Charging the median electric car at home in South Carolina costs about $54 a month at 15.55 cents per kilowatt-hour — the 21st cheapest of 51 states, and 15 per cent below the national average. Petrol over the same 1,125 miles costs $170, so the saving is $115 a month, $1,382 a year; on the public side 38 registered cars share each fast-charging plug, against 55 in the typical state.
Public fast charging in South Carolina
South Carolina has 203 public DC fast-charging sites with 938 plugs in the federal AFDC station locator (2026-09-16), for 35,700 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 — South Carolina is among the best-served states in the country: 38 registered EVs for every public fast-charging plug where the typical state manages 55 — 13th of 51. That is not a charger on every corner; it means the ones that exist are less likely to have a queue.
44% of the sites in South Carolina have a single plug and the state averages 4.6 plugs per site — enough that a busy stop usually has another bay, not enough to count on it off the interstate.
One network owns the state. Tesla accounts for 61% of every public fast-charging plug in South Carolina (572 of 938), so whether its plug fits your car, and what it charges per kWh, largely decides what fast charging costs here.
Which plug fits in South Carolina
The plug question in South Carolina has a clear answer: 78% of the sites carry CCS1, the connector on almost every non-Tesla EV sold in the US, against 28% 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 South Carolina | Share of sites | Cars that use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| CCS1 (J1772 Combo) | 158 | 78% | Almost every non-Tesla EV sold in the US |
| NACS / J3400 (Tesla) | 56 | 28% | Teslas, and other cars with an adapter where the site allows it |
| CHAdeMO | 50 | 25% | Older Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi only |
50 sites keep a CHAdeMO plug (25%). Useful if you drive an older Leaf in South Carolina; 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 — 3.1 times what the same miles cost at home in South Carolina, and still under the $15.07 the petrol car spends on them. Anyone charging mostly in public in South Carolina should read the home column as optimistic by a factor of 3.1 — 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 South Carolina
The EIA published residential average for South Carolina is 15.55 cents per kWh (June 2026), against a US average of 18.34. That puts South Carolina at 21st 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 $4.84 per 100 miles, $54 a month, $653 a year.
Against a 27 mpg car at $4.07 a gallon, electricity stops being the cheaper fuel at about 48 cents per kWh. South Carolina is below that line by 32.92 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 South Carolina
Efficiency is worth more in South Carolina than in most states: $73 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 | $3.59 | $40 | $485 | $129 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 6 Long Range RWD | 26.0 | $4.04 | $45 | $546 | $124 |
| Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD | 26.4 | $4.11 | $46 | $554 | $123 |
| Lexus RZ 350e FWD | 26.6 | $4.14 | $47 | $558 | $123 |
| Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD | 27.5 | $4.28 | $48 | $577 | $121 |
| Nissan Leaf 75 kWh | 27.8 | $4.32 | $49 | $584 | $121 |
| Subaru Solterra AWD | 28.0 | $4.35 | $49 | $588 | $121 |
| Toyota bZ4X AWD 73.1 kWh | 28.0 | $4.35 | $49 | $588 | $121 |
| BMW i4 eDrive40 | 28.5 | $4.43 | $50 | $598 | $120 |
| Kia EV3 Long Range FWD | 29.0 | $4.51 | $51 | $609 | $119 |
| Volvo EX30 Single Motor Extended Range | 29.2 | $4.54 | $51 | $613 | $119 |
| Audi Q4 45 e-tron | 29.4 | $4.57 | $51 | $617 | $118 |
| Kia EV6 84 kWh RWD | 29.6 | $4.60 | $52 | $621 | $118 |
| Polestar 2 Single Motor | 29.6 | $4.60 | $52 | $621 | $118 |
| Volkswagen ID.4 Pro | 29.8 | $4.63 | $52 | $626 | $117 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 84 kWh RWD | 30.0 | $4.67 | $52 | $630 | $117 |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E Extended Range RWD | 30.7 | $4.77 | $54 | $644 | $116 |
| Mercedes-Benz CLA 250+ with EQ Technology | 31.0 | $4.82 | $54 | $651 | $115 |
| Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD | 31.1 | $4.84 | $54 | $653 | $115 |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E Standard Range RWD | 31.4 | $4.88 | $55 | $659 | $115 |
| Cadillac Optiq RWD | 32.1 | $4.99 | $56 | $674 | $113 |
| Chevrolet Blazer EV FWD | 32.3 | $5.02 | $57 | $678 | $113 |
| Honda Prologue FWD | 32.5 | $5.05 | $57 | $682 | $113 |
| Genesis GV60 AWD | 33.6 | $5.22 | $59 | $705 | $111 |
| Nissan Ariya e-4ORCE 87 kWh | 36.6 | $5.69 | $64 | $768 | $106 |
| Cadillac Lyriq RWD | 36.8 | $5.72 | $64 | $773 | $105 |
| Acura ZDX RWD | 36.9 | $5.74 | $65 | $775 | $105 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 9 RWD | 37.0 | $5.75 | $65 | $777 | $105 |
| Porsche Taycan (rear-wheel drive) | 37.1 | $5.77 | $65 | $779 | $105 |
| Rivian R1S Dual Motor, Max pack | 39.9 | $6.20 | $70 | $838 | $100 |
| Kia EV9 99.8 kWh AWD | 40.0 | $6.22 | $70 | $840 | $100 |
| Tesla Cybertruck Long Range | 40.9 | $6.36 | $72 | $859 | $98 |
| Rivian R1T Dual Motor, Large pack | 42.9 | $6.67 | $75 | $901 | $95 |
| Ford F-150 Lightning Extended Range | 47.9 | $7.45 | $84 | $1,006 | $86 |
| Chevrolet Silverado EV Max Range | 49.5 | $7.70 | $87 | $1,039 | $83 |
| GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X | 65.1 | $10.12 | $114 | $1,367 | $56 |
| 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 South Carolina records. The four cars without a US rating are in kilometres on the national page.
South Carolina against its neighbours
North Carolina is cheaper than South Carolina; Georgia is dearer. The monthly column is the Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD in every row, which makes the border differences directly comparable — $3 a month separates South Carolina from its cheapest neighbour.
| State | Cents / kWh | Rank | Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD / month | Fast plugs | EVs per plug |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 14.74 | 11th | $52 | 1,888 | 64 |
| South Carolina | 15.55 | 21st | $54 | 938 | 38 |
| Georgia | 16.36 | 27th | $57 | 2,281 | 71 |
How long the charge itself takes does not change with the state, only what it costs: the Volkswagen ID.4 charging time, Volkswagen ID.7 charging time and Ford Mustang Mach-E charging time are 28, 27 and 32 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 South Carolina’s.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to charge an electric car in South Carolina?
About $4.84 per 100 miles at home for the median EPA-rated car, $54 a month at 1,125 miles, using the EIA residential average of 15.55 cents per kWh. The most efficient car here, the Lucid Air Pure RWD, costs $40 a month; the least efficient, the GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X, $114.
Is it cheaper to charge an EV than to buy petrol in South Carolina?
Yes. At 15.55 cents per kWh the median car costs $54 a month against $170 of petrol for a 27 mpg car at $4.07 a gallon — $115 a month in favour of South Carolina, $1,382 a year.
How many fast chargers are there in South Carolina?
938 plugs across 203 sites (AFDC, 2026-09-16) for 35,700 registered cars, which is 38 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 South Carolina?
Where the site is open to other brands, yes, with the right adapter. 56 of the 203 fast-charging sites in South Carolina carry the NACS plug (28%) and 158 carry CCS1 (78%), 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 South Carolina?
The Lucid Air Pure RWD, at 23.1 kWh per 100 miles: $3.59 per 100 miles and $40 a month in South Carolina. Picking it over the GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X is worth $73 a month here, which is as much as the South Carolina rate ever makes efficiency worth; the full efficiency order is the same in every state.
Sources for the South Carolina figures
Electricity price 15.55 cents/kWh: EIA Electric Power Monthly table 5.6.A, June 2026. Sites, plugs and connectors for South Carolina: 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 South Carolina: 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.