Charging the median electric car at home in Iowa costs about $56 a month at 15.93 cents per kilowatt-hour — the 23rd cheapest of 51 states, and 13 per cent below the national average. Petrol over the same 1,125 miles costs $170, so the saving is $114 a month, $1,366 a year; on the public side 26 registered cars share each fast-charging plug, against 55 in the typical state.
Public fast charging in Iowa
Iowa has 149 public DC fast-charging sites with 577 plugs in the federal AFDC station locator (2026-09-16), for 15,100 battery-electric cars registered in the state at the end of 2025.
By the measure that matters on a Friday afternoon — cars divided by plugs — Iowa is among the best-served states in the country: 26 registered EVs for every public fast-charging plug where the typical state manages 55 — 6th of 51. That is not a charger on every corner; it means the ones that exist are less likely to have a queue.
Sites here are mostly multi-plug: only 20% have a single charger, and the state averages 3.9 plugs per site. A stop being occupied is far less often a dead end in Iowa than the national picture suggests.
No operator dominates Iowa: the largest, Tesla, holds 31% of the plugs (178 of 577). That is a more competitive market than most states, and it also means more apps and accounts to keep.
Which plug fits in Iowa
The plug question in Iowa has a clear answer: 87% of the sites carry CCS1, the connector on almost every non-Tesla EV sold in the US, against 14% carrying the Tesla NACS plug. A CCS car has the run of the state; a Tesla is at home on its own network and needs an adapter elsewhere.
| Connector | Sites in Iowa | Share of sites | Cars that use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| CCS1 (J1772 Combo) | 130 | 87% | Almost every non-Tesla EV sold in the US |
| NACS / J3400 (Tesla) | 21 | 14% | Teslas, and other cars with an adapter where the site allows it |
| CHAdeMO | 64 | 43% | Older Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi only |
CHAdeMO is unusually well represented here: 43% of Iowa’s sites still carry it (64 of 149). 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 — 3.0 times what the same miles cost at home in Iowa, and still under the $15.07 the petrol car spends on them. Anyone charging mostly in public in Iowa should read the home column as optimistic by a factor of 3.0 — that multiple, not the state, is what decides whether the sums work. How long each car takes on a fast charger is on its charging page.
What electricity costs in Iowa
The EIA published residential average for Iowa is 15.93 cents per kWh (June 2026), against a US average of 18.34. That puts Iowa at 23rd of 51 states and DC, cheapest first — the cheaper half of the country. Put the Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD on that rate — the middle car of the 36 rated here, at 31.1 kWh per 100 miles — and it costs $4.95 per 100 miles, $56 a month, $669 a year.
Against a 27 mpg car at $4.07 a gallon, electricity stops being the cheaper fuel at about 48 cents per kWh. Iowa is below that line by 32.54 cents, so the saving holds at the state-average rate before any overnight tariff is applied. It is an average across every household and every hour of the month: an overnight window beats it, a summer peak does not. The running-cost calculator takes your own tariff instead of the state’s.
Every EPA-rated car, charged at home in Iowa
Efficiency is worth more in Iowa than in most states: $75 a month separates the Lucid Air Pure RWD from the GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X, and every car in the table still beats the $170 the petrol car burns through.
| Car | EPA kWh / 100 mi | Per 100 miles | Per month | Per year | Saved vs petrol / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucid Air Pure RWD | 23.1 | $3.68 | $41 | $497 | $128 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 6 Long Range RWD | 26.0 | $4.14 | $47 | $559 | $123 |
| Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD | 26.4 | $4.21 | $47 | $568 | $122 |
| Lexus RZ 350e FWD | 26.6 | $4.24 | $48 | $572 | $122 |
| Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD | 27.5 | $4.38 | $49 | $591 | $120 |
| Nissan Leaf 75 kWh | 27.8 | $4.43 | $50 | $598 | $120 |
| Subaru Solterra AWD | 28.0 | $4.46 | $50 | $602 | $119 |
| Toyota bZ4X AWD 73.1 kWh | 28.0 | $4.46 | $50 | $602 | $119 |
| BMW i4 eDrive40 | 28.5 | $4.54 | $51 | $613 | $119 |
| Kia EV3 Long Range FWD | 29.0 | $4.62 | $52 | $624 | $118 |
| Volvo EX30 Single Motor Extended Range | 29.2 | $4.65 | $52 | $628 | $117 |
| Audi Q4 45 e-tron | 29.4 | $4.68 | $53 | $632 | $117 |
| Kia EV6 84 kWh RWD | 29.6 | $4.72 | $53 | $637 | $117 |
| Polestar 2 Single Motor | 29.6 | $4.72 | $53 | $637 | $117 |
| Volkswagen ID.4 Pro | 29.8 | $4.75 | $53 | $641 | $116 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 84 kWh RWD | 30.0 | $4.78 | $54 | $645 | $116 |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E Extended Range RWD | 30.7 | $4.89 | $55 | $660 | $115 |
| Mercedes-Benz CLA 250+ with EQ Technology | 31.0 | $4.94 | $56 | $667 | $114 |
| Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD | 31.1 | $4.95 | $56 | $669 | $114 |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E Standard Range RWD | 31.4 | $5.00 | $56 | $675 | $113 |
| Cadillac Optiq RWD | 32.1 | $5.11 | $58 | $690 | $112 |
| Chevrolet Blazer EV FWD | 32.3 | $5.15 | $58 | $695 | $112 |
| Honda Prologue FWD | 32.5 | $5.18 | $58 | $699 | $111 |
| Genesis GV60 AWD | 33.6 | $5.35 | $60 | $723 | $109 |
| Nissan Ariya e-4ORCE 87 kWh | 36.6 | $5.83 | $66 | $787 | $104 |
| Cadillac Lyriq RWD | 36.8 | $5.86 | $66 | $791 | $104 |
| Acura ZDX RWD | 36.9 | $5.88 | $66 | $794 | $103 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 9 RWD | 37.0 | $5.89 | $66 | $796 | $103 |
| Porsche Taycan (rear-wheel drive) | 37.1 | $5.91 | $66 | $798 | $103 |
| Rivian R1S Dual Motor, Max pack | 39.9 | $6.36 | $72 | $858 | $98 |
| Kia EV9 99.8 kWh AWD | 40.0 | $6.37 | $72 | $860 | $98 |
| Tesla Cybertruck Long Range | 40.9 | $6.52 | $73 | $880 | $96 |
| Rivian R1T Dual Motor, Large pack | 42.9 | $6.83 | $77 | $923 | $93 |
| Ford F-150 Lightning Extended Range | 47.9 | $7.63 | $86 | $1,030 | $84 |
| Chevrolet Silverado EV Max Range | 49.5 | $7.89 | $89 | $1,065 | $81 |
| GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X | 65.1 | $10.37 | $117 | $1,400 | $53 |
| A 27 mpg petrol car at $4.07 a gallon | — | $15.07 | $170 | $2,035 | — |
EPA combined ratings are measured at the socket, not at the battery, which is why these numbers are about a tenth higher than a pack-size calculation would give. That is the honest figure: it is what the meter in Iowa records. The four cars without a US rating are in kilometres on the national page.
Iowa against its neighbours
Nebraska, South Dakota are cheaper than Iowa; Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri are dearer. Same car in every row, so the columns are comparable: Iowa is cheaper than 4 of the 6 states it touches.
| State | Cents / kWh | Rank | Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD / month | Fast plugs | EVs per plug |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nebraska | 13.25 | 2nd | $46 | 282 | 42 |
| South Dakota | 15.36 | 19th | $54 | 157 | 19 |
| Iowa | 15.93 | 23rd | $56 | 577 | 26 |
| Missouri | 16.22 | 25th | $57 | 893 | 49 |
| Minnesota | 17.52 | 32nd | $61 | 914 | 65 |
| Wisconsin | 19.56 | 35th | $68 | 910 | 46 |
| Illinois | 19.89 | 36th | $70 | 2,891 | 57 |
How long the charge itself takes does not change with the state, only what it costs: the Nissan Ariya charging time, Volvo EX30 charging time and Toyota bZ4X charging time are 48, 28 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 Iowa’s.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to charge an electric car in Iowa?
About $4.95 per 100 miles at home for the median EPA-rated car, $56 a month at 1,125 miles, using the EIA residential average of 15.93 cents per kWh. The most efficient car here, the Lucid Air Pure RWD, costs $41 a month; the least efficient, the GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X, $117.
Is it cheaper to charge an EV than to buy petrol in Iowa?
Yes. At 15.93 cents per kWh the median car costs $56 a month against $170 of petrol for a 27 mpg car at $4.07 a gallon — $114 a month in favour of Iowa, $1,366 a year.
How many fast chargers are there in Iowa?
577 plugs across 149 sites (AFDC, 2026-09-16) for 15,100 registered cars, which is 26 per plug and among the easiest ratios in the country. DC fast only — Level 2 is a different question.
Can a non-Tesla use a Tesla charger in Iowa?
Where the site is open to other brands, yes, with the right adapter. 21 of the 149 fast-charging sites in Iowa carry the NACS plug (14%) and 130 carry CCS1 (87%), 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 Iowa?
The Lucid Air Pure RWD, at 23.1 kWh per 100 miles: $3.68 per 100 miles and $41 a month in Iowa. Picking it over the GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X is worth $75 a month here, which is as much as the Iowa rate ever makes efficiency worth; the full efficiency order is the same in every state.
Sources for the Iowa figures
Electricity price 15.93 cents/kWh: EIA Electric Power Monthly table 5.6.A, June 2026. Sites, plugs and connectors for Iowa: 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 Iowa: 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.