Home vs public charging: when an EV stops being cheap

ADAC measured the Skoda Elroq 85 in April 2025 and found it needs 87.1 kWh from the wall to fill its 77 kWh battery. Same fill, three bills:

• At home at €0.28/kWh, the EU household average from Eurostat: €24.39.
• At a fast charger at €0.55, Eleport's October 2026 median: €47.91.
• At a German motorway charger ad hoc at €0.84, ADAC's example: €73.16.

Same car, same 475 km on ADAC's test. That's the whole subject. I haven't charged this car anywhere: the test data is ADAC's, and rated figures are Skoda's.

The sum per 100 km

Skoda rates the car at 15.3 kWh/100 km. The calculator adds 25%, giving 19.125 kWh. WLTP includes charging losses, because the test includes a recharge, as EVDB NZ explains, so nothing else goes on top. ADAC's measured 18.2 kWh, losses included, sits a little under that. I'll stick with the higher number.

Keep €0.28 at home and €0.55 in public, and change only where you charge:

• All at home: €5.36 per 100 km, €610 over 11,400 km.
• 15% public, the calculator's default: €6.13, €699.
• Half and half: €7.94, €905.
• 80% public: €9.49, €1,081.
• All public: €10.52, €1,199.

So the driver with no home charging pays about €590 a year more. Try your own tariff on this car.

Where it stops being cheap

Compare it against fuel, at €1.95 a litre. A 7.4 l/100 km petrol car costs €14.43, so the Elroq matches it at about €0.75/kWh. That's a real price in Germany on the road. ADAC's motorway ad hoc example of €0.84 makes this Elroq cost €16.07 per 100 km, more than that petrol car.

A Yaris Cross Hybrid, rated 4.4 l/100 km and so 5.3 l with the calculator's 20% added, costs €10.34. The Elroq matches that at €0.54/kWh. Eleport's median sits a cent above. Different sizes of car, I know, and the Skoda has far more room. Still, it tells you that an EV on nothing but fast chargers has lost most of its running-cost case. On EV against petrol at EU averages the numbers are kinder, because they assume a home charger.

Public isn't one price

The range is wide, and it's where you can win some of it back.

In Germany, ADAC found ad hoc charging can cost up to 62% more than a contract with no monthly fee. ACE, as reported by emobility.energy, had average ad hoc prices in July 2026 of 52.30 cents on AC, 70.49 on DC and 74.80 on high-power chargers. A June 2026 market overview quoted on the same page had contracts from 39 to 62 cents on AC, 39 to 91 on DC. Eleport's German median for fast charging is €0.59, and it lists Lidl, Kaufland and ALDI Süd at €0.44 to €0.47 by app or card.

Eleport also shows the app-against-card gap: EnBW charges €0.56 by app and €0.79 by card. Read those as an operator's figures, because Eleport runs chargers.

At €0.44, all public, the Elroq costs €8.42. That's below the hybrid and well under petrol. A cheap retail charger or a contract AC post near your flat might be the best deal available without a driveway. AC and DC charging explains why the two are priced apart. Blocking fees and per-session charges can be added on top, so read the tariff before you sign.

Home isn't one price either. Across the four countries I checked, Eurostat's first-half 2026 figures run from €0.2440 in the Netherlands to €0.3618 in Germany. The German rate makes this car €6.92 per 100 km on home power alone. Your bill beats these.

Is a wallbox worth it?

Mostly at home against all public saves about €500 a year on those numbers: €1,199 less €699. A go-e Gemini 2.0 11 kW is €819 in go-e's German shop, checked 2 November 2026, plus shipping. go-e says it can't be used in the Netherlands, France or Italy, so check before you buy any unit. Others are in the home charger list.

At that price, the hardware pays back in under two years. Installation is the unknown: that's an electrician's job, and I have no price that holds across Europe. Get a quote, add it, and redo the sum.

In Germany, a wallbox above 4.2 kW falls under §14a. Per the Bundesnetzagentur, since January 1, 2024 the grid operator may dim it temporarily, never below 4.2 kW. In exchange you get reduced grid fees: the flat option was worth €110 to €190 a year in 2023 figures, depending on the area. That applies in Germany only.

The Elroq is €46,890 on Skoda's German list, and other countries differ. I'd buy one with a charger at home. Without one, I'd check my nearest two public tariffs before I signed anything.