Calculating what an EV charge costs comes down to a single multiplication: kWh delivered to the car × unit price. The only reason it feels complicated is that "kWh delivered" rarely matches the percentage on your dashboard, and the unit price can swing by a factor of four or five depending on AC vs DC, home vs public, and which operator or promotion you're using.

This guide breaks the formula down step by step, works through three real-world scenarios in Turkish lira, and compares the cost per 100 km against a petrol equivalent. The prices used here are an assumed 2026 range — plug in your own operator's tariff and your own electricity bill, and the same formula still holds.

The core formula: how charging costs are calculated

What you pay at a public station is made up of three items:

Total cost = (kWh delivered × price per kWh)
           + session/connection fee, if any
           + idle (occupancy) fee, if any

kWh delivered is calculated from the meter difference at the end of the session: closing meter minus opening meter. That figure — not the percentage shown on your dashboard — is what determines the bill.

Home charging is simpler still, but we add a loss factor:

Home charging cost = (Battery capacity × Percentage added) ÷ Efficiency × Electricity price per kWh

Charging efficiency typically runs 85–92% on AC and 92–95% on DC fast charging. So topping a 50 kWh battery up from empty at home shows up on your bill as roughly 55–58 kWh. The difference is lost as heat in the cable, the onboard charger and the battery cooling system.

AC vs DC: where the price difference comes from

Most of Turkey's public charging network is AC (slow to medium speed), while the weight of both revenue and speed sits on the DC side. The price gap is no accident: a DC site costs far more to build, needs a much larger grid connection and transformer capacity, and carries a heavier maintenance burden than AC.

Charging type	Typical power	Time for 100 km of range	Approx. 2026 price range
Household socket (Mode 2)	2.3 kW	~7–8 hours	Residential tariff (~3 TL/kWh)
Home wallbox (AC)	7.4 – 11 kW	~1.5–2.5 hours	Residential tariff (~3 TL/kWh)
Public AC	11 – 22 kW	~1–2 hours	~8–10 TL/kWh
Public DC	60 – 180 kW	~10–20 minutes	~11–14 TL/kWh
Ultra-rapid DC	180 – 360 kW	~6–12 minutes	~12–15 TL/kWh

Prices vary by operator, promotion and wholesale electricity prices. Under EPDK regulation, every station must display its current tariff on the unit itself and in the app, so checking the app before you set off is always the safest bet.

There's also the tiered residential tariff to keep in mind: once household consumption passes a set daily threshold, the price per kWh jumps to a higher tier. Anyone charging regularly at home can cross that threshold easily, so instead of assuming "home charging is basically free," check which tier your bill actually lands in.

Three worked examples

Example 1 — 20% to 80% at a DC station

Vehicle: a C-segment car with a 52.4 kWh battery (e.g. a standard-range Togg T10X) Energy delivered: 52.4 × 60% = 31.4 kWh Assumed unit price: 12 TL/kWh

31.4 kWh × 12 TL = 377 TL

Time: on a DC unit above 100 kW, this session takes roughly 25–30 minutes. That same charge adds around 180–190 km of WLTP range — about 2 TL per kilometre.

Example 2 — a full overnight charge at home

Same vehicle, 10% to 100% = 47.2 kWh of net energy Efficiency: 88% → drawn from the grid: 47.2 ÷ 0.88 = 53.6 kWh Assumed residential price: 3 TL/kWh

53.6 kWh × 3 TL = 161 TL

With an 11 kW wallbox, this takes about 5 hours. Buying the same energy from DC would have cost roughly 640 TL — a difference of about 4× for anyone with home charging available.

Example 3 — three hours on AC in a shopping centre car park

Power: a 22 kW socket, but the car's onboard charger is capped at 11 kW (a very common situation) Energy delivered: 11 kW × 3 hours × 0.95 ≈ 31 kWh Assumed unit price: 9 TL/kWh

31 kWh × 9 TL = 279 TL

The key point here: plugging into a 22 kW socket doesn't mean you draw 22 kW. What actually happens is whatever the car can accept. Many EVs are limited to 7.4 or 11 kW on AC; models that accept a full 22 kW AC are in the minority. When you estimate charging time, look up your car's AC acceptance rate first.

Cost per 100 km: electricity or petrol?

The real comparison isn't "how much does one charge cost" — it's how much do 100 km cost. An average C-segment EV uses 15–20 kWh/100 km in mixed city and motorway driving. The table below assumes 17 kWh/100 km.

Energy source	Assumed unit price	Cost per 100 km	1,500 km per month
Home charging (residential)	3 TL/kWh	~51 TL	~765 TL
Public AC	9 TL/kWh	~153 TL	~2,295 TL
Public DC	12.5 TL/kWh	~213 TL	~3,195 TL
Petrol equivalent (6.5 L/100 km)	~50 TL/L	~325 TL	~4,875 TL
Diesel equivalent (5.2 L/100 km)	~52 TL/L	~270 TL	~4,055 TL

Fuel prices reflect the range at the time of writing; multiplying by your own current pump price will give you a more accurate result.

What the table shows is this: an EV fed exclusively on DC saves roughly 30–35% compared to petrol. Add home charging into the mix and the saving climbs towards 80%. In practice most drivers land somewhere in between — a 70% home / 30% DC split, for instance, puts the monthly bill in the ~1,500 TL range.

The hidden line item: idle (occupancy) fees

This is the item that surprises people most. DC chargers are a scarce resource, and a car left plugged in after the session ends blocks the socket for everyone else. That's why most operators apply a per-minute idle fee once a grace period (commonly 15 minutes) has elapsed after charging completes.

In practice: a 380 TL charging session can pick up a three-figure surcharge if you leave the car on the connector for another 40 minutes. Two simple habits are enough:

Keep charging-complete notifications switched on in the operator's app.
Don't push past 80% on DC — it's slower and more expensive anyway.

AC sockets generally don't apply this, or apply it far more loosely, but it's still worth reading the operator's tariff page once.

Why does DC charging slow down after 80%?

The battery management system progressively reduces the power drawn as the pack fills, in order to protect the cells. On a typical charging curve:

10% → 50%: close to maximum power, the most efficient window
50% → 80%: power tapers gradually
80% → 100%: power is cut sharply; that last 20% can take as long as the first 60%

That's why, when planning a trip, two short 20–80% stops beat one full charge on both total time and cost. Filling to 100% is a job for overnight AC charging at home.

Six practical ways to cut your charging bill

Use AC wherever you can. The price per kWh runs about 30% below DC, and every hour the car is parked is an hour it could be charging.
Shift home charging to the night tariff. If you have a multi-rate meter, the off-peak tier makes a serious difference.
Check your tyre pressures. Underinflation can raise consumption by 5–8%, which feeds straight through to your kWh cost.
Precondition the cabin in winter while plugged in. Heating then runs off the grid rather than the battery, cutting range loss.
Make active use of regenerative braking. It pulls city consumption down noticeably.
Watch for promotions in operator apps. Off-peak discounts and first-time-user offers are common.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I see how many kWh my car actually received? After the session ends, the transaction detail in the operator's mobile app shows an "energy delivered (kWh)" field, and that's the figure your receipt or invoice is based on. The percentage on your dashboard is only an approximation — the station's meter is what determines payment.

Why is the kWh that went into my car different from the kWh on my bill? At home, the gap is charging loss: the cable, the onboard charger and battery cooling all turn some of the energy into heat. A difference of roughly 8–15% on AC and 5–8% on DC is normal. At a public station it doesn't affect you, because the measurement is taken directly from the station's meter.

Is a home charger worth installing, and how quickly does it pay for itself? Here's the comparison: a driver covering 1,500 km a month saves roughly 2,000–2,400 TL per month by switching from DC to home charging. The wallbox plus installation is usually covered by that saving within 6 to 12 months. Bear in mind that in an apartment building, using common areas may require a building management decision.

When does DC charging make sense, and when is it just wasted money? DC makes sense whenever time is worth more than money: long-distance trips, a second trip on the same day, an urgent range top-up. But for someone driving 40–50 km a day with a socket at home or at work, routinely using DC is money straight out the window — the same energy is available at a quarter of the price.

Conclusion

Working out EV charging costs comes down to knowing three numbers: your car's real-world consumption (kWh/100 km), the unit price where you charge and your AC/DC split. Once those three are clear, you can forecast your monthly energy budget to within ±10% — something that's simply not possible with a petrol car, where the pump price moves under you.

For mixed usage, a monthly bill that lands at roughly a third of the petrol equivalent is the most tangible payoff of EV ownership. The trick is to keep routine charging on the cheap source (home or AC) and save fast charging for the moments you genuinely need it.

Across more than 50 locations in Turkey, ADZE Charge operates over 850 sockets — you can check current kWh tariffs and live availability at any of them through the app.

How to Calculate EV Charging Costs: Formula, Examples and 2026 Prices in Turkey