Electric Car Charging Cost in India: Per Charge, Per Month and Per KM

Charging an electric car at home in India costs about ₹6 to ₹10 per unit (kWh), which works out to roughly ₹0.75 to ₹1.50 per km for popular cars like the Tiago EV, Punch EV, Nexon EV, Windsor EV and Curvv EV. A full charge costs about ₹144 to ₹550, depending on battery size and your tariff. At ₹8 per unit, driving 1,000 km a month costs around ₹1,000 to ₹1,200 in electricity, against roughly ₹6,800 for a petrol car in Delhi. Public DC fast charging typically costs two to three times more per unit than home charging.

How EV charging cost is calculated

Three simple formulas cover everything in this guide.

• Cost per full charge = battery size (kWh) × price per unit (₹/kWh)
• Cost per km = price per unit ÷ efficiency (km per kWh)
• Cost per month = kilometres driven × cost per km

Here is a worked example. A Tata Nexon EV with a 45 kWh battery, charged at ₹8 per unit, costs 45 × 8 = ₹360 for a full charge. Its tested efficiency is 7.79 km per kWh, so each km costs 8 ÷ 7.79 = ₹1.03. Drive 1,000 km in a month and the electricity bill adds about ₹1,027.

One practical caveat. Chargers lose some energy as heat, so the units drawn from your meter are usually a little higher than the battery size. We assume roughly 10 per cent as a planning figure (this is Evfy's estimate, not a manufacturer number). On that basis the Nexon EV example above rises from ₹360 to about ₹396. The tables below use battery size and tested efficiency without that extra margin, so add about a tenth if you want a conservative bill estimate.

What a unit of electricity costs at home

Your home tariff is the biggest lever. Domestic rates differ by state, discom and consumption slab, so we use three planning scenarios throughout this guide.

• ₹6 per unit: lower slabs, or a dedicated EV tariff
• ₹8 per unit: a sensible middle figure for most metro households
• ₹10 per unit: higher consumption slabs, where EV charging can push your bill

Some states have introduced dedicated EV tariffs. Delhi's is reported at ₹4.50 per unit and needs a separate EV meter. At that rate, a full Nexon EV charge costs about ₹203 and each km costs about ₹0.58 (Evfy's calculation). Check your discom's current rate before you plan around it.

Also Read: How to Install a Home EV Charger in an Apartment or Society (NOC, RWA, Meter)

Real-world efficiency of 6 popular EVs

Claimed range figures flatter every EV, so we built the tables on real-world test efficiency wherever independent data exists. Efficiency tells you how many kilometres you get from one unit of electricity, and that number drives your cost per km.

Two notes on this table. The XUV 3XO EV figure is derived from Mahindra's own 285 km real-world claim divided by its 39.4 kWh battery, because we did not find an independent test. The Windsor figure is for the 38 kWh pack, and the Punch EV figure is for the 2026 facelift with the 40 kWh battery.

Also Read: Best Electric Cars to Buy This Diwali 2026: 10 Picks Across Every Budget, With October Offers, Prices and Real-World Range

Charging cost per full charge

This is the cost of filling the battery from empty to full. Most owners top up in smaller chunks, so think of this as the ceiling for a single session.

Several of these cars also come with a smaller or larger battery. Here is what a full charge costs on those packs.

Charging cost per km

Cost per km is the fairest way to compare cars, because it combines your tariff with how efficiently each car uses electricity.

At ₹8 per unit, the Windsor EV is cheapest to run at ₹0.99 per km and the Curvv EV is the costliest of the six at ₹1.20 per km.

Monthly charging cost vs petrol

Here is what a month of home charging at ₹8 per unit looks like for three common usage levels. We compare against a petrol compact SUV at 15 km per litre (Evfy's assumption) and Delhi's petrol price of ₹102.12 per litre, which works out to about ₹6.81 per km.

At 1,000 km a month, these EVs save roughly ₹5,600 to ₹5,800 in fuel and electricity costs. Per km, home charging costs only about 15 to 18 per cent of what petrol does.

Home vs public charging: what changes

Public charging is priced very differently from your home meter. Networks such as Tata Power EZ Charge, Statiq, ChargeZone and Jio-bp Pulse set their own rates, and reports put DC fast charging at roughly ₹15 to ₹25 per unit. Public charging services also attract 18% GST, so check whether the rate shown in an app is before or after tax.

We use ₹12 per unit for public AC and ₹20 per unit for DC fast charging as planning figures. Here is the Nexon EV (45 kWh) at each.

Even on DC fast charging, the Nexon EV costs well under half of what petrol does per km. The gap between home and DC is what stings, though.

Which charging setup suits you

• You have your own parking spot: install a home charger, and ask your discom about a dedicated EV meter or tariff. This is the cheapest route by a distance.
• You live in a flat without a charger: public AC or a society charger will run you about ₹1.50 per km. It is still far below petrol, and worth the effort of pushing your RWA for a shared charger.
• You mostly drive on highways: budget for DC fast charging on trips and keep daily charging at home or work.
• You drive under 600 km a month: the gap between the cheapest and costliest car in our table is only about ₹130 a month. Pick on range, space and features, not charging cost.

Evfy's Take

These three points come from our own arithmetic on the numbers above.

Efficiency, not battery size, sets your cost per km. The Curvv EV carries the biggest battery in our table but is the least efficient at 6.64 km per kWh. At ₹8 per unit it costs about 22 per cent more per km than the Windsor EV, or roughly ₹217 more over 1,000 km a month.

Your charging mix matters more than your car choice. Take a Nexon EV driven 1,000 km a month. Charging only at home at ₹8 costs about ₹1,027. Split it 80 per cent home and 20 per cent DC fast at ₹20, and the blended rate becomes ₹10.40 per unit, so the bill rises to about ₹1,335. Run it entirely on DC fast charging and it climbs to roughly ₹2,570.

Battery-as-a-Service stacks on top of electricity. Cars sold with BaaS carry a per-km battery fee, and that fee does not include charging. On Evfy's reading of published BaaS rates, a Tiago EV or Punch EV at ₹2.60 per km plus home charging costs about ₹3.63 to ₹3.65 per km, and a 38 kWh Windsor EV at ₹3.99 per km works out to about ₹4.98 per km. That is still below petrol's ₹6.81, but far above the ₹1 per km that headlines suggest.