The real numbers
How much does it cost to charge an electric car?
The honest answer for Northern Ireland: it depends almost entirely on where and when you charge. On a Power NI Economy 7 night rate a full 60kWh battery costs about £11, roughly a third of what the same miles cost in a 40mpg petrol car. Lean on public rapid chargers and you pay about three times the home night rate. Here are the verified 2026 numbers, worked through so you can redo the sums for your own car.
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The short answer
- Charge a typical 60kWh family EV overnight on a Power NI Economy 7 night rate (18.95p/kWh incl. VAT, checked July 2026) and a full battery costs about £11.37.
- That is roughly 5.4p per mile at 3.5 miles per kWh, against about 16p per mile for a 40mpg petrol car at NI pump prices (around £1.45 a litre). Charging at home overnight is about a third of the cost of petrol per mile.
- Public rapid charging (Weev rapid, 59p/kWh) works out around 16.9p per mile, roughly the same as petrol. Home is where the saving lives.
Every figure here is worked from three verified rates: your cost is simply your battery size in kWh multiplied by your rate in pence per kWh, so you can redo any of these with your own numbers in seconds. Rates and sources are in the table below.
Last reviewed: 11 July 2026.
What a full charge costs in NI (2026 rates)
Cost of a full charge for three battery sizes, worked at three verified Northern Ireland rates: Power NI's standard and Economy 7 night rates, and Weev's public rapid rate. The spread from the cheapest column to the dearest is the whole story of EV running costs.
| Battery | Standard rate 34.15p/kWh | Economy 7 night 18.95p/kWh | Public rapid 59p/kWh |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40kWh Small EV | £13.66 | £7.58 | £23.60 |
| 60kWh Family EV | £20.49 | £11.37 | £35.40 |
| 77kWh Large EV / SUV | £26.30 | £14.59 | £45.43 |
Cost per mile
At a real-world 3.5 miles per kWh: about 5.4p per mile on the Economy 7 night rate, 9.8p on the standard rate, and 16.9p on a public rapid. Method: divide the rate in p/kWh by 3.5. A 40mpg petrol car costs about 16p per mile at roughly £1.45 a litre, so a public rapid is line-ball with petrol while a home night rate is about a third of it.
Full-charge cost is the nominal battery size multiplied by the rate; add a few percent for charging losses in practice. Your car's real efficiency and your exact tariff will shift these, so treat them as a like-for-like comparison you can redo, not a quote.
The rates behind these figures (checked July 2026)
- Home electricity, Power NI: standard domestic unit rate 34.15p/kWh and Economy 7 night rate 18.95p/kWh (both incl. VAT). Paying by monthly direct debit with online billing trims these to Power NI's "best deal" of 32.10p and 17.82p, and the EV Nightshift tariff drops the night rate to 17.79p/kWh. Source: Power NI unit rates.
- Public rapid, Weev: 59p/kWh on the My Weev app for rapid units, up to 74p/kWh for ultra-rapid or contactless. Source: Weev tariffs. Cross-check: Zapmap put the top 10 GB rapid networks at 61p to 92p/kWh in June 2026, so Weev sits at the cheaper end.
- Petrol comparison: NI unleaded around £1.45/litre at 40mpg (early July 2026). Source: Consumer Council NI fuel price checker. NI pump prices move week to week, so treat this as a stated assumption rather than a fixed figure.
Home, Economy 7 night
CheapestPower NI's Economy 7 night rate (18.95p/kWh incl. VAT, checked July 2026) is where a home charger pays for itself. Set the car to charge in the small hours and a full 60kWh battery is about £11.37. A dedicated EV tariff such as Power NI EV Nightshift (17.79p/kWh at night) can trim it a little further.
Home, standard rate
Power NI's standard single unit rate (34.15p/kWh incl. VAT) with no night deal. A full 60kWh charge is about £20.49. Still cheaper per mile than petrol, but at nearly double the night rate you are leaving real money on the table versus Economy 7.
Public rapid charger
Weev's rapid rate (59p/kWh on the My Weev app, up to 74p/kWh on ultra-rapid or contactless). A full 60kWh charge is about £35.40. At roughly 16.9p per mile it costs about the same as petrol. Fine as a top-up, painful as your main habit.
Where the saving actually comes from
The charger is only half of it. The tariff is the other half, and the two only work together.
A smart charger to schedule it
A smart home charger fills the car automatically inside your cheap overnight window. That scheduling is what turns a low night rate into a real saving, without you setting an alarm to plug and unplug.
An EV tariff to charge into
Power NI's EV and economy tariffs give you cheaper units overnight. That is the window your charger targets. Our NI EV tariffs guide covers the options.
On these verified rates, moving a 60kWh charge from the 34.15p standard rate to the 18.95p Economy 7 night rate saves about £9 every full charge, and a dedicated EV tariff widens the gap. Do that regularly and the charger pays for itself.
Charge at home for about a third of the petrol cost
Those low night-rate numbers only apply once you have a smart charger on the wall. We match you with up to three vetted, NICEIC-registered NI installers so you can compare on price and get charging on a night tariff sooner.
- Up to 3 vetted, NICEIC-registered NI installers
- NIE Networks notification included as standard
- Your OZEV grant checked before you commit
- See the full cost breakdown before you decide
Want the wider picture? See what an EV charger costs to fit in NI, the full electric car running costs, and how long a charge takes.
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Cost to charge an electric car: common questions
How much does it cost to charge an electric car at home in Northern Ireland?
On Power NI's Economy 7 night rate (18.95p/kWh including VAT, checked July 2026), a 60kWh battery is about £11.37 for a full charge, or roughly 5.4p per mile at 3.5 miles per kWh. On the standard single rate of 34.15p/kWh the same charge is about £20.49. Your exact cost depends on your battery size, your tariff and how much charge you add, so redo the sum with your own numbers.
Is it cheaper to charge an EV at home or at a public charger?
Home is almost always cheaper. A full 60kWh charge is about £11.37 at home on a Power NI Economy 7 night rate, against about £35.40 on Weev's rapid public rate (59p/kWh on the app). Public rapid charging works out around 16.9p per mile, roughly the same as a 40mpg petrol car. The practical plan for most NI drivers is charge at home overnight, use public rapids only for long trips.
How much can an EV tariff save me versus a normal tariff?
On a 60kWh battery, the gap between Power NI's standard rate (34.15p/kWh) and its Economy 7 night rate (18.95p/kWh) is about £9.12 per full charge. A dedicated EV tariff widens it further. Over a year of regular charging that adds up quickly. Our guide to EV tariffs in Northern Ireland explains the Power NI options and what to look for.
Do I need a special charger to get the cheap overnight rate?
You need a smart charger to make it work properly. A smart home charger lets you schedule charging into the cheap overnight window automatically and, on some units, sync directly with your tariff. That scheduling is what turns a cheap rate into a real saving, rather than remembering to plug and unplug at set times.
How is charging cost worked out?
Cost is the energy you add in kWh multiplied by your rate in pence per kWh. A full 60kWh charge at 18.95p/kWh is about £11.37; at the 34.15p/kWh standard rate it is about £20.49 (add a few percent for charging losses). Cost per mile is the rate divided by your efficiency in miles per kWh, so 18.95p divided by 3.5 is about 5.4p per mile. Redo the sums with your own battery size and rate.
Ready to cut your charging costs?
Get up to three quotes from vetted NI installers, grant checked, NIE Networks notification handled. Then pair your charger with an EV tariff and start charging cheap overnight.
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