A roundup of EV charging costs

Cost to charge.

We started into to a piece on EV charging costs a few days ago when we got totally derailed by a notice from Kia with a special charge rate for the Memorial Day Holiday weekend from a company called IONNA.

Now, not only was the Niro fully charged at the time, it turned out that the nearest IONNA Rechargery — their term — was a good 30 minutes away, which would chew up some range as well.

However, the cost to charge would have been $0.20 kWh, and the company’s regular price was noted to be $0.39 kWh. Both numbers are actually very good for Level 3 DC charging.

So lets get into it.

Personal experience with a ChargePoint set up at the local Kia dealer is way off the mark, but worth noting. First, the kWh rate was $0.79, already high, but with all this location’s added fees came to $3.20 kWh, or $1/mile! Insane!

However, having used ChargePoint on the highway, I can attest to the fact that the Kia location is an anomaly, and a direct comparison would be the direct kWh charge of $0.79.

The apartment complex I recently left had Level 2 chargers available through AmpUp. The apartments, AmpUp and the electric provider split a $0.33 kWh charge cost, although I fully expect the predatory new owners to hike this price.

Finally, if a Level 2 charger is ever installed at my new location, the local electric company charges $0.11746 kWh off peak.

That is nearly seven times less than the high end of Level 3 charging, ignoring the ChargePoint anomaly! There are big benefits to charging at home. Even the apartment complex charges were just less than 50% cheaper.

So an average charging cost list would look like this:

• Level 3 charging: $0.64 kWh – $0.79 kWh
• Level 3 exception — IONNA: $0.39 kWh
• Level 2 — shared supply: $0.33 kWh
• Level 2 — home: $0.12 kwh off-peak (rounded)

The potential of a local IONNA Rechargery becomes clear, and would put pressure on other suppliers to reduce their costs!

Of course, there are potentially significant installation charges to consider for a home charging unit, but the savings add up. In my case, assuming zero rebates from the state and federal governments, it would take several years to recoup the costs.

However, the convenience of home charging is difficult to factor in.

Finally, all the costs can be quite variable from location to location, and if you have ready access to a 120 volt outlet, you can trickle charge your EV anytime for the lowest cost of all.

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