How Much Does It Cost to Charge a Tesla?

Electric-car advocates often tout that it's cheaper to charge an EV than it is to fuel a gas car. That claim typically holds up, but the full picture is more complicated than saying a Tesla or any other EV willalwayssave you money when it comes to energy costs. It all depends on where you charge.

The Cost of Charging a Tesla at Home

Unless you have access to free charging—some early Teslas are grandfathered into the automaker's free Supercharger access—plugging in at home is likely your cheapest option for charging a Tesla. In North Dakota, you can charge a Tesla Model 3 RWD from empty to full for just $7 at home, although that represents the best possible scenario. North Dakota has the cheapest electricity in the country at an average of less than $0.10 per kilowatt-hour, and the base Model 3 has a smaller battery than all other Teslas. Charging the bigger battery of a Model S or Model X with the most expensive electricity in the continental U.S. ($0.34 per kilowatt-hour in Connecticut) costs nearly $40.

But you can't just compare the cost of charging an EV with the cost of filling a gas tank. An apples-to-apples comparison needs to consider how far your money will take you in each type of vehicle. As the table below shows, you can drive a Tesla for as little as a few pennies a mile. Someone driving a Tesla the national average of 13,500 miles per year would spend between $405 and $1,755 on charging if they always plugged in at home.

Your exact numbers will, of course, vary based on your electricity cost and your vehicle's real-world efficiency, which is affected by things like weather and your driving style. For a more accurate picture based on where you live, check out our story on how much it costs to charge an electric car in each state.

How Much Does It Cost to Use a Tesla Supercharger?

Tesla's network of 17,000 Superchargers offers convenience for a price. A Supercharger can zap a Tesla from nearly empty to 80 percent in 15 to 30 minutes, but the electricity costs about twice what you'll pay to charge at home. Prices range from $0.25 per kilowatt-hour to $0.50 per kilowatt-hour depending on the location. PlugShare, a free website and app can help you find the most affordable stations near you.

Most EV drivers only use these DC fast chargers during long-distance road trips, but some Tesla owners use Superchargers like gas stations for their EVs. The table below shows energy costs based on current Supercharger prices with the annual energy cost built on the assumption of 13,500 miles of driving and all charging done at Superchargers.

Tesla occasionally offers free Supercharging to new buyers near the end of the year or the end of a quarter to boost sales. In recent years, these spiffs have been limited to 1,000 miles or one year, but some Model S and Model X vehicles sold prior to January 15, 2017, came with free lifetime Supercharging that transfers to the new owner every time the car is sold. These Teslas can be hard to find and command a premium when they come up for sale. Considering the low cost of charging at home, they're typically only worth the extra outlay if you plan to exclusively use Superchargers.

Charging a Tesla vs. Fueling a Gas Vehicle

Electric motors are so much more efficient than gas engines that an EV charged at home is almost always cheaper to run than a comparable gas vehicle. In an EV, 87 to 91 percent of the energy consumed reaches the wheels to move the car down the road. In a gas vehicle, the same figure is just 16 to 25 percent. A gas-electric hybrid powertrain can close the cost gap, but even an extremely efficient hybrid like the 57-mpg Toyota Prius is often more expensive to operate than the thriftiest Tesla Model 3.

The situation gets hazy if you rely on pricey public charging, where higher-cost electricity erases the efficiency advantage of an EV. The examples below show the costs associated with fueling a range of gas and hybrid vehicles based on their EPA combined mpg ratings. The Prius, Accord, and RAV4 figures reflect regular gas prices ranging from $3.11 to $4.66 per gallon, while the rest of the vehicles are calculated with premium fuel priced from $3.83 to $5.10 per gallon.

The Key Takeaway

Owning a Tesla can save you hundreds of dollars a year on fuel costs, but only if you're able to charge at home or find public plugs with free or subsidized electricity. The premium pricing at Superchargers and other public charging stations often makes driving an EV just as expensive as driving an efficient hybrid or gas car.