The topic of electric cars is coming up more and more often in discussions on environmental protection. We currently have 40,000 owners of so-called 'electrics' in Poland, and this number is constantly growing, as is the charging infrastructure network for such vehicles. The growing market is attracting new solutions - currently, in addition to state-owned charging stations, drivers can also choose from private points. Are you thinking of buying an electric car, but don't know what the price of charging an electric car is? Check out your options!
Cost of charging an electric car at home
Before you buy your first electric vehicle, find out what conditions it needs in order to be able to charge it without problems. Many people, enchanted by the many extras offered by these innovative vehicles, may overestimate their capabilities without proper preparation. It is therefore extremely important to find out which model suits you and your needs and how much the average cost of charging an electric car will be before you buy.
One of the first options for charging is to plug in your home electrician. However, you need to be mindful of the power of a standard socket and familiarise yourself with the possibilities of increasing the power of your home electricity. A normal socket is around 2-3 kWh, which means not only quite slow charging for such a car, but also an increased demand for electricity.
A 60 kWh car, for example, will take 20-24 hours to fully charge. That is already one whole day without a car. Time savings will be provided by the Wallbox, available and common among electric car owners, i.e. a device to be mounted on the wall of your garage. Thanks to the technology it uses, the current drawn from the socket is between 7 and 12 kWh. This reduces the charging time to just a few hours.
But how much does it cost to charge an electric car at home? This depends on the tariff you choose. Electricity tariffs are divided into single-zone and universal tariffs for residential customers and households, where the amount of energy and the power of the electricity is constant around the clock. Such a zone is called G11. A tariff that is geared towards users who use electricity most intensively in the evenings or at weekends is called G12. Electricity is often cheaper at certain times. In this case, it is not insignificant when you charge your car, which can have an impact on the cost of charging an electric car at home.
Taking the G11 tariff as an example, where the average price from all suppliers is PLN 0.73/kWh, you will pay PLN 58.4 to fill up your 80 kWh car. Depending on the model, this will allow you to drive between 150 and 300 kilometres.
How much does it cost to charge an electric car at a special station?
The second option is to visit a point. How much does it cost to charge an electric car at a station? This also depends on the chosen supplier. Currently in Poland, we can charge an electric car using fast charging points as well as the one in normal mode. The former points have the so-called direct current (DC), often with the highest power. For example, at a station of one of the Polish fuel companies, we can "refuel" our electric car with DC current of 25 to 150 kW. This will make your car load much faster. 
Another alternative is public charging stations or those with lower power. You will find such points on a map of Poland thanks to numerous applications for electric car owners. However, you should be aware that the public charging points have a lower capacity, which means that fast charging is out of the question. This is because, like most of the devices you use, they use AC current with the designation AC. Unlike DC, it does not deliver constant high power to the batteries in an electric vehicle.
How much does it cost to charge an electric car? The price depends on the type of electricity you use. Naturally, the most expensive option will be to use a fast charging station with access to direct current. Depending on the operator, drivers can choose between PLN 1.02 for AC and PLN 2.03 for DC. The prices are per kWh. Thus, if the owner of a car with a capacity of 60 kWh wants to charge it to the full, he will incur a cost of between 60 and around 75 PLN for AC charging. The price of charging a car of the same capacity at a station with DC current may be PLN 120 or more.
What does the cost of charging an electric car depend on?
Many drivers wonder what factors influence the expense of charging an electric car. In addition to the type of electricity used and how it is sourced, the final cost includes aspects such as range, how much energy the car needs to travel 100 km and the maximum capacity of the batteries in your vehicle.
The cost of driving an electric car 100 kilometres should always be broken down into three ways of powering it. This is because depending on whether you have charged your car with a wallbox in your private garage or at a station - the costs will be different. Taking the example of a mid-range Hyundai model, which needs 15 kWh of energy per 100 kilometres, we will try to work out how much it will cost to drive it using the various charging methods.
If you charge a Hyundai Kona Elektro model at home, then the cost of driving it 100 kilometres will be PLN 10.95. Similarly, if you charge the same car model with DC electricity at a station, you will pay PLN 30.45. The prices for AC current in the cheapest version range from 15 to 17 PLN per 100 kilometres. It is worth bearing in mind, however, that this distance in urban space does not equal 100 kilometres on the motorway.
What is still worth bearing in mind, however, is that the capabilities of electric cars depend on their condition and how you take care of charging hygiene. For the proper functioning of the battery, it is important to keep a sober mind in this aspect and always follow the manufacturer's instructions for battery operation.
