How Much Does It Cost to Charge an Electric Vehicle in 2025?

Our Batteries 101 post was a primer on electric vehicle batteries: their size, charging speeds, and how far they’ll take you before you need to recharge.

Today, we’re looking at the cost of charging EV batteries, using popular vehicles as examples.

We’ll begin by getting familiar with the most important factors that contribute to your bill, then show you how to estimate costs based on the type of charging station, your vehicle’s technical specifications, and average charging prices.

Note: Our focus in this post is charging at workplaces, businesses, multi-unit residential buildings, and public charging stations. Drivers who have a dedicated charger at their single-family home most often pay through their electricity bill, at the kilowatt-hour (kWh) rates set by their provincial or state government plus taxes. 

As explained in our Batteries 101 post, the amount of energy an EV battery can store is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh).

The 2025 Polestar 4 single-motor model, for example, has 100 kWh battery capacity, which can take you up to 482 kilometres on a full charge.

Generally speaking, the larger a battery’s capacity, the longer it may take to charge it, though this can be mitigated by the other factors that follow.

A charging station’s amperage (amps) is the maximum amount of electrical current it can supply.

When combined with the voltage of the power source, you get the charging station’s output rate, which is measured in kilowatts (kW).

This is not to be confused with kilowatt-hours (kWh)—the amount of energy stored inside the battery.

In other words, kW indicates the flow of energy from the charging station to the battery, while kWh tells us the total amount of energy the battery can hold.

That’s a lot of measurements to swallow, but figuring out how quickly a charging station can add power to a battery couldn’t be easier.

For example, Hypercharge EVC11 is a popular Level 2 charging station with a maximum output of 7.6 kW. To calculate the kilowatt-hours it will provide at this rate, simply multiply the kilowatts by one hour:

7.6 kW x 1 hour = 7.6 kWh

This means that if you plug a vehicle into the Hypercharge EVC11 for one hour, the charging station will add up to 7.6 kWh of energy to the battery. If you plug it in for two hours, it will add up to 15.2 kWh, and so on.

The rate at which an electric vehicle can take in power is known as its “charging capacity” or “power acceptance rate,” and it’s determined by the EV’s onboard charger. No matter how fast a charging station is, it can’t provide power faster than the vehicle can accept it and vice versa.

For example, the Ford F-150 Lightning extended-range has an onboard charger capable of 19.2 kW, which is faster than the output rate of many Level 2 charging stations.

Drivers of vehicles with these higher capacities can make the most of Level 2 charging by charging at Hypercharge’s powerful Autel MaxiCharger AC Ultra, a Level 2 charging station that has a maximum output of 19.2 kW.

Level 2 charging stations use an alternating current (AC), which is converted to a direct current (DC) by the vehicle’s onboard charger before it sends the power to the battery.

DC fast charging stations—also known as Level 3 chargers—convert the current themselves then deliver it straight to your vehicle’s battery, vastly accelerating charging speed. 

Every EV has a listed maximum DC fast charging rate: the 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 N has one of the fastest currently available, thanks to an 800-volt electrical system that can reach a charging rate of 350 kW.

Hypercharge’s ABB Terra Series or XCHARGE GridLink can match that rate with a maximum output of 350 kW to charge the battery from 10 to 80 per cent in as little as 18 minutes.

While drivers tend to focus on the number of minutes or hours their vehicle is plugged in, charging is becoming more frequently billed per kilowatt-hour.

At Hypercharge, we believe per-kilowatt-hour pricing is fairer because it’s based on the amount of energy delivered, rather than the time it takes to deliver it, as so many variables affect charging time.

At most Hypercharge stations, prices and pricing strategy (per kWh vs per hour) are set by the station operators. We’ve calculated the average per-kilowatt-hour rate for different types of operators in Canada, as well the estimated cost per hour of charging:

*Public charging rates for Level 2 stations can vary significantly, from free to as much as $5 per hour.

To demonstrate how to put all these figures to use, we’ll borrow a 2025 Nissan LEAF with a battery capacity of 40 kWh and a 6.6 kW onboard charger.

We’ll pair it with a Hypercharge EVC11 Level 2 charging station, which has a maximum output rate of 7.6 kW.

We can estimate the time it will take to charge the LEAF’s battery from 0 to 100 per cent by dividing the battery capacity by the onboard charger capacity or by the charging station’s output rate, whichever is lower.

In this case, we’ll use the vehicle’s onboard charger capacity (6.6 kW).

First, determine the number of kilowatt-hours the onboard charger can receive per hour by multiplying its charging capacity by 1 hour.

6.6 kW charging capacity x 1 hour = 6.6 kWh received by the onboard charger per hour

Now, divide the battery capacity by the onboard charger’s per-hour charging capacity:

40 kWh battery capacity ÷ 6.6 kWh received per hour = 6 hours total charging time

We can determine the cost of fully charging the battery by using either (A) the per-kilowatt-hour rate or (B) the per-hour rate.

A. In this example, we’ll use an average per-kilowatt-hour rate for a multi-unit residential building of $0.20. Multiply these rates by the battery’s capacity:

$0.20 per kWh x 40 kWh battery capacity = $8.00 for a full charge

B. Alternatively, multiply the total charging time by the estimated per-hour rate:

6 hours total charging time x $1.50 per hour = $9.00 for a full charge

Here’s how our other sample EVs stack up, this time using the Autel MaxiCharger AC Ultra, which has an output rate of 19.2 kWh, and an estimated public charging rate of $2.25 per hour:

To find a Hypercharge charger near you, visit our Drivers page or download our industry-leading mobile app. Through the app, you can initiate, manage, and pay for charging, keep track of your transaction history, and monitor your average cost of charging per session.