EV Charging Network Prices Compared (2026)
DC fast charging is not one price. Across the networks WattWay prices, the same kilowatt-hour runs from $0.20/kWh on OUC to $0.59/kWh on Blink — a 195% spread for identical electricity. Commercial networks average about $0.48/kWh. These are the reference rates the planner starts from when a station doesn't publish its own.
Cost per kWh, cheapest first
| Network | Rate | Type | Membership |
|---|---|---|---|
| OUC | $0.20/kWh | Municipal / utility | — |
| Tacoma Power | $0.21/kWh | Municipal / utility | — |
| Seattle City Light | $0.32/kWh | Municipal / utility | — |
| Francis Energy | $0.39/kWh | Regional | — |
| Ionna | $0.39/kWh | Automaker-backed | — |
| Buc-ee's | $0.40/kWh | Regional | — |
| Tesla | $0.40/kWh | Automaker-backed | Tesla Supercharging Membership — $12.99/mo, −$0.10/kWh |
| Rivian | $0.44/kWh | Automaker-backed | — |
| Walmart | $0.47/kWh | National | — |
| ChargePoint | $0.48/kWh | National | — |
| Volta | $0.49/kWh | National | — |
| Shell Recharge | $0.52/kWh | National | Shell Recharge Plus — $4.99/mo, −$0.07/kWh |
| bp pulse | $0.55/kWh | National | — |
| EVgo | $0.55/kWh | National | EVgo Plus — $6.99/mo, −$0.10/kWh |
| Electrify America | $0.56/kWh | National | Electrify America Pass+ — $4.00/mo, −$0.10/kWh |
| Blink | $0.59/kWh | National | — |
When a station publishes its own rate through Open Charge Map, WattWay uses that instead of these reference figures. For an operator it doesn't recognize at all, it assumes $0.45/kWh — deliberately mid-pack, so an unknown station is never made to look artificially attractive.
Why the cheapest network isn't always the right stop
The municipal and utility networks at the top of that table — OUC, Tacoma Power, Seattle City Light — genuinely are the cheapest electricity you can buy on the road. They are also confined to a handful of metro areas, so on a cross-country route you will pass zero of them. A rate you can't reach is worth nothing.
The real decision is per-stop, and it trades three things off at once: the rate, the detour to get there, and the stall power. A 350 kW stall at $0.59/kWh can beat a 50 kW stall at $0.20/kWh once you price your own time, and a station 12 miles off the highway costs you 24 miles of range plus the driving. WattWay scores all three together rather than sorting by price.
Reliability matters too. A cheap charger that is broken when you arrive costs far more than the few dollars it saved, which is why the planner weights recently-verified stations and skips ones reported non-operational.
Are charging memberships worth it?
Each plan is a fixed monthly fee against a per-kWh discount, so the break-even is purely a function of how much you charge on that network. At a typical 55 kWh road-trip session:
| Plan | Fee | Discount | Break-even |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tesla Supercharging Membership | $12.99/mo | −$0.10/kWh | 3 sessions/month |
| Electrify America Pass+ | $4.00/mo | −$0.10/kWh | 1 sessions/month |
| EVgo Plus | $6.99/mo | −$0.10/kWh | 2 sessions/month |
| Shell Recharge Plus | $4.99/mo | −$0.07/kWh | 2 sessions/month |
A single week-long road trip usually clears every one of these break-evens on its own, which is the case for subscribing for the month you travel and cancelling after. For day-to-day driving on home charging, most of them don't pay. Select the plans you hold in the planner and it applies the discounts when pricing each stop. Per-vehicle break-evens are on each EV page.
All networks
- OUC$0.20/kWh · Municipal / utility
- Tacoma Power$0.21/kWh · Municipal / utility
- Seattle City Light$0.32/kWh · Municipal / utility
- Francis Energy$0.39/kWh · Regional
- Ionna$0.39/kWh · Automaker-backed
- Buc-ee's$0.40/kWh · Regional
- Tesla$0.40/kWh · Automaker-backed
- Rivian$0.44/kWh · Automaker-backed
- Walmart$0.47/kWh · National
- ChargePoint$0.48/kWh · National
- Volta$0.49/kWh · National
- Shell Recharge$0.52/kWh · National
- bp pulse$0.55/kWh · National
- EVgo$0.55/kWh · National
- Electrify America$0.56/kWh · National
- Blink$0.59/kWh · National