Charging the median electric car at home in Alaska costs about $99 a month at 28.21 cents per kilowatt-hour, 54 per cent above the national average — the 45th cheapest of 51 states. It still beats the $170 a petrol car costs over the same 1,125 miles, by $71 a month, but Alaska is close enough to the break-even that the tariff you are on matters more than the car you buy.
What electricity costs in Alaska
Alaska is one of the ten most expensive places in the country to buy a kilowatt-hour, which changes the arithmetic before any car is chosen. The EIA published residential average for Alaska is 28.21 cents per kWh (June 2026), against a US average of 18.34. That puts Alaska at 45th of 51 states and DC, cheapest first — the dearer half of the country. The Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD sits in the middle of the 36 cars rated here at 31.1 kWh per 100 miles; in Alaska that is $8.77 per 100 miles and $1,184 over a year, $35 a month more than the same car would cost at the national average rate.
Petrol wins once electricity passes roughly 48 cents per kWh — the figure worth knowing in a dear state. Alaska is below that line by 20.26 cents, so the saving holds at the state-average rate before any overnight tariff is applied. A summer peak on top of 28.21 cents can push a Alaska household past the break-even on its own, which is why the average is a floor to argue from rather than a figure to rely on. Put your real tariff into the running-cost calculator.
Every EPA-rated car, charged at home in Alaska
At the Alaska average rate, one car in the database costs more to charge than the petrol car costs to fuel: GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X. Everything above $170 a month in the table is in that position; everything below it saves money at the meter.
| Car | EPA kWh / 100 mi | Per 100 miles | Per month | Per year | Saved vs petrol / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucid Air Pure RWD | 23.1 | $6.52 | $73 | $880 | $96 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 6 Long Range RWD | 26.0 | $7.33 | $83 | $990 | $87 |
| Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD | 26.4 | $7.45 | $84 | $1,005 | $86 |
| Lexus RZ 350e FWD | 26.6 | $7.50 | $84 | $1,013 | $85 |
| Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD | 27.5 | $7.76 | $87 | $1,047 | $82 |
| Nissan Leaf 75 kWh | 27.8 | $7.84 | $88 | $1,059 | $81 |
| Subaru Solterra AWD | 28.0 | $7.90 | $89 | $1,066 | $81 |
| Toyota bZ4X AWD 73.1 kWh | 28.0 | $7.90 | $89 | $1,066 | $81 |
| BMW i4 eDrive40 | 28.5 | $8.04 | $90 | $1,085 | $79 |
| Kia EV3 Long Range FWD | 29.0 | $8.18 | $92 | $1,104 | $78 |
| Volvo EX30 Single Motor Extended Range | 29.2 | $8.24 | $93 | $1,112 | $77 |
| Audi Q4 45 e-tron | 29.4 | $8.29 | $93 | $1,120 | $76 |
| Kia EV6 84 kWh RWD | 29.6 | $8.35 | $94 | $1,127 | $76 |
| Polestar 2 Single Motor | 29.6 | $8.35 | $94 | $1,127 | $76 |
| Volkswagen ID.4 Pro | 29.8 | $8.41 | $95 | $1,135 | $75 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 84 kWh RWD | 30.0 | $8.46 | $95 | $1,143 | $74 |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E Extended Range RWD | 30.7 | $8.66 | $97 | $1,169 | $72 |
| Mercedes-Benz CLA 250+ with EQ Technology | 31.0 | $8.75 | $98 | $1,181 | $71 |
| Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD | 31.1 | $8.77 | $99 | $1,184 | $71 |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E Standard Range RWD | 31.4 | $8.86 | $100 | $1,196 | $70 |
| Cadillac Optiq RWD | 32.1 | $9.06 | $102 | $1,222 | $68 |
| Chevrolet Blazer EV FWD | 32.3 | $9.11 | $103 | $1,230 | $67 |
| Honda Prologue FWD | 32.5 | $9.17 | $103 | $1,238 | $66 |
| Genesis GV60 AWD | 33.6 | $9.48 | $107 | $1,280 | $63 |
| Nissan Ariya e-4ORCE 87 kWh | 36.6 | $10.32 | $116 | $1,394 | $53 |
| Cadillac Lyriq RWD | 36.8 | $10.38 | $117 | $1,401 | $53 |
| Acura ZDX RWD | 36.9 | $10.41 | $117 | $1,405 | $52 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 9 RWD | 37.0 | $10.44 | $117 | $1,409 | $52 |
| Porsche Taycan (rear-wheel drive) | 37.1 | $10.47 | $118 | $1,413 | $52 |
| Rivian R1S Dual Motor, Max pack | 39.9 | $11.26 | $127 | $1,520 | $43 |
| Kia EV9 99.8 kWh AWD | 40.0 | $11.28 | $127 | $1,523 | $43 |
| Tesla Cybertruck Long Range | 40.9 | $11.54 | $130 | $1,558 | $40 |
| Rivian R1T Dual Motor, Large pack | 42.9 | $12.10 | $136 | $1,634 | $33 |
| Ford F-150 Lightning Extended Range | 47.9 | $13.51 | $152 | $1,824 | $18 |
| Chevrolet Silverado EV Max Range | 49.5 | $13.96 | $157 | $1,885 | $12 |
| GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X | 65.1 | $18.36 | $207 | $2,479 | −$37 |
| A 27 mpg petrol car at $4.07 a gallon | — | $15.07 | $170 | $2,035 | — |
At Alaska prices the roughly ten per cent lost in the charger and cable is worth about $9 a month on its own, which is why these are EPA ratings measured at the socket rather than pack-size arithmetic. The four cars with no US rating are in kilometres on the national page.
Public fast charging in Alaska
Alaska has 26 public DC fast-charging sites with 100 plugs in the federal AFDC station locator (2026-09-16), for 4,100 battery-electric cars registered in the state at the end of 2025.
There are 41 registered EVs for every public fast-charging plug in Alaska, a little below the 55 of the typical state — 14th of 51 states, fewest cars per plug first. Plug supply is roughly keeping pace with the cars here.
Sites here are mostly multi-plug: only 19% have a single charger, and the state averages 3.8 plugs per site. A stop being occupied is far less often a dead end in Alaska than the national picture suggests.
Tesla is the largest network in Alaska with 51% of the plugs (51 of 100), the rest split among the other operators — enough competition that price and reliability are not one company decision.
Which plug fits in Alaska
Neither plug has Alaska to itself: 73% of sites carry CCS1 and 38% carry the Tesla NACS connector. Most drivers will meet both on a long route, which is the position the rest of the country is moving towards as manufacturers switch to NACS.
| Connector | Sites in Alaska | Share of sites | Cars that use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| CCS1 (J1772 Combo) | 19 | 73% | Almost every non-Tesla EV sold in the US |
| NACS / J3400 (Tesla) | 10 | 38% | Teslas, and other cars with an adapter where the site allows it |
| CHAdeMO | 12 | 46% | Older Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi only |
CHAdeMO is unusually well represented here: 46% of Alaska’s sites still carry it (12 of 26). That is a legacy of early buildout rather than a live standard — no car sold new in the US takes it, and those bays are worth nothing to a car bought this decade.
Public fast charging does not follow the residential rate. At a typical network price of $0.48 per kWh the median car costs $14.93 per 100 miles — 1.7 times what the same miles cost at home in Alaska, and still under the $15.07 the petrol car spends on them. The multiple is unusually small here, because Alaska’s residential rate is already close to network pricing; public charging costs less of a premium than it does in most of the country. How long each car takes on a fast charger is on its charging page.
Alaska against the mainland
Alaska has no land border to compare against, so the reference points are the national average (18.34 cents, $64 a month for the median car), the cheapest state, Nevada at 13.11 cents, and the dearest, Hawaii at 52.72. The full ranking is on EV charging cost by state.
How long the charge itself takes does not change with the state, only what it costs: the Kia EV6 charging time, Kia EV9 charging time and Volkswagen ID.4 charging time are 17, 22 and 28 minutes from 10 to 80 per cent wherever you plug in, and each of those pages runs the same cost arithmetic as this one at the national average rate rather than Alaska’s.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to charge an electric car in Alaska?
More than in most of the country: $8.77 per 100 miles, $99 a month for the median car at 28.21 cents per kWh. The Lucid Air Pure RWD brings that down to $73; the GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X pushes it to $207, and in Alaska that choice is worth $133 a month.
Is it cheaper to charge an EV than to buy petrol in Alaska?
Yes. At 28.21 cents per kWh the median car costs $99 a month against $170 of petrol for a 27 mpg car at $4.07 a gallon — $71 a month in favour of Alaska, $851 a year.
How many fast chargers are there in Alaska?
26 public DC fast-charging sites and 100 plugs in the AFDC locator as of 2026-09-16, for 4,100 registered EVs — 41 cars per plug. Level 2 chargers are not counted here; only DC fast.
Can a non-Tesla use a Tesla charger in Alaska?
Where the site is open to other brands, yes, with the right adapter. 10 of the 26 fast-charging sites in Alaska carry the NACS plug (38%) and 19 carry CCS1 (73%), so a CCS car still has the larger of the two networks to fall back on. The plug on each car is listed on its model page.
Which electric car is cheapest to charge in Alaska?
The Lucid Air Pure RWD, at 23.1 kWh per 100 miles: $6.52 per 100 miles and $73 a month in Alaska. Picking it over the GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X is worth $133 a month here, which is as much as the Alaska rate ever makes efficiency worth; the full efficiency order is the same in every state.
Sources for the Alaska figures
Electricity price 28.21 cents/kWh: EIA Electric Power Monthly table 5.6.A, June 2026. Sites, plugs and connectors for Alaska: AFDC station locator, public DC fast only, 2026-09-16. A site counts once per connector it carries, so those rows sum above the site total. Registered EVs in Alaska: AFDC registration counts, 2025, battery-electric only. Energy per 100 miles: EPA combined ratings, credited on each car’s page. Mileage, petrol price and the public DC rate are the standing assumptions on the methodology page.