There is no single price to charge a small electric car: the cost depends on how much electricity the car uses, what you pay per kilowatt-hour (kWh), and where you plug in. For a useful estimate, multiply the car’s energy use by your electricity rate. UK figures illustrate the difference: a Welsh Government note from 2024–25 estimated about 2p per mile at a low home tariff and roughly 15–22p per mile on public charging, while HMRC’s company-car advisory rates effective 1 September 2026 are 7p per mile for home charging and 15p per mile for public slow or fast charging below 50kW. These figures use different assumptions and serve different purposes; neither is a universal consumer quote.
How to estimate your charging cost
Start with the car’s electricity consumption and the price of electricity where you charge. This gives a cost per mile or kilometre, which is usually more useful for comparing running costs than a single “full charge” price.
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- Cost per mile: kWh per mile × price per kWh.
- Cost per kilometre: kWh per kilometre × price per kWh.
- Cost for a charging session: kWh bought from the grid × the applicable price per kWh.
Use the vehicle’s consumption figure for the model and conditions that best match your driving. A small car may use less energy per mile than a larger one, but there is no one consumption figure that applies to all small electric cars. The Welsh Government’s example below uses 0.27kWh per mile; treat that as the note’s assumption, not as a guaranteed figure for your car.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsCheck whether the consumption figure describes energy taken from the battery or energy drawn from the grid. A home or public electricity bill generally reflects the energy supplied at the meter or charger, whereas vehicle consumption figures may be expressed on a different basis. Charging losses can make those amounts differ. The sources cited here do not establish a universal loss percentage, so do not add a made-up allowance or count losses twice. If you have a measured electricity total for a charging session, use that grid-energy figure with the rate you paid.
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UK figures: a dated illustration and a current official benchmark
The following figures are not interchangeable. The Welsh Government Energy Service’s 2024–25 note offers an illustrative comparison based on a low home tariff and a smaller-car consumption assumption. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) publishes advisory rates for a specific company-car reimbursement context; those rates are not a consumer tariff.
| Source and context | Electricity price or benchmark | Illustrative cost per mile | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Welsh Government Energy Service, 2024–25; assumed consumption 0.27kWh/mile | Home: 7.5p/kWh | About 2p | Dated example using the note’s low home tariff, not a current quote. |
| Welsh Government Energy Service, 2024–25; assumed consumption 0.27kWh/mile | Public charging: 55–81p/kWh | About 15–22p | Illustrative range in that note; the price depends on charging type and rate. |
| HMRC advisory electric rates, effective 1 September 2026 | Home: 24.47p/kWh; public slow or fast charging below 50kW: 54.00p/kWh | 7p at home; 15p in public | Company-car advisory rates calculated using HMRC’s weighted assumptions, not retail prices for every driver. |
The Welsh Government example’s arithmetic is straightforward: 0.27kWh/mile × 7.5p/kWh = 2.025p per mile, or about 2p. At 55p/kWh, the same assumed consumption gives 14.85p per mile, about 15p; at 81p/kWh it gives 21.87p, about 22p. The underlying 7.5p and 55–81p unit prices belong to the note’s 2024–25 context and should not be presented as today’s rates.
HMRC’s September 2026 figures use a weighted efficiency benchmark of 3.59 miles per kWh. Its corresponding unit-price assumptions are 24.47p/kWh for home electricity and 54.00p/kWh for public slow or fast charging below 50kW; its rounded advisory rates are 7p and 15p per mile. HMRC says the rates draw on Department for Energy Security and Net Zero electricity-price data, quarterly Office for National Statistics adjustments, Department for Transport vehicle-consumption rates, business-car sales weights and the Zapmap Price Index for public charging. HMRC reviews the rates quarterly.
Why HMRC’s rates are not a household charging quote
HMRC’s rates apply only to employees using fully electric company cars, for reimbursing business travel or working out repayment for private fuel. HMRC’s scope statement is explicit: “These rates only apply to employees using a company car.” It says not to use them in other circumstances. They can provide a dated UK reference point, but they do not tell a private driver what a home tariff or a specific charging network will charge.
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For your own estimate, substitute the actual price on your bill or the public charger’s applicable rate and the consumption of your car. Also check what is included in a public charging price: the relevant amount is the price that applies to the energy you buy for that session. Do not treat an official reimbursement benchmark, an older illustrative tariff and an operator’s current price as if they were the same kind of number.
What does a full charge cost?
Battery size alone is not enough to give a reliable full-charge price. The total depends on the energy added, the starting state of charge, the unit price and how the billed grid energy relates to the battery energy stored. A car arriving with a substantial charge will cost less to top up than the same car charging from a much lower level; charging at a different location can also change the rate.
If you know battery capacity and the percentage-point change in state of charge, a first estimate of energy added to the battery is:
Battery energy added (kWh) = battery capacity (kWh) × change in charge percentage.
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For example, express the percentage change as a decimal when calculating: a 10-percentage-point increase is 0.10 times capacity. This estimates battery-side energy. If the charger bills energy drawn from the grid, account for charging losses only when converting that battery estimate to billed energy, and only if those losses are not already reflected in your measurement. Because the available sources do not establish a universal loss rate, use a measured session total or a clearly identified vehicle or charger figure where possible rather than assuming a fixed adjustment.
Home charging: tariff, access and equipment
Home charging can be inexpensive when the driver has access to a suitable parking space and a low electricity rate. The illustrative 2024–25 Welsh Government example shows why the unit price matters: at its assumed 7.5p/kWh tariff, a vehicle using 0.27kWh/mile works out to about 2p per mile. That is a historical example, not a promise that a household can obtain that rate now. Use the rate on your own electricity plan, including any off-peak price if it applies to the hours when you charge.
A home charging station can involve an upfront installation expense. The Welsh Government note estimates a typical installation at around £1,000 in its 2024–25 context and says home charging equipment may enable access to lower electricity rates. It is not a current quote for a particular property or charger. Installation costs and suitability depend on the individual setup, so confirm requirements and pricing for your home and vehicle.
To judge whether installing equipment makes financial sense, compare the extra upfront cost with the difference between what you would pay using your likely home tariff and your realistic alternatives. That calculation depends on your annual mileage, the share of charging done at home, actual tariffs and installation quote. The cited figure does not establish a universal payback mileage or period.
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Charging away from home
Public charging prices can be higher than a low home tariff, and the Welsh Government note’s 2024–25 examples show how a higher per-kWh rate changes the running cost even when the car’s assumed consumption stays fixed. For drivers who rely on public charging, the practical estimate should use the prices available on the routes and at the places they actually use, rather than assuming a home-charging rate.
The HMRC benchmark’s public category covers slow or fast charging below 50kW. It does not turn its 15p-per-mile advisory rate into a price for every public charger or charging speed. For any actual session, check the rate shown for that charger and calculate from energy bought. The sources cited here do not establish a current individual network tariff or a separate universal price for rapid charging.
Without a driveway, owning an electric car is not ruled out. The Welsh Government note identifies public charging, workplace charging and local-authority on-street charging programmes as alternatives. The right comparison is therefore not simply “home versus road”: it is the likely mix of charging access available to you, and the prices attached to that mix.
A practical way to compare your options
- Find your car’s consumption. Use the model-specific figure you have available, and note whether it is expressed in kWh per mile or per kilometre and whether it reflects battery energy or grid energy.
- List the rates you can actually use. Record your household’s applicable tariff, any relevant off-peak rate, and the prices for the public, workplace or on-street charging you expect to rely on. Keep the date and charging type with each price.
- Calculate each cost on the same basis. Multiply consumption by the applicable per-kWh price. For a session, use billed grid energy where available and multiply it by that session’s rate.
- Estimate your charging mix. Consider how much charging can realistically be done at home or work and how much will be public. A driver with a driveway and a suitable tariff faces a different cost pattern from someone depending on public charging.
- Add equipment costs only when they apply. If you need home equipment, compare an actual installation quote with the likely savings from your own mileage and rates; do not assume the dated £1,000 illustration guarantees payback.
Keep the comparison time-specific. Electricity rates can change, and HMRC reviews its advisory figures quarterly. An old example remains useful for understanding the calculation, but it should not be used as a substitute for a current household bill or charger price.
What the numbers mean for a small electric car
The clearest answer is conditional: a small electric car can cost relatively little per mile when it uses modest energy and is charged at a low home rate, while public charging at a higher per-kWh price increases that cost. The arithmetic is portable across countries, but the UK examples above cannot be carried over unchanged to another country, another tariff, or another vehicle.
For a personal estimate, the two inputs that matter most are the car’s real-world energy use and the price you will actually pay for electricity. A quoted “full charge” amount without those details can mislead: it may describe a partial top-up, a different starting charge, a particular battery size, or an outdated rate. Use per-mile or per-kilometre costs for running-cost comparisons, and use session energy and the session’s price for an individual charging stop.
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