EV charging cost in Europe: every country, and where it beats petrol

By Muhammet Çay, editor · Updated 24 September 2026 · How we work out these numbers

Household electricity in Europe costs between €0.0636 and €0.4042 per kilowatt-hour depending on the country — a spread of more than 6 times. Even at the top of that range, charging an electric car at home is cheaper than filling a petrol one: the rate at which the two would break even is about €0.811 per kWh, and no country in this data reaches it.

Every country, and what 100 km costs

Prices are Eurostat’s household figures for 2025-S2, with every tax and levy included — the number on the bill rather than the wholesale price. The per-100-km column uses 17.55 kWh per 100 km, the median of the 18 cars we hold European consumption data for; the petrol comparison is 6.8 litres per 100 km at €2.09 a litre — the EU27 consumption-weighted average in the Commission’s Weekly Oil Bulletin for 21 September 2026 — the same assumptions our running-cost calculator uses.

Buying an electric car can lower your rate per kWh

European tariffs are banded by annual consumption, and the bands are not priced the same way. A typical household sits in Eurostat’s 2,500–4,999 kWh band. An electric car adds roughly two to three thousand kilowatt-hours a year, which pushes most households into the next band up — and in 28 of the 38 countries here that band is cheaper per kilowatt-hour, not dearer. Across the EU27 the average falls 9.2 per cent, from €0.2896 to €0.2629.

That is the opposite of the intuition most people bring to it. The second column in the table above is the rate that actually applies to an EV household, and it is the one worth planning around.

Where the line sits against petrol

The pale bar is the break-even rate: charge above it and petrol is cheaper. It sits at €0.811 per kWh for the median car on this site. The dearest electricity in Europe, in Ireland, is €0.4042 — a little over half of it. For the most efficient car we hold data for the break-even rate is higher still at €1.070, and for the thirstiest it is €0.644, so the conclusion does not depend on which car you pick.

Work out your own number

Pick a country and put in your own car’s consumption. If you do not know it, the figure for every car we track is on most efficient electric cars, and what the unit means is in Wh per km explained.

Where these numbers will mislead you

This is home charging only. Public rapid charging in Europe runs far above household rates and changes the answer completely; the full comparison including public charging is in EV vs petrol running costs.

A national average is not your tariff. Time-of-use and overnight tariffs are common and can sit well below the national figure, which only widens the gap in the electric car’s favour.

Petrol prices vary by country too. The comparison here holds petrol at a single European average while electricity varies, because Eurostat publishes the electricity series country by country and we have no equivalent fuel series. In countries where fuel is dear the saving is larger than shown, and where it is cheap, smaller.

Running cost is not total cost. Purchase price, depreciation and insurance are the larger numbers for most owners, and they are handled separately in the total cost of ownership article.

Frequently asked questions

Which European country is cheapest for charging an electric car?

Türkiye, at €0.0636 per kWh including taxes — about €1.12 to drive 100 km in a median electric car. The dearest is Ireland at €0.4042 per kWh, or €7.09 per 100 km.

Is charging an EV cheaper than petrol everywhere in Europe?

At home, yes, in every country in this dataset. Petrol at €2.09 a litre and 6.8 litres per 100 km costs €14.23; the most expensive household electricity in Europe puts the same distance at €7.09.

Does an electric car make my electricity more expensive per unit?

Usually the opposite. The extra consumption moves the household into a higher Eurostat band, and in 28 of the 38 countries here that band carries a lower price per kilowatt-hour.

How much does it cost to charge an EV in Germany?

At the German household rate of €0.3869 per kWh, 100 km in a median electric car costs €6.79, against €14.23 for petrol. On the higher-consumption band it is €6.10.

Sources

Electricity prices are Eurostat series nrg_pc_204, household consumers, all taxes and levies included, euro per kWh, period 2025-S2 — read through the Eurostat API on 2026-09-07 and published by Eurostat on 2026-08-12. The dataset is browsable at Eurostat. Vehicle consumption figures are credited on each car’s own page; the petrol assumptions are the ones set out on our methodology page. The American equivalent of this article, state by state, is EV charging cost by state.