium for the speed.
So "public charging" isn't one price. A driver who tops up overnight on a kerbside AC unit pays far less than someone who only ever uses ultra-rapid DC on the highway. The operator and connector type at each site tell you most of what you need to guess the price before you pull in — check the operator's own app for the live tariff.
EV charging cost vs petrol: the per-100km comparison
Time to line them up directly. For petrol, we'll use a fairly efficient car at 8 L/100 km and a pump price of 185 c/L (a mid-cycle metro figure — check your area on the live fuel map, because this moves daily). For the EV, we hold energy use at 16 kWh/100 km and vary only where it charges. Every cell below shows the assumption behind it.
| Scenario | Assumption | Cost / 100 km | ~Cost / 12,000 km year |
|---|---|---|---|
| EV — home off-peak | 16 kWh @ 18 c/kWh | $2.88 | ~$346 |
| EV — home standard | 16 kWh @ 30 c/kWh | $4.80 | ~$576 |
| EV — mixed (80% home, 20% DC) | blend of 30 + 70 c/kWh | $5.81 | ~$697 |
| EV — public DC only | 16 kWh @ 70 c/kWh | $11.20 | ~$1,344 |
| Petrol car | 8 L @ 185 c/L | $14.80 | ~$1,776 |
The pattern is clear. Charge at home and an EV undercuts that petrol car by a mile — home off-peak is roughly one-fifth the running cost. Even on a standard home tariff it's about a third. The interesting case is the bottom of the EV column: a driver who relies only on public DC fast charging still beats the 185 c/L petrol car here, but the margin is much thinner, and against a cheap fuel price or a very efficient petrol car the two can land close together.
When does public charging still beat petrol?
Public-only charging usually still wins, but the margin is narrow enough that the inputs matter. At 70 c/kWh the EV costs $11.20/100 km; the petrol car at 185 c/L costs $14.80. The EV stays ahead — until petrol gets cheap or the petrol car gets very efficient. Run the same maths with petrol at 165 c/L and a 6 L/100 km hybrid and the gap nearly closes.
So the honest rule of thumb for a driver who can't charge at home: public DC charging beats petrol most of the time, but it's not the four-to-one landslide the headlines suggest. The savings come from avoiding the most expensive kWh. Mix in cheaper AC destination charging, the occasional free charger, and any home or workplace top-ups you can get, and the advantage widens again. Lean exclusively on ultra-rapid DC at peak pricing and you're paying for convenience, not economy.
Quick gut-check before you commit to either side: plug your real weekly distance and local fuel price into the Fuel Daddy fuel cost calculator to see what your petrol car actually costs you now, then compare it to the charging scenarios above.
How do you find cheap (or free) EV chargers?
Because the price gap between a 25 c/kWh destination charger and an 80 c/kWh ultra-rapid is so large, where you charge is the single biggest lever on your running cost. The cheapest charging follows a simple priority order, and a bit of planning is worth real money over a year.
In rough order of cost, cheapest first:
- Home off-peak or solar — unbeatable if you have it; set the car to charge overnight or midday on solar.
- Free chargers — some shopping centres, councils and workplaces still offer free AC (and occasionally DC) charging. They exist; you just have to know where.
- AC destination charging — cheap and handy if you're parked anyway for an hour or two.
- DC fast, off the cheaper networks — compare per-kWh rates between operators; they vary.
- Ultra-rapid DC at peak — the convenience option; use it on road trips, not as your daily habit.
Before you drive to a charger, the details that matter are the operator, the connector types, the power rating, and whether the site is fast DC or slower AC — those tell you whether it's likely to be a cheap top-up or a pricey one. Check the operator's app for the live tariff before you pull in, the same way you'd check the pump price before filling up.
The bottom line
The "EV vs petrol" question doesn't have one answer — it has three, depending on where you plug in. Charge at home, especially on an off-peak or EV tariff, and an electric car runs at roughly a fifth to a third the cost of a petrol car: clear, consistent savings. Rely entirely on public fast charging and you'll still usually come out ahead of petrol, but it's a close-run thing once fuel is cheap or the petrol car is efficient. The deciding factor isn't the badge on the car; it's the price of the kWh you can get to.
Whichever way you're leaning, decide with real numbers. Compare today's pump prices on the live fuel map, and if you're weighing fuel types entirely, our diesel vs petrol guide covers that corner too.
