Guides
What does charging cost?
Public charging pricing can be genuinely confusing. Here's how the industry's models work — and how we simplified ours.
How most networks price charging
- Per — you pay for energy delivered, like a gas pump. Transparent in theory, but you need to know your car’s efficiency to guess the final cost, and rates often change by time of day.
- Per minute — you pay for time plugged in. Fast cars win, slower cars pay more for the same miles.
- Memberships and tiers — many networks charge monthly fees for lower rates, so the price on the screen depends on which plan you carry.
- Idle fees — per-minute penalties if your car stays plugged in after charging finishes.
- Time-of-use spikes and surcharges — the same session can cost meaningfully more at 6 PM than at 6 AM.
None of this is dishonest — but it does mean many drivers plug in without knowing what they’ll pay.
So what does a mile actually cost?
Per-h pricing is only meaningful once you divide it by your car’s efficiency — which is the sum nobody does standing at a charger. Here it is, with your own rates:
3.8 mi/kWh · EPA
Cost per mile
Public DC fast, billed per kWh: 13.6 cents per mile. Charging at home overnight: 9.6 cents per mile. Gasoline at 30 mpg: 15.7 cents per mile.
- Public DC fast, billed per kWh13.6¢
The common highway-network model.
- Charging at home overnight9.6¢
Cheapest, if you have a driveway and time.
- Gasoline at 30 mpg15.7¢
A comparable combustion car.
HubCharge isn’t on this chart, because we don’t bill per kWh. You get a flat rate for the session, shown in full before you plug in — so the sum above is one you never have to do. How our pricing works
Efficiency is the EPA combined figure for the selected trim. Charging losses are folded in — about 7% on DC, 12% on AC — because you pay for what leaves the charger, not what reaches the battery. Rates are yours to set; we don’t publish other networks’ prices as fact because they change by site and time of day.
The HubCharge model: one flat rate, known first
We charge a flat rate per session. Your exact price appears on your phone before you plug in — approve it, charge, done. No membership needed to charge, no per-kWh math, no time-of-use surprises, and the price you approved is the price: when your session ends, our attendant unplugs you at participating locations.
Want more range? Extend in quick taps, up to 4 times per stop. The full model is on our pricing page.
A fair question: is flat-rate right for everyone?
Honest answer: flat-rate is built for the quick top-up — our 10-minute sweet-spot session. If you routinely need to charge a very large battery from near-empty to full, a per-kWh network may suit that trip better. For the everyday “I need miles, now” stop, knowing your price upfront is exactly the point.
Know your price before you plug in.
Pull up, stay in your car, and let our team handle the rest — no app needed.