Between 67 and 107 kWh, for the 18 cars on this site with a sourced pack size — and in every case about 10 per cent more than the battery holds, because charging at home loses roughly a tenth of the energy between the wall and the cells. That is what you pay for, so it is the number that matters: at the US average rate a full charge costs $12 to $20.
Every car, from the wall
“Usable” is the capacity the car lets you use, which is less than the gross figure on the spec sheet. “From the wall” divides it by 0.9 for AC charging losses. Home cost is at $0.184 per kWh, the EIA US residential average. Public DC stations meter what they deliver, so the DC column is the usable figure at $0.48 per kWh. The 10-80 per cent column is the charge most road-trip stops actually make.
| Car | Usable pack | Full charge, from the wall | Cost at home | Cost on DC | 10–80% charge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tesla Model 3 RWD | 60 kWh | 67 kWh | $12.27 | $28.80 | 42 kWh |
| Tesla Model Y RWD | 60 kWh | 67 kWh | $12.27 | $28.80 | 42 kWh |
| Volvo EX30 Single Motor ER | 65 kWh | 72 kWh | $13.29 | $31.20 | 46 kWh |
| Toyota bZ4X AWD | 69 kWh | 77 kWh | $14.11 | $33.12 | 48 kWh |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E Standard Range RWD | 72.6 kWh | 81 kWh | $14.84 | $34.85 | 51 kWh |
| Hyundai Ioniq 6 Long Range RWD | 74 kWh | 82 kWh | $15.13 | $35.52 | 52 kWh |
| Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD | 75 kWh | 83 kWh | $15.33 | $36.00 | 53 kWh |
| Volkswagen ID.4 Pro | 77 kWh | 86 kWh | $15.74 | $36.96 | 54 kWh |
| Volkswagen ID.7 Pro | 77 kWh | 86 kWh | $15.74 | $36.96 | 54 kWh |
| Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD | 79 kWh | 88 kWh | $16.15 | $37.92 | 55 kWh |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 Long Range RWD | 80 kWh | 89 kWh | $16.36 | $38.40 | 56 kWh |
| Kia EV6 Long Range RWD | 80 kWh | 89 kWh | $16.36 | $38.40 | 56 kWh |
| BMW i4 eDrive40 | 81.3 kWh | 90 kWh | $16.62 | $39.02 | 57 kWh |
| Porsche Taycan RWD | 82.3 kWh | 91 kWh | $16.83 | $39.50 | 58 kWh |
| BYD Seal AWD Excellence | 82.5 kWh | 92 kWh | $16.87 | $39.60 | 58 kWh |
| Nissan Ariya e-4ORCE 87 kWh | 87 kWh | 97 kWh | $17.79 | $41.76 | 61 kWh |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E Extended Range RWD | 91 kWh | 101 kWh | $18.60 | $43.68 | 64 kWh |
| Kia EV9 AWD | 96 kWh | 107 kWh | $19.63 | $46.08 | 67 kWh |
The Rivian R1T is missing because we hold no sourced usable-capacity figure for it. It will appear when we do; a number without a source does not go in the table.
Why the wall figure is bigger than the battery
On AC — a home wallbox or a public Level 2 post — the car’s own onboard charger converts mains alternating current to the direct current the cells take, and the conversion, the cabling and the battery’s own warmth cost about a tenth of the energy. Measured losses vary from around 8 per cent on a well-designed 11 kW charge to 15 or more on a slow 120-volt one, which is why 0.9 is the working figure and why a Level 1 charge is the least efficient way to fill a car. On DC the conversion happens inside the station, and the meter that bills you sits after it, so the kWh on the receipt is close to the kWh that reached the pack.
Your electricity meter measures at the wall. So does the EPA: its kWh-per-100-miles rating is taken from the socket, which is why the per-mile figures on the charging cost pages need no efficiency adjustment while the full-charge figures do.
Usable, gross, and the number on the brochure
Every pack keeps a reserve at each end that the driver never touches — a few per cent at the bottom to protect the cells from deep discharge, and a buffer at the top. The Mach-E Standard Range is sold as a 78 kWh car and lets you use 72.6; the Tesla Model 3 RWD is a 64 kWh pack with 60 usable. The usable figure is the one every table on this site uses, because it is the one that turns into range. The gross figure is the one that turns into the price.
Nobody charges from empty
A full charge from zero is the tidy number, and it almost never happens: a road-trip stop is 10 to 80 per cent, and an overnight top-up replaces a day’s driving. The 10-80 charge is 70 per cent of usable — 42 kWh in the LFP Teslas, 67 in the EV9 — and at a DC station it costs 70 per cent of the DC column: $20 to $32. A day’s driving at the US average of 37 miles takes 10 to 16 kWh from the wall depending on the car, or $2 to $3 at home. Over a month that is the 290 to 480 kWh worked through in what it costs to charge an EV per month.
The other thing the full-charge figure hides is how long the last 20 per cent takes. Every car slows sharply above 80 per cent on DC to protect the cells, which is why the charge-time ranking stops at 80 and why an 80-to-100 top-up on the road is nearly always the wrong use of twenty minutes. LFP packs are the exception at home — the four LFP cars in this table are meant to be charged to 100 per cent routinely; should you charge an EV to 100 per cent sets out which is which.
Once you know the wall figure, it converts directly into panels: divide the kWh you add per week by your local peak-sun hours and a realistic system-loss factor, and you have the array size needed to cover it. If you want that arithmetic done properly, our sister site Solarsunlabs has a working calculator and the method behind it in how many solar panels do I need.
How long each of these takes, car by car
The kilowatt-hours are only half the answer; the other half is how long they take to move and what they cost at your own tariff. Each car has a page that works out both.
- How long a Hyundai Ioniq 6 takes to charge
- How long a Kia EV6 takes to charge
- How long a Hyundai Ioniq 5 takes to charge
- How long a Porsche Taycan takes to charge
- How long a Kia EV9 takes to charge
- How long a Tesla Model Y takes to charge
- How long a Volkswagen ID.7 takes to charge
- How long a BMW i4 takes to charge
- How long a Tesla Model 3 takes to charge
- How long a Toyota bZ4X takes to charge
- How long a Volkswagen ID.4 takes to charge
- How long a Volvo EX30 takes to charge
- How long a Ford Mustang Mach-E takes to charge
- How long a BYD Seal takes to charge
- How long a Nissan Ariya takes to charge
Frequently asked questions
How many kWh does it take to fully charge an electric car?
About 10 per cent more than the battery’s usable capacity, because home charging loses roughly a tenth of the energy. For the cars here that is 67 kWh (60 kWh Tesla Model 3 and Model Y RWD) to 107 kWh (96 kWh Kia EV9).
How much does a full charge cost?
At home, $12 to $20 at the US average rate of $0.184 per kWh. On a public DC fast charger at $0.48 per kWh, $29 to $46 — though a real stop is usually 10 to 80 per cent, which costs 70 per cent of that.
How many kWh is a 10 to 80 per cent charge?
Seventy per cent of the usable pack: 42 kWh in a 60 kWh car, 56 in an 80 kWh car, 67 in the 96 kWh Kia EV9. On DC that is what the station meters and bills.
How many kWh does an EV use per day?
At the US average of about 37 miles a day, between roughly 10 kWh (Hyundai Ioniq 6, 26 kWh per 100 miles) and 16 kWh (Rivian R1T, 42.9 kWh per 100 miles), measured at the wall from each car’s EPA rating.
Sources
Usable and gross capacity are credited on each car’s page, mostly to EV Database and the manufacturer’s specification sheet, with the date read. Electricity is the EIA US residential average; the DC rate is the standing assumption on the methodology page. The 90 per cent AC efficiency figure is the same one the per-car charging pages use, so this table and those pages agree.