What It Costs to Run an EV Home Charger in New Zealand
The install is a one-off. This is the bill you pay every month, and it is the part that makes the charger pay for itself.
Kilowatt-Hours, Not Litres
A customer in Merivale kept a spreadsheet for a year after his Ioniq 5 went on the wall. Public fast charging had been costing him about $160 a month. Home charging on his retailer's night rate came to roughly $45. He drove the same kilometres. The charger paid for itself in a little over a year and he has not touched the spreadsheet since.
The working is simple once you know two numbers: how much energy your car uses, and what you pay for a kilowatt-hour. Most EVs sold in New Zealand use 15 to 18kWh per 100km, and the government's own figure for the popular models is around 15.7kWh. Your power rate depends on the plan. Night rates of 12 to 20c per kWh are common; anytime rates sit near 30c.
Multiply them and you get $2 to $3.60 per 100km on a night rate, or $4.50 to $5.40 on an anytime rate. Add about ten percent for the energy lost as heat while charging. A petrol car doing 7.5 litres per 100km at $2.70 a litre costs about $20 for the same trip.
What a Full Charge Costs for Common Cars
| Car | Battery | Full charge, 20c night rate | Full charge, 30c anytime | Hours on a 7kW charger |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nissan Leaf (imported) | 40kWh | $8.80 | $13.20 | 6 |
| MG4 / BYD Atto 3 | 50–60kWh | $11–$13 | $16.50–$20 | 7–9 |
| Tesla Model Y Long Range | 75kWh | $16.50 | $25 | 11 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 / Kia EV6 | 77kWh | $17 | $25.50 | 11 |
Full charge from empty, including about 10 percent charging loss. Most nights you top up a quarter to a third of the battery, so the real nightly cost is a few dollars.
The Plan Matters More Than the Charger
The gap between a night rate and an anytime rate is bigger than the gap between any two chargers on our list. Things to look for when you compare Christchurch retailers:
- A night window of at least eight hours, typically 9pm or 11pm to 7am
- A night rate well under 20c per kWh, or a free-hours block you can schedule the car into
- Whether you will cross the 8,000kWh a year low-user threshold once the car is charging at home
- A daily fixed charge that does not wipe out the night-rate saving
- An app or API your charger can follow, or a fixed window you can set in the charger app
We set your charger's schedule to your plan's cheap window on install day, so the saving starts the first night.
12,000km a Year
About 2,000kWh of charging. On a night rate that is $300 to $450 a year. In petrol it is roughly $2,400.
Solar Changes Everything
Surplus solar exported earns a few cents. Put into the car it replaces 20 to 30c power. A solar-capable charger makes the switch automatic.
Public Charging Is for Trips
At 70 to 90c per kWh plus idle fees, a fast charger costs four to five times what home charging does. Use it on the way to Queenstown, not every Tuesday.
Slow Is Kinder
AC charging at 7kW overnight is gentler on the battery than repeated DC fast charging, which most manufacturers say shortens its life.
How Fast an EV Home Charger Pays for Itself
Take a household doing 1,000km a month that has been using public fast chargers. At 16kWh per 100km and 80c per kWh that is about $128 a month. The same kilometres on a 20c night rate at home cost about $35. The difference, roughly $90 a month, repays a $1,422 supplied-and-installed package in about 16 months. Switch from petrol instead and the saving is closer to $165 a month, which repays it in under nine. Everything after that is money that stays in the house.
The one thing that slows the payback is charging on an anytime rate out of habit. A charger with scheduling fixes that for you, which is why we do not sell chargers without an app.
Ready to Stop Paying Public Charger Prices?
Four photos are all we need: your switchboard with the door open, the spot where the charger will go, the path between them and your meter board. One written number comes back, usually the same day.
The Short Answer
The Cost of Charging an Electric Car at Home
The cost of charging electric car at home on a Christchurch night rate is roughly $2 to $4.50 per 100km. A full charge of a 60kWh battery is about $12 at a 20c rate, against $40 or more for the same energy at public fast chargers.