How much does public EV charging actually cost?
A fair bit more than most people expect. Zapmap’s Charging Price Index puts the weighted average for rapid and ultra rapid public charging (50kW and above) at 77p per kWh, and the average for standard and fast charging (3kW to 49kW) at 54p per kWh.
Individual networks sit well above that average at peak times. InstaVolt charges 92p per kWh between 07:00 and 20:00. Gridserve’s rapid chargers run from 85p to 92p depending on the site. Ionity is 83p on pay as you go. None of these are small numbers next to a full battery.
Checked September 2026. Prices move fairly often, so treat these as a guide rather than today’s exact rate at any one charger. Roo’s advice: check the app before you plug in, because the gap between the cheapest and dearest rapid charger is now roughly double, which is far wider than most people assume.
Why is public charging so much pricier than charging at home?
Partly infrastructure, partly tax. Rapid chargers are expensive to install and run, and networks pass that cost on. But there’s a genuinely odd quirk sitting underneath it too: public EV charging carries 20% VAT, as a commercial electricity supply, while domestic electricity is charged at the reduced rate of 5%.
That gap is about to widen, temporarily. From 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027 the government has suspended VAT on domestic electricity entirely, taking it from 5% to zero in Great Britain. Northern Ireland stays at 5%. Public charging is untouched at 20% throughout.
So for those six months, a driver who can charge on their own driveway pays no VAT at all on the electricity, while someone relying entirely on public charging, often because they don’t have a driveway or dedicated parking, pays a full 20% on top of an already higher rate.
It’s one of those situations where the people least able to avoid the more expensive option end up paying the most for it. There’s an ongoing debate about whether public charging should get the same treatment as domestic electricity, but nothing has changed yet.
Public EV charging costs at a glance
| Network | Price per kWh | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tesla Supercharger, public access | 63p | 46p for Tesla drivers |
| InstaVolt | 92p peak, 55p off peak | Off peak is 20:00 to 07:00, app or RFID only. Contactless pays 92p around the clock |
| Ionity | 83p | Pay as you go |
| Gridserve, rapid (DC) | 85p to 92p | Varies by site. 25% off with Gridserve Plus at £7.99 a month |
| Gridserve, slow (AC) | 59p | Standalone units up to 22kW |
| Market average, rapid and ultra rapid | 77p | Weighted average, all networks, 50kW+ |
| Market average, standard and fast | 54p | Weighted average, all networks, 3kW to 49kW |
Checked September 2026, against each network’s own published pricing and Zapmap’s Charging Price Index.
The two market averages are the numbers worth remembering. Charging at a slower charger rather than an ultra rapid one saves you around 23p per kWh on average, which on a 50 kWh top up is a little over £11.
How does that compare with charging at home?
Home overnight EV tariffs sit in a completely different bracket, typically somewhere around 7 to 9p per kWh on a smart tariff like Intelligent Octopus Go, Octopus Go or EDF GoElectric. Our guide to EV energy tariffs covers how those actually work if you’ve got a driveway or off street parking to charge on.
Put the two side by side and a rapid public charger at 77p is roughly nine to eleven times the cost of a good home overnight rate. Even the cheapest public option in the table above, InstaVolt’s 55p off peak, is around six times a home tariff. For anyone who can charge at home even occasionally, it’s worth doing so whenever the car’s plugged in overnight rather than defaulting to a public rapid charger out of habit.
Does this matter if you only charge in public occasionally?
Less than you’d think, if it’s genuinely occasional. Someone who charges at home most nights and only tops up in public on the odd long journey won’t feel the gap the same way as someone relying on public EV charging as their main option.
It matters far more for drivers without off street parking, who simply can’t access the cheaper home rate at all. For that group, public EV charging isn’t an occasional top up, it’s the only option, and the VAT gap and network pricing both land on them every single time they charge.
That’s the group any future change to public charging VAT would actually help. Until that happens, comparing network app rates and avoiding the priciest ultra rapid tariffs is the main lever available.
How to keep public charging costs down
Small habits that add up
- Use each network’s app or RFID card rather than contactless. InstaVolt’s off peak rate, for one, is app and RFID only, and contactless users pay the full 92p at any hour.
- Charge after 20:00 where a network offers a cheaper off peak rate. InstaVolt’s window runs 20:00 to 07:00, which is 11 hours a day.
- Save ultra rapid chargers for genuinely long journeys. Standard and fast chargers average 54p against 77p for rapid, so a slower charge over a longer stop is meaningfully cheaper.
- Check whether a subscription pays for itself. Gridserve Plus is £7.99 a month for 25% off, which needs roughly 35 kWh of charging a month to break even at their rates.
None of this closes the gap with home charging entirely. It just stops public EV charging costing more than it needs to.
Frequently asked questions about public EV charging
- Why does public EV charging cost so much more than charging at home?
- A mix of infrastructure costs and VAT. Public charging carries 20% VAT as a commercial supply, while domestic electricity is charged at 5%, dropping to zero in Great Britain between 1 October 2026 and 31 March 2027. On top of that, rapid chargers are simply expensive kit to install and run.
- Which public charging network is cheapest?
- Of the major rapid networks, Tesla’s open Supercharger sites are the lowest at 63p per kWh, and 46p for Tesla drivers. InstaVolt’s 55p off peak rate beats that between 20:00 and 07:00, but its peak rate of 92p is among the highest. Prices shift regularly, so check before you rely on this.
- Is it worth a charging network subscription?
- Only if you charge in public often enough for the discount to outweigh the monthly fee. Gridserve Plus, for example, costs £7.99 a month for 25% off, so you need to be charging regularly for it to pay. Occasional users are usually better off on pay as you go.
- Will public EV charging VAT ever drop to match domestic electricity?
- It has been debated, but as of September 2026 nothing has changed. Public charging still carries the full 20% rate, and the temporary domestic electricity cut from October does not extend to it.
- Does charging speed affect the price per kWh?
- Yes, significantly. Zapmap’s weighted averages are 77p per kWh for rapid and ultra rapid chargers against 54p for standard and fast ones, so the faster charge costs around 43% more per unit.
Sources
- Zapmap, Charging Price Index, updated 4 September 2026. Weighted averages of 77p (rapid and ultra rapid) and 54p (standard and fast), and Tesla’s 63p and 46p rates.
- InstaVolt, Pricing terms and conditions. 92p peak, 55p off peak 20:00 to 07:00, app and RFID users only.
- GRIDSERVE, Pricing. 85p to 92p DC, 59p AC, and the Gridserve Plus membership.
- Zapmap, IONITY network guide. 83p per kWh pay as you go.
- GOV.UK, Temporary zero rate of VAT in Great Britain for domestic electricity. The 5% to zero change, its dates, and the Northern Ireland position.
Checked 23 September 2026.
