How Pennsylvania's EV charging station prices stack up
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Pennsylvanians pony up $0.47 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) on average to charge their electric cars at public stations, Axios Pro: Climate Deals' Alan Neuhauser reports from data gathered by Stable Auto, an EV charger software developer.
- That's above the national average of $0.45 per kWh.
Context: A typical EV with 300 miles of range usually takes about 75-100 kWh to go from empty to full.
The big picture: Charging prices vary widely across the U.S.
- You'll pay three times as much at public charging sites in West Virginia than in Nebraska — a gap that suggests EV charging companies are still figuring out how to price top-offs.
Plus: Gasoline prices also differ across state lines but not as greatly as EV charging rates.
By the numbers: Pennsylvania had more than 47,400 electric vehicles registered in the state in 2022, per the latest Department of Energy data.
- Most EV charging stations in the region are located in Center City.
Zoom in: West Virginia, Connecticut, Arizona, Massachusetts, and Kentucky have the most expensive charging stations, according to Stable Auto's January survey of about 9,000 level-three fast-charging stations.
- Prices in those states ranged from $0.52 to $0.54 per kilowatt-hour.
- Nebraska, Mississippi, Iowa, North Dakota, and Kansas were the cheapest, with prices spanning $0.17 to $0.31.
Between the lines: Charging networks such as Electrify America, EVgo, and ChargePoint consider various factors in setting their charging prices — not least of which are local electricity rates.
Yes, but: The big price gaps suggest something is amiss, Stable Auto argues.
- For example, the older a charging location, the closer it hews to $0.40 to $0.50.
What they're saying: "Prices are probably set incorrectly and don't reflect underlying supply-demand," Stable Auto CEO Rohan Puri tells Axios.
What we're watching: Over the last six months, more networks have started adopting Tesla's variable pricing model, which accounts for several factors, including site location and time of day.