How much does charging an electric vehicle at public charging locations cost?

India is moving towards an era of electronic vehicles. In the coming years, ICE vehicles are going to be replaced with electric vehicles. Hence, there is going to be high demand for EV charging stations.India does not have a widespread network of electric vehicle charging stations. Thanks to charging station providers working hard to construct a large charging station network .EV buyers often have questions like How long does it take to charge the car? How often do I need to charge it? Moreover, is it costly?This article focus on How much does it cost to charge electric vehicle at public locations

Options of charging EV

Firstly there are two methods of charging home charging and public charging.Most of the time, you would rely on home charging, given that your private electric vehicle would be parked overnight, in order to ensure that your electric vehicle is available for use each morning. In most cases, charging overnight at homes will be the cheapest method to recharge.

Second method is public charging India has an active network of 934 active public charging stations.Public charging stations are much needed on the go to charge your electric vehicle. Specially for long distance journeys .One of the key factors responsible for faster adoption of electric vehicles is availability of public charging stations.

Basic of cost calculation

In India, while calculating cost, we consider mileage of the car. The mileage or average of the car is measured in km pl kilometres per litre in India. In the US, mileage is measured in miles per gallon.For example if the car gives mileage of 12 km pl. To cover a distance of 60km, the car would need 5 litres of petrol. With the price of Petrol being Rs.100 per litre, it would cost Rs.500 to cover the distance.

In the case of electric cars,‘Range’ refers to the distance an e-car can travel before the battery needs to be recharged. The range of an e-car depends on the capacity of its battery i.e., the amount of electricity it is able to store. It is measured in kWh

If you consume 1 kW of power for 1 hour that means you consume 1 kWh or 1 unit of electricity.

For example Example: If an electric car needs 10 units of power for a full charge of 100 km. To cover a distance of 60 km, the car would need 6 units of power. In Mumbai , for EVs, at Rs.4.5 per unit power, it would cost Rs.27 to cover the distance

Cost of charging

Before knowing about cost calculation lets understand losses while charging, let us take example of battery Ola S1 which has capacity of 2.98kWh.So in ideal condition to charge 2.98kWh battery you will draw 2.98 unit of electricity.But that never happens in reality.Because there are 3 types of losses happens energy loss(when electricity passes through charging cable ),Magnetic energy loss (process of electromagnetism),AC-DC converter loss,BMS loss(Distributing energy to all the cells).So overall efficiency we get is around 0.81. Which gives a current of 3.67units.Means to charge a battery of 2.98kWh capacity we need 3.67 units of electricity.

DC fast charging rates depend on EVCS company.Let us take example of TATA Nexon ev which has battery capacity of 30kWh and TATA charger. Rate depends on duration of charging.For 15 min,amount 112Rs. For fast charging 0-80% battery charging you will be paying 300 Rs at a public charging station (DC fast charging).

Home charging (AC charging) the rates will depend on which state you live in.

Andhra pradesh -78Rs

Assam-148 Rs

Bihar - 193 Rs

Delhi -90 Rs

Goa -68 Rs

Gujarat -105Rs

Jharkhand-115Rs

Karnataka -181Rs

Madhya Pradesh-152Rs

Tamil nadu-60 Rs

Telangana-130 Rs

Uttar pradesh -181Rs

West Bengal -210Rs

Revised tariff for all power companies in Mumbai is rationalised to 7.25/unit.A concession of 1.50/unit will be provided for charging during 10pm to 6am.This revised tariff is applicable for charging stations as well as battery swapping stations.

To estimate the time and cost accrued while charging electric vehicle at public points,

Want to find out how long it will take to charge your electric vehicle with a slow, fast or rapid charger at a public place along with its cost? The public charging calculator will help you estimate the time as well as the expenses.Public charging calculator

Summing UpThe cost of charging an electric vehicle at a public charging station varies substantially based on the amount of charge necessary, the cost of power in each network, and the type of public charging station utilised. Some will cost very less to use, whereas quick/rapid charging will often be more expensive than fast charging due to the convenience and greater capital costs.Charging costs for EVs are much better than the rising diesel/petrol prices in the long-term view. EVs are the future of the country.