Charging an electric car raises two questions every time: how long will it take, and what will it cost? This free EV charging time and cost calculator answers both from a few numbers you already know.
Enter your battery size in kilowatt-hours, your start and target charge levels, your charger power in kilowatts, your electricity price, and an efficiency value. The tool first works out the energy the battery needs, then adds charging losses, because some energy is always lost as heat.
Time comes from dividing that wall energy by the charger power. An 11 kilowatt home charger adding 45 kilowatt-hours to the battery takes about four and a half hours. A 50 kilowatt fast charger does the same job in about an hour, and a 150 kilowatt charger in well under half an hour.
Cost is simply the wall energy times your price per kilowatt-hour. That is why the price you enter matters so much: home overnight rates are often far cheaper than public fast charging, and the same charge can cost several times more on the road.
Real charging is not perfectly steady. Most cars charge fastest in the middle of the range and slow down sharply above 80 percent to protect the battery. Cold weather also slows charging. That is why road-trip planning usually targets 10 to 80 percent, not 0 to 100.
This calculator gives an educational estimate only. Real charging slows down near full, and speed depends on the car, the charger, temperature, and local electricity rates. Confirm with your car maker and energy supplier before planning around these numbers.
Try your own car and your own tariff, and compare home charging with a fast charger. It is free and needs no sign-up.