Charging an electric car is surprisingly cheap. While the cost of a charging varies dramatically, depending on who your electricity supplier is and where you choose to charge – one thing is for sure: the cost overall will be considerably less than the cost of refuelling a car with a petrol or diesel engine. Let’s take a closer look …
To calculate the cost of charging a High Voltage battery on any electric vehicle (PHEV or EV) using a home charger, you simply multiply the battery capacity by the cost of the electricity.
For example: The Niro PHEV has a 8.9kWh battery (kWh = kilowatt Hour). The cost per kWh of electricity is €0.17 (sample cost, depending on home supplier), so the cost to charge the Niro PHEV battery from 0% to 100% is 8.9kWh X €0.17 = €1.51
The range of a Niro PHEV in full electric mode is 55km. So 100km of electric only driving will cost approx. €2.74 (€1.51 X2 / 110km * 100). That’s a saving of €5.50 against a petrol vehicle running at 6l/100km (Average petrol cost in April 2019= €1.42 – Source AA Ireland). And a saving of approx. €3.37 per 100km when compared to a well known hybrid vehicle with an average fuel consumption of €4.5l/100km.
Assuming the cost of electricity to be €0.17 per kWh, here's what it would cost to charge the batteries that are used in both the e-Niro and e-Soul, and also the cost per 100km driving for the e-Niro, fitted with these batteries, based on the WLTP average range figures.
The 64 kWh battery has an average range 455km, and the 39.2 kWh battery has an average range 289km
On the long range battery: 64kWh (64 X €0.17) = €10.88 to fully charge: €2.39 per 100km (€10.80 /455km *100km). For the mid range battery of: 39.2kWh (39.2 X €0.17) = €6.66 to fully charge: €2.30 per 100km (€6.66 / 289km *100km)
At the moment, charging at a public station is free. The ESB have said that they will announce a new pricing model shortly.