While the gasoline price is largely determined by the oil price and excise duties, the way you charge your electric car plays an important role in the cost of electric driving. There are three ways to charge your electric car: at home, at a public charging station, and fast charging.

As an example, we take a charge of 20.7 kWh/100 kilometers and assume 15,000 kilometers per year. This amount includes charging losses, as energy is lost as heat when storing electricity. *Note: this is just an example, and the actual costs may vary depending on your specific situation.

Charging at home

Charging at home is often the cheapest option, and there are two ways to do this: using a socket or with your own charging station. The charging station is faster, but in both cases you pay your own energy supplier's kilowatt-hour rate. This rate can vary per supplier and type of contract.

Energy prices can vary significantly, so it is advisable to check what rate you have if you own a charging station. Some variable contracts may have rates of more than €0.85 per kWh. If you have taken out a new contract this year, or if your contract is variable or if you have exceeded your electricity limit, your charge card provider (see also point two on this page) may charge a lower rate for charging at a public charging station than what you currently pay for your home electricity.

For these calculations, we take an average rate for 1 kWh for a fixed energy contract of €0.30. With this, a charge of 20.7 kWh amounts to €6.21. If you can fully charge the 15,000 kilometers you drive per year at home, this amounts to approximately €932 per year (€0.062 per kilometer).

There are also dynamic energy contracts, with which you can save an average of 30% on charging costs by charging your car when electricity is cheap. If you have solar panels, it may be more advantageous to charge when you generate your own power, which costs an average of €0.02 per kWh.

Charging at a public charging station

If you charge your electric car at a public charging station, you usually pay more per kWh. This is because the provider of the charging station has to incur costs for installation and maintenance and also wants to make a profit. The rates of different charge card providers and charging stations can vary greatly, from approximately €0.25 to €0.75 per kWh. For this example, we take a rate of €0.65 per kWh, which is a common rate among some major providers. If you use the ANWB charge card, you pay a fixed rate of €0.439 per kWh.

With the same average electric vehicle as in the example above, a charge of 20.7 kWh will cost €13.46. This means an energy cost of about €0.13 per kilometer. If you are completely dependent on public charging stations, this will cost approximately €2019 based on 15,000 kilometers per year.

Fast charging

Fast charging is not only the fastest but also the most expensive way to charge your electric car. Fortunately, in practice, you only occasionally need a fast charger. Prices for fast charging range between €0.65 and €0.90 per kWh. For these calculations, we assume a rate of €0.85 per kWh. Loading 20.7 kWh thus costs €17.60, which means approximately €0.18 per kilometer. Also, keep in mind that it is usually unnecessary to charge your car up to 80% at a fast charger. For example, if you need five minutes of fast charging to get home, you can then calmly fully charge the car at a lower rate. This saves both time and money.

Costs of electric charging in practice

In practice, you will likely use a combination of different charging methods. Therefore, for these calculations, we use a combination of 60% home charging at €0.30 per kWh, 30% public charging at €0.65 per kWh, and 10% fast charging at €0.85 per kWh. This results in an average kWh price of €0.46. If you do not have the option to charge at home, the mix is 90% public charging and 10% fast charging, resulting in an average kWh price of €0.67.

For comparison: an average mid-range gasoline car consumes about 6.7 liters per 100 kilometers (approximately 1 per 15) and costs about €0.14 per kilometer based on an average gasoline price of €2.12 per liter. This means that the fuel costs for 15,000 kilometers per year are approximately €2,130; based on the examples above per 100 kilometers, that is €14.20.