Charging the median electric car at home in Rhode Island costs about $102 a month at 29.23 cents per kilowatt-hour, 59 per cent above the national average — the 46th cheapest of 51 states. It still beats the $170 a petrol car costs over the same 1,125 miles, by $67 a month, but Rhode Island is close enough to the break-even that the tariff you are on matters more than the car you buy.
What electricity costs in Rhode Island
Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island is 29.23 cents per kWh (June 2026), against a US average of 18.34. That puts Rhode Island at 46th 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 Rhode Island that is $9.09 per 100 miles and $1,227 over a year, $38 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. Rhode Island is below that line by 19.24 cents, so the saving holds at the state-average rate before any overnight tariff is applied. A summer peak on top of 29.23 cents can push a Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island
At the Rhode Island 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 | $6.75 | $76 | $912 | $94 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 6 Long Range RWD | 26.0 | $7.60 | $85 | $1,026 | $84 |
| Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD | 26.4 | $7.72 | $87 | $1,042 | $83 |
| Lexus RZ 350e FWD | 26.6 | $7.78 | $87 | $1,050 | $82 |
| Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD | 27.5 | $8.04 | $90 | $1,085 | $79 |
| Nissan Leaf 75 kWh | 27.8 | $8.13 | $91 | $1,097 | $78 |
| Subaru Solterra AWD | 28.0 | $8.18 | $92 | $1,105 | $78 |
| Toyota bZ4X AWD 73.1 kWh | 28.0 | $8.18 | $92 | $1,105 | $78 |
| BMW i4 eDrive40 | 28.5 | $8.33 | $94 | $1,125 | $76 |
| Kia EV3 Long Range FWD | 29.0 | $8.48 | $95 | $1,144 | $74 |
| Volvo EX30 Single Motor Extended Range | 29.2 | $8.54 | $96 | $1,152 | $74 |
| Audi Q4 45 e-tron | 29.4 | $8.59 | $97 | $1,160 | $73 |
| Kia EV6 84 kWh RWD | 29.6 | $8.65 | $97 | $1,168 | $72 |
| Polestar 2 Single Motor | 29.6 | $8.65 | $97 | $1,168 | $72 |
| Volkswagen ID.4 Pro | 29.8 | $8.71 | $98 | $1,176 | $72 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 84 kWh RWD | 30.0 | $8.77 | $99 | $1,184 | $71 |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E Extended Range RWD | 30.7 | $8.97 | $101 | $1,211 | $69 |
| Mercedes-Benz CLA 250+ with EQ Technology | 31.0 | $9.06 | $102 | $1,223 | $68 |
| Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD | 31.1 | $9.09 | $102 | $1,227 | $67 |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E Standard Range RWD | 31.4 | $9.18 | $103 | $1,239 | $66 |
| Cadillac Optiq RWD | 32.1 | $9.38 | $106 | $1,267 | $64 |
| Chevrolet Blazer EV FWD | 32.3 | $9.44 | $106 | $1,275 | $63 |
| Honda Prologue FWD | 32.5 | $9.50 | $107 | $1,282 | $63 |
| Genesis GV60 AWD | 33.6 | $9.82 | $110 | $1,326 | $59 |
| Nissan Ariya e-4ORCE 87 kWh | 36.6 | $10.70 | $120 | $1,444 | $49 |
| Cadillac Lyriq RWD | 36.8 | $10.76 | $121 | $1,452 | $49 |
| Acura ZDX RWD | 36.9 | $10.79 | $121 | $1,456 | $48 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 9 RWD | 37.0 | $10.82 | $122 | $1,460 | $48 |
| Porsche Taycan (rear-wheel drive) | 37.1 | $10.84 | $122 | $1,464 | $48 |
| Rivian R1S Dual Motor, Max pack | 39.9 | $11.66 | $131 | $1,574 | $38 |
| Kia EV9 99.8 kWh AWD | 40.0 | $11.69 | $132 | $1,578 | $38 |
| Tesla Cybertruck Long Range | 40.9 | $11.96 | $134 | $1,614 | $35 |
| Rivian R1T Dual Motor, Large pack | 42.9 | $12.54 | $141 | $1,693 | $29 |
| Ford F-150 Lightning Extended Range | 47.9 | $14.00 | $158 | $1,890 | $12 |
| Chevrolet Silverado EV Max Range | 49.5 | $14.47 | $163 | $1,953 | $7 |
| GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X | 65.1 | $19.03 | $214 | $2,569 | −$44 |
| A 27 mpg petrol car at $4.07 a gallon | — | $15.07 | $170 | $2,035 | — |
At Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island
Rhode Island has 48 public DC fast-charging sites with 146 plugs in the federal AFDC station locator (2026-09-16), for 9,800 battery-electric cars registered in the state at the end of 2025.
Plug supply is the weaker half of the picture in Rhode Island: 67 registered EVs for every public fast-charging plug where the typical state manages 55 — 36th of 51 states, fewest cars per plug first. Home charging carries more of the load here than the raw site count suggests.
42% of the sites in Rhode Island have a single plug and the state averages 3.0 plugs per site — enough that a busy stop usually has another bay, not enough to count on it off the interstate.
Tesla is the largest network in Rhode Island with 41% of the plugs (60 of 146), the rest split among the other operators — enough competition that price and reliability are not one company decision.
Which plug fits in Rhode Island
The plug question in Rhode Island has a clear answer: 88% of the sites carry CCS1, the connector on almost every non-Tesla EV sold in the US, against 19% 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 Rhode Island | Share of sites | Cars that use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| CCS1 (J1772 Combo) | 42 | 88% | Almost every non-Tesla EV sold in the US |
| NACS / J3400 (Tesla) | 9 | 19% | Teslas, and other cars with an adapter where the site allows it |
| CHAdeMO | 19 | 40% | Older Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi only |
19 sites keep a CHAdeMO plug (40%). Useful if you drive an older Leaf in Rhode Island; irrelevant to everything else on this page, and the count falls every year as sites are refitted.
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 — 1.6 times what the same miles cost at home in Rhode Island, and still under the $15.07 the petrol car spends on them. The multiple is unusually small here, because Rhode Island’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.
Rhode Island against its neighbours
Connecticut is cheaper than Rhode Island; Massachusetts is dearer. The monthly column is the Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD in every row, which makes the border differences directly comparable — $17 a month separates Rhode Island from its cheapest neighbour.
| State | Cents / kWh | Rank | Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD / month | Fast plugs | EVs per plug |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | 24.32 | 40th | $85 | 761 | 64 |
| Rhode Island | 29.23 | 46th | $102 | 146 | 67 |
| Massachusetts | 29.61 | 49th | $104 | 1,971 | 58 |
How long the charge itself takes does not change with the state, only what it costs: the Hyundai Ioniq 5 charging time, Hyundai Ioniq 6 charging time and Kia EV6 charging time are 18, 17 and 17 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 Rhode Island’s.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to charge an electric car in Rhode Island?
More than in most of the country: $9.09 per 100 miles, $102 a month for the median car at 29.23 cents per kWh. The Lucid Air Pure RWD brings that down to $76; the GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X pushes it to $214, and in Rhode Island that choice is worth $138 a month.
Is it cheaper to charge an EV than to buy petrol in Rhode Island?
Yes. At 29.23 cents per kWh the median car costs $102 a month against $170 of petrol for a 27 mpg car at $4.07 a gallon — $67 a month in favour of Rhode Island, $808 a year.
How many fast chargers are there in Rhode Island?
48 sites and 146 plugs (AFDC, 2026-09-16), which 9,800 registered cars have to share — 67 per plug, against 55 in the median state. Only DC fast chargers are counted; Level 2 is not.
Can a non-Tesla use a Tesla charger in Rhode Island?
Where the site is open to other brands, yes, with the right adapter. 9 of the 48 fast-charging sites in Rhode Island carry the NACS plug (19%) and 42 carry CCS1 (88%), 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 Rhode Island?
The Lucid Air Pure RWD, at 23.1 kWh per 100 miles: $6.75 per 100 miles and $76 a month in Rhode Island. Picking it over the GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X is worth $138 a month here, which is as much as the Rhode Island rate ever makes efficiency worth; the full efficiency order is the same in every state.
Sources for the Rhode Island figures
Electricity price 29.23 cents/kWh: EIA Electric Power Monthly table 5.6.A, June 2026. Sites, plugs and connectors for Rhode Island: 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 Rhode Island: 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.