Charging an electric car in New Zealand typically costs between $3 and $9 to drive 100km when charging at home, depending on your electricity plan. That’s a fraction of the roughly $20 it costs to drive the same distance in a petrol car. But the exact amount you’ll pay depends on where you charge, how fast you charge, and whether you’re smart about timing.
Home Charging Costs
Most EV owners in New Zealand do the bulk of their charging at home, plugging in overnight the same way you charge your phone. The average residential electricity rate sits around 30 to 35 cents per kWh, which means fully charging a typical EV with a 60 kWh battery costs roughly $18 to $21. That full charge gives most cars 300 to 400km of range.
You can cut that cost significantly by switching to an EV-specific electricity plan. Genesis Energy’s EVHome plan, for example, gives you 50% off your variable electricity rates between 9pm and 7am. Since most people plug in when they get home and charge overnight, this lines up perfectly with normal EV use. Other providers offer similar off-peak deals. On a plan like this, your home charging cost per 100km drops closer to $2 to $4.
If you have solar panels, daytime charging can bring costs even lower, though most home solar setups won’t fully charge a large battery in a single day without grid top-ups.
Public Charging Prices
Public charging costs more than home charging, and the price varies by speed. ChargeNet, New Zealand’s largest public charging network, updated its pricing in April 2025:
- AC (slow) chargers: $0.40 per kWh
- DC fast chargers (75kW and below): $0.80 per kWh
- DC hyper chargers (150kW and above): $0.85 per kWh
To put that in real terms, topping up 30 kWh on a DC fast charger (enough for roughly 150 to 200km of driving) costs about $24. The same amount of energy at home would cost around $9 to $10 on a standard plan, or half that on a night rate. Public fast charging is convenient for road trips, but it’s noticeably more expensive than plugging in at home.
Tesla Superchargers are available in New Zealand, but Tesla doesn’t publish a single national rate. Pricing varies by site and is displayed on the vehicle’s touchscreen before you start a session. Some stations offer off-peak and on-peak rates. Non-Tesla vehicles can use certain Supercharger sites, though they typically pay a premium.
Free and Low-Cost Options
A few networks offer cheaper alternatives. Jolt provides the first 7 kWh of AC charging free at its stations, which is enough for roughly 35 to 50km of driving. After that, DC charging costs $0.47 per kWh. OpenLoop chargers range from $0.25 to $0.50 per kWh depending on the location. These slower chargers work well for topping up while you’re shopping or at a café, but they’re not practical for long-distance travel.
Road User Charges Add to the Total
One cost that catches new EV owners off guard is road user charges (RUC). Because electric cars don’t use petrol, they don’t contribute to road maintenance through fuel excise tax. Instead, you pay RUC based on distance driven.
Battery electric vehicles pay $76 per 1,000km. Plug-in petrol hybrids get a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km, since they also pay fuel tax when running on petrol. Plug-in diesel hybrids pay the full $76 rate. You purchase RUC in advance and your odometer is checked to confirm usage. This works out to 7.6 cents per kilometre for a full EV, adding roughly $7.60 per 100km to your running costs.
EV vs Petrol: The Full Comparison
When you combine electricity and road user charges, the total cost to run an EV per 100km in New Zealand looks something like this:
- Home charging (standard rate) + RUC: roughly $10 to $12 per 100km
- Home charging (off-peak rate) + RUC: roughly $9 to $10 per 100km
- Public fast charging + RUC: roughly $19 to $22 per 100km
Compare that to petrol. AMI Insurance commissioned testing that found the average petrol car costs about $20.72 per 100km at a fuel price of $2.63 per litre. The EV equivalents cost an average of $2.79 per 100km for electricity alone, saving almost $18 per 100km before road user charges. Even after adding RUC, home-charged EVs cost roughly half what a petrol car costs to run.
The savings shrink if you rely heavily on public DC fast chargers. At ChargeNet’s current rates, fast charging approaches petrol costs per kilometre once you factor in RUC. For daily driving, home charging is where the real financial benefit lives.
Practical Tips to Keep Costs Down
Your charging habits have a bigger impact on cost than the car you choose. Charging at home overnight on an EV electricity plan is the cheapest option by a wide margin. If you don’t have off-street parking or a dedicated charger, workplace charging (where available) is the next best thing, since many employers offer it free or at low rates.
For road trips, plan your stops around ChargeNet’s AC chargers when time allows. At $0.40 per kWh, slow public charging costs less than half the price of fast charging. A lunch stop at a location with an AC charger can add 50 to 80km of range for under $10. Reserve the $0.80+ fast chargers for when you genuinely need a quick top-up.
Keep an eye on Jolt stations in urban areas for free top-ups during errands. Seven free kWh won’t change your life, but over a year of regular use it adds up to meaningful savings.