Charging the median electric car at home in Tennessee costs about $49 a month at 14.07 cents per kilowatt-hour — the 5th cheapest of 51 states. Cheap power is the whole argument for an electric car in Tennessee: the same miles burn $170 of petrol, so the meter saves $120 a month and $1,444 a year, and the state has one public fast-charging plug for every 54 electric cars registered in it.
Public fast charging in Tennessee
Tennessee has 247 public DC fast-charging sites with 1,024 plugs in the federal AFDC station locator (2026-09-16), for 55,400 battery-electric cars registered in the state at the end of 2025.
There are 54 registered EVs for every public fast-charging plug in Tennessee, a little below the 55 of the typical state — 25th of 51 states, fewest cars per plug first. Plug supply is roughly keeping pace with the cars here.
Nearly half of those sites stand alone: 50% of Tennessee fast-charging locations have exactly one plug, so an occupied or broken charger means driving on rather than waiting behind one car. The state averages 4.1 plugs per site.
Tesla is the largest network in Tennessee with 58% of the plugs (594 of 1,024), the rest split among the other operators — enough competition that price and reliability are not one company decision.
Which plug fits in Tennessee
The plug question in Tennessee has a clear answer: 81% of the sites carry CCS1, the connector on almost every non-Tesla EV sold in the US, against 34% 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 Tennessee | Share of sites | Cars that use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| CCS1 (J1772 Combo) | 200 | 81% | Almost every non-Tesla EV sold in the US |
| NACS / J3400 (Tesla) | 85 | 34% | Teslas, and other cars with an adapter where the site allows it |
| CHAdeMO | 87 | 35% | Older Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi only |
87 sites keep a CHAdeMO plug (35%). Useful if you drive an older Leaf in Tennessee; 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 — 3.4 times what the same miles cost at home in Tennessee, and still under the $15.07 the petrol car spends on them. Anyone charging mostly in public in Tennessee should read the home column as optimistic by a factor of 3.4 — 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 Tennessee
Electricity is cheap in Tennessee, and that is most of the story of what an electric car costs to run here. The EIA published residential average for Tennessee is 14.07 cents per kWh (June 2026), against a US average of 18.34. That puts Tennessee at 5th 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 $4.38 per 100 miles, $49 a month, $591 a year.
The line where home charging stops beating petrol sits around 48 cents per kWh, at $4.07 a gallon and 27 mpg. Tennessee is below that line by 34.40 cents, so the saving holds at the state-average rate before any overnight tariff is applied. The state average is already low enough that a time-of-use plan changes the answer by a few dollars rather than reversing it; the running-cost calculator will show you the few dollars.
Every EPA-rated car, charged at home in Tennessee
Efficiency is worth more in Tennessee than in most states: $66 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 | $3.25 | $37 | $439 | $133 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 6 Long Range RWD | 26.0 | $3.66 | $41 | $494 | $128 |
| Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD | 26.4 | $3.71 | $42 | $501 | $128 |
| Lexus RZ 350e FWD | 26.6 | $3.74 | $42 | $505 | $127 |
| Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD | 27.5 | $3.87 | $44 | $522 | $126 |
| Nissan Leaf 75 kWh | 27.8 | $3.91 | $44 | $528 | $126 |
| Subaru Solterra AWD | 28.0 | $3.94 | $44 | $532 | $125 |
| Toyota bZ4X AWD 73.1 kWh | 28.0 | $3.94 | $44 | $532 | $125 |
| BMW i4 eDrive40 | 28.5 | $4.01 | $45 | $541 | $124 |
| Kia EV3 Long Range FWD | 29.0 | $4.08 | $46 | $551 | $124 |
| Volvo EX30 Single Motor Extended Range | 29.2 | $4.11 | $46 | $555 | $123 |
| Audi Q4 45 e-tron | 29.4 | $4.14 | $47 | $558 | $123 |
| Kia EV6 84 kWh RWD | 29.6 | $4.16 | $47 | $562 | $123 |
| Polestar 2 Single Motor | 29.6 | $4.16 | $47 | $562 | $123 |
| Volkswagen ID.4 Pro | 29.8 | $4.19 | $47 | $566 | $122 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 84 kWh RWD | 30.0 | $4.22 | $47 | $570 | $122 |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E Extended Range RWD | 30.7 | $4.32 | $49 | $583 | $121 |
| Mercedes-Benz CLA 250+ with EQ Technology | 31.0 | $4.36 | $49 | $589 | $121 |
| Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD | 31.1 | $4.38 | $49 | $591 | $120 |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E Standard Range RWD | 31.4 | $4.42 | $50 | $596 | $120 |
| Cadillac Optiq RWD | 32.1 | $4.52 | $51 | $610 | $119 |
| Chevrolet Blazer EV FWD | 32.3 | $4.54 | $51 | $614 | $118 |
| Honda Prologue FWD | 32.5 | $4.57 | $51 | $617 | $118 |
| Genesis GV60 AWD | 33.6 | $4.73 | $53 | $638 | $116 |
| Nissan Ariya e-4ORCE 87 kWh | 36.6 | $5.15 | $58 | $695 | $112 |
| Cadillac Lyriq RWD | 36.8 | $5.18 | $58 | $699 | $111 |
| Acura ZDX RWD | 36.9 | $5.19 | $58 | $701 | $111 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 9 RWD | 37.0 | $5.21 | $59 | $703 | $111 |
| Porsche Taycan (rear-wheel drive) | 37.1 | $5.22 | $59 | $705 | $111 |
| Rivian R1S Dual Motor, Max pack | 39.9 | $5.61 | $63 | $758 | $106 |
| Kia EV9 99.8 kWh AWD | 40.0 | $5.63 | $63 | $760 | $106 |
| Tesla Cybertruck Long Range | 40.9 | $5.75 | $65 | $777 | $105 |
| Rivian R1T Dual Motor, Large pack | 42.9 | $6.04 | $68 | $815 | $102 |
| Ford F-150 Lightning Extended Range | 47.9 | $6.74 | $76 | $910 | $94 |
| Chevrolet Silverado EV Max Range | 49.5 | $6.96 | $78 | $940 | $91 |
| GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X | 65.1 | $9.16 | $103 | $1,237 | $67 |
| A 27 mpg petrol car at $4.07 a gallon | — | $15.07 | $170 | $2,035 | — |
The kWh figures are EPA combined ratings measured at the wall, so charger and cable losses are already inside them. Working from battery size instead would have shaved about a tenth off every number above — small money at 14.07 cents, but the same tenth that decides the close rows. Four cars have no US rating and appear in kilometres on the national page.
Tennessee against its neighbours
Every state on Tennessee’s borders charges more per kilowatt-hour — Tennessee is the cheapest place to plug in on this map. Crossing a border to charge is not a saving anyone in Tennessee can make; the monthly column is the Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD throughout, so the rows line up with every other state page here.
| State | Cents / kWh | Rank | Chevrolet Equinox EV FWD / month | Fast plugs | EVs per plug |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tennessee | 14.07 | 5th | $49 | 1,024 | 54 |
| Arkansas | 14.12 | 7th | $49 | 287 | 43 |
| Kentucky | 14.26 | 8th | $50 | 460 | 45 |
| North Carolina | 14.74 | 11th | $52 | 1,888 | 64 |
| Mississippi | 14.88 | 12th | $52 | 345 | 21 |
| Missouri | 16.22 | 25th | $57 | 893 | 49 |
| Georgia | 16.36 | 27th | $57 | 2,281 | 71 |
| Alabama | 16.40 | 28th | $57 | 891 | 27 |
| Virginia | 17.22 | 30th | $60 | 1,826 | 74 |
How long the charge itself takes does not change with the state, only what it costs: the BYD Seal charging time, Tesla Model 3 charging time and Tesla Model Y charging time are 36, 28 and 27 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 Tennessee’s.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to charge an electric car in Tennessee?
$4.38 per 100 miles at home, $49 a month over 1,125 miles, at Tennessee’s 14.07-cent rate. Across the database the answer runs from $37 for the Lucid Air Pure RWD to $103 for the GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X — a narrow spread, because the rate is low.
Is it cheaper to charge an EV than to buy petrol in Tennessee?
Yes. At 14.07 cents per kWh the median car costs $49 a month against $170 of petrol for a 27 mpg car at $4.07 a gallon — $120 a month in favour of Tennessee, $1,444 a year.
How many fast chargers are there in Tennessee?
247 public DC fast-charging sites and 1,024 plugs in the AFDC locator as of 2026-09-16, for 55,400 registered EVs — 54 cars per plug. Level 2 chargers are not counted here; only DC fast.
Can a non-Tesla use a Tesla charger in Tennessee?
Where the site is open to other brands, yes, with the right adapter. 85 of the 247 fast-charging sites in Tennessee carry the NACS plug (34%) and 200 carry CCS1 (81%), 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 Tennessee?
The Lucid Air Pure RWD, at 23.1 kWh per 100 miles: $3.25 per 100 miles and $37 a month in Tennessee. Picking it over the GMC Hummer EV Pickup 3X is worth $66 a month here, which is as much as the Tennessee rate ever makes efficiency worth; the full efficiency order is the same in every state.
Sources for the Tennessee figures
Electricity price 14.07 cents/kWh: EIA Electric Power Monthly table 5.6.A, June 2026. Sites, plugs and connectors for Tennessee: 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 Tennessee: 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.