US Public EV Charging Price Index 2026 — Q3 Baseline, Updated August

The ChargeCostLab US Public EV Charging Price Index stood at $0.48/kWh when the Q3 2026 baseline was set on July 7 — the equal-weighted, non-member price of DC fast charging across the four largest US networks (Tesla Supercharger, Electrify America, EVgo, ChargePoint) [5][7][12][13][14][19]. Six weeks later, on August 16, live station-level tracking puts the same four networks noticeably higher: Tesla's member/driver rate up to $0.433/kWh, Electrify America's guest rate to $0.615, and EVgo's pay-as-you-go rate to $0.644 [9][10][11]. Gasoline moved too — AAA's national average climbed from $3.79/gal on July 7 to $4.07/gal by August 16, up 29% year over year [2]. This page holds the reproducible July 7 baseline (Index = 100) as the quarter's official number, and layers a live August pulse check on top of it, so both the permanent record and the current picture are visible at once.

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The headline numbers

The Q3 2026 baseline, set July 7, is $0.48 per kWh for non-member DC fast charging — index level 100 by definition, unchanged for the rest of the quarter so it stays comparable to prior and future baselines [5][7][12][13][14].

Metric	Value	Basis
ChargeCostLab Charging Price Index (CCL-CPI), Q3 2026 baseline	$0.4775/kWh	Equal-weighted non-member DC fast rate, 4 major networks, set July 7 [5][7][12][13][14]
Index level	100.0 (baseline quarter)	Q3 2026 = 100 by definition
Live network pulse, Aug 16, 2026	$0.543/kWh (index ≈ 113.7)	Average of live observed rates, same 4 networks [9][10][11]
AAA all-public-charging national average (L1+L2+DCFC)	$0.424/kWh	AAA, August 16, 2026 [1]
US average home (residential) electricity rate	18.44¢/kWh	EIA, May 2026 (latest available) [3]
AAA national average, regular gasoline	$4.07/gal	AAA, August 16, 2026, up 29% YoY [2]

The story is still the gap between home and public charging, but two things moved since the baseline was set: gasoline got noticeably more expensive, which narrows the "charging looks bad" headline against the pump, while live public-network rates drifted higher than the baseline's published-range inputs, which widens it back out. Both are real and both matter — the sections below walk through each.

Network / plan	$/kWh	45 kWh session	Cost per 100 miles	GGE $/gal-e
Home charging (EIA US avg, May 2026)	$0.184	$8.30	$6.36	$1.91
IONNA (flat rate, all sites)	$0.39	$17.55	$13.46	$4.03
Tesla Supercharger — member/Tesla driver	$0.433	$19.49	$14.94	$4.48
Electrify America — Pass+ (~25% off)	$0.46	$20.74	$15.90	$4.76
ChargePoint DC fast (+ $0.99 guest session fee)	$0.48	$22.59	$16.56 + fee	$5.08
CCL-CPI (index, Q3 2026 baseline, non-member DCFC)	$0.4775	$21.49	$16.46	$4.94
Electrify America — guest (no membership)	$0.615	$27.68	$21.22	$6.36
Tesla Supercharger — non-Tesla EV, no membership	$0.601	$27.05	$20.73	$6.21
EVgo — pay-as-you-go	$0.644	$28.98	$22.22	$6.66

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The Q3 2026 baseline: how it's built and why it hasn't moved

The CCL-CPI is designed to be reproducible by anyone with the same public data, which is why the baseline stays fixed at $0.4775/kWh for the whole quarter even as live prices drift [5][7][12][13][14].

Scope. US public DC fast charging (50 kW+), non-member/pay-as-you-go pricing — the price a driver pays with no subscription, since that is the default and least ambiguous experience.

Component networks and inputs, set July 7, 2026. For each network we took the midpoint of the typical published or independently reported non-member range:

Network	Typical non-member range	Midpoint used
Tesla Supercharger (Tesla vehicle)	$0.30–$0.45/kWh most sites; $0.50–$0.60+ at peak/high-cost sites	$0.38
Electrify America (Pass/guest)	$0.45–$0.55/kWh typical ($0.39–$0.69 full observed spread)	$0.50
EVgo (pay-as-you-go)	$0.45–$0.65/kWh [ESTIMATE — no official table]	$0.55
ChargePoint DC fast (host-set)	$0.35–$0.60/kWh	$0.48

Index = simple mean = ($0.38 + $0.50 + $0.55 + $0.48) / 4 = $0.4775 ≈ $0.48/kWh [5][7][12][13][14].

EVgo note, unchanged from the baseline methodology: EVgo publishes "as low as" member rates but no national pay-as-you-go table [7][8]. The $0.45–$0.65 range is an estimate from independent 2025–2026 network comparisons [12][13]. As the next section shows, live August data now puts EVgo's observed average right at the top of that range, at $0.644/kWh — worth watching for the Q4 rebase [11].

Weighting and standard session. Equal weights, because port-count or session-share weighting would push the index down (Tesla operates the largest and cheapest fast network) but no public, auditable session-share data exists. The standard index session is 60 kWh delivered at DC fast, non-member rate — a 20–90% charge of a mid-size EV pack — costing $28.65 at the baseline rate.

Index level. Q3 2026 = 100 by definition. Future quarters: (current $/kWh ÷ $0.4775) × 100. ChargeCostLab re-runs the same basket in the first week of each calendar quarter — January, April, July, October — using the same four networks, the same non-member definition, and the same equal weights.

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The August pulse: what's moved since the baseline was set

Live station-level tracking puts the average non-member DC fast rate at $0.543/kWh as of August 16, 2026 — about 14% above the July 7 baseline of $0.4775/kWh [9][10][11]. That figure comes from DCFC Tracker, which continuously syncs each operator's posted per-station rates and reports monthly network averages — a different measurement method than the baseline's "typical published range," so we report it as a separate pulse check rather than rebasing the index mid-quarter.

Three of the four networks moved up. Tesla's member/Tesla-driver rate averaged $0.433/kWh nationally on August 16, above the baseline's $0.38 midpoint but still inside its $0.30–$0.60+ published range [9]. Electrify America's guest rate averaged $0.615/kWh, now sitting closer to the top of its $0.39–$0.69 spread than the middle [10]. EVgo's pay-as-you-go average climbed from $0.634/kWh in May to $0.641 in June to $0.644 in August — a steady upward drift, not a one-off spike [11]. ChargePoint has no network-wide live tracker, since its DC fast rate is set per host site, so its $0.48 midpoint is held constant pending station-sampled data.

One figure worth flagging on its own: Tesla's non-Tesla, no-membership rate averaged $0.601/kWh on August 16, against the $0.433/kWh member/Tesla-driver rate — a 38.8% premium [9]. That lands close to the ~40% premium Tesla itself claimed in an April 2026 announcement, a figure Electrek's own reporting had suggested ran more like 23–37% depending on time of day and site [19]. The August station-level data leans toward confirming Tesla's round number, at least as a national average.

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Gasoline moved more than charging did

AAA's national average for regular gasoline was $4.0656/gal on August 16, 2026, up from $3.9434 a month earlier and $3.1428 a year earlier — a 29.4% year-over-year increase and the single biggest input change since the Q3 baseline was set [2]. A weekly EIA tracker shows the same direction: $4.006/gal for the week ending August 10, 2026, consistent with AAA's higher, more current daily figure [4].

That gas move changes the reading of the CCL-CPI's own gasoline-gallon-equivalent (GGE) comparison, using our efficiency-adjusted conversion: a 2.9 mi/kWh EV against a 30-mpg gas car needs 10.34 kWh to cover the same 30 miles as one gallon [our calculation, basis in 5][7][12][13][14]. Against July 7's $3.79/gal pump price, the $0.4775/kWh baseline worked out to $4.94/gal-e — about 30% more expensive than gas that day. Against August 16's higher $4.07/gal pump price, that same $4.94/gal-e baseline figure is only about 21% more expensive — the premium narrowed because gas rose, not because charging got cheaper.

Averaging the live August network rates instead tells a different story: $0.543/kWh works out to $5.61/gal-e, about 38% above the current pump price — a wider gap than the baseline implies, because live rates rose faster than gasoline did over the same six weeks [our calculation, basis 2][9][10][11]. Both readings are accurate; they're just answering slightly different questions — "what did the reproducible quarterly snapshot show" versus "what is a driver actually likely to pay right now."

AAA's broader public-charging figure, which blends in cheaper Level 2 alongside DC fast, sits at $0.424/kWh nationally as of August 16 — up marginally from $0.418 on July 7 — equivalent to $4.38/gal-e, or about 8% above the current pump price [1][2].

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Home charging: still the baseline everything else competes against

The EIA's Electric Power Monthly puts the US average residential electricity rate at 18.44¢/kWh for May 2026, the most recent month EIA has published as of this update, up from 17.37¢ a year earlier — a 6.2% year-over-year increase [3]. That's a smaller move than gasoline's 29% jump or the fast-charging networks' 14%+ drift, which is exactly why the home-vs-everything-else gap keeps widening.

At the May 2026 residential rate, a 45 kWh session (a 20–80% charge of a 75 kWh pack) costs $8.30, or $6.36 per 100 miles at 2.9 mi/kWh — equivalent to $1.91/gal-e [our calculation, basis 3]. Against AAA's August 16 pump price of $4.07/gal, home charging now beats gasoline by about 53% per mile, up from the roughly 49% gap the same comparison showed on July 7 — not because home electricity got cheaper, but because gasoline outpaced it. All-sector electricity (residential plus commercial and industrial blended) averaged 13.83¢/kWh in the same May 2026 data, versus 13.13¢ a year earlier, a 5.3% increase [3].

The structural read hasn't changed: an EV's running cost in 2026 is set far more by where its electrons come from than by the car itself. A driver who charges almost entirely at home is paying roughly half of gasoline's cost per mile; a driver who relies on non-member DC fast charging for most miles is now paying somewhere between roughly at-parity and about 38% more than gasoline, depending on which network and whether they hold a membership. For the underlying math on charging at home, see our 2026 home vs. public charging cost comparison.

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The fifth network: IONNA and the crowded middle

IONNA guarantees a flat top rate of $0.39/kWh across more than 100 "Rechargery" sites — undercutting every other major DC fast network in this index, including the CCL-CPI's own $0.4775/kWh baseline [20]. That pricing helped it top J.D. Power's 2026 US EV Experience Public Charging Study with 807 out of 1,000 points, ahead of Mercedes-Benz Charging Network (797) and Rivian Adventure Network (755), in results published August 13, 2026 [20]. IONNA is the fast-charging joint venture backed by BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and Toyota.

IONNA isn't in the CCL-CPI's four-network basket because its footprint is still small next to the incumbents: about 1,190 DC fast ports as of July 1, 2026, versus Tesla's 37,159, against a national total of 74,265 public DC fast ports (Tesla alone is roughly 50% of the national total) [28]. That's a real candidate for a future quarter's index expansion if its build-out continues, but for now it sits outside the baseline as a fast-growing, cheaper alternative worth knowing about.

Rivian Adventure Network is running a parallel opening-up story: 45 of its 148 sites (31%) now carry NACS connectors, with 5 sites NACS-only, and the network has opened to all EVs — not just Rivians — at 151 of 156 sites [28]. Every 2026-model-year-and-later Rivian ships with a native NACS port. Combined with Tesla's own Magic Dock rollout, the practical effect is that the "which plug fits my car" question that used to gate network choice is fading fast, leaving price and location as the deciding factors. For a closer look at that transition, see our guide to NACS adapter cost and compatibility.

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Network price table, updated to August 2026

Assumptions: 75 kWh pack, 20–80% session = 45 kWh delivered; efficiency 2.9 mi/kWh (34.5 kWh per 100 miles); GGE against AAA's August 16 gas price. Guest/non-member unless noted.

Network / plan	$/kWh	45 kWh session	Cost per 100 miles	GGE $/gal-e
Home charging (EIA US avg, May 2026)	$0.184	$8.30	$6.36	$1.91
IONNA (flat rate, all sites)	$0.39	$17.55	$13.46	$4.03
Tesla Supercharger — member/Tesla driver	$0.433	$19.49	$14.94	$4.48
Electrify America — Pass+ (~25% off guest rate)	~$0.46	$20.74	$15.90	$4.76
ChargePoint DC fast (host-set, + $0.99 guest session fee)	$0.48	$22.59	$16.56 + fee	$5.08
CCL-CPI (index, Q3 2026 baseline, non-member DCFC)	$0.4775	$21.49	$16.46	$4.94
Electrify America — guest (no membership)	$0.615	$27.68	$21.22	$6.36
Tesla Supercharger — non-Tesla EV, no membership (~39% premium)	$0.601	$27.05	$20.73	$6.21
EVgo — pay-as-you-go	$0.644	$28.98	$22.22	$6.66

Membership economics moved with the underlying rates. Electrify America's Pass+ at $7/month for roughly 25% off now saves about $0.15/kWh against a $0.615 guest rate, breaking even around 47 kWh a month — under one full session [5][10]. That $7 fee is itself a legacy of an earlier repricing: Electrify America raised Pass+ from $4 to $7/month in July 2023, around the same time it abandoned flat national pricing for the station-specific model still in place today [15][16]. Tesla's $12.99/month non-Tesla membership erases the roughly $0.168/kWh gap between the $0.601 non-member and $0.433 member rates, breaking even around 77 kWh a month [9][19]. EVgo Plus ($6.99/month, average member rate around $0.25/kWh) and PlusMax ($12.99/month, around $0.22/kWh) both undercut the $0.644 pay-as-you-go rate meaningfully for anyone charging there regularly [7][8].

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ChargePoint's fee correction: guests pay double what account holders pay

ChargePoint is not really a single-priced network — it operates a platform on top of stations mostly owned by businesses, municipalities, and property owners who each set their own energy rate, typically $0.35–$0.60/kWh for DC fast [17]. On top of that host-set energy rate, ChargePoint began charging its own network service fee on March 1, 2026, and the fee structure has a two-tier catch that matters specifically for this index's non-member, pay-as-you-go focus [17][18].

Signed-in account holders pay $0.25 per Level 2 session and $0.49 per DC fast session. Guests — drivers without a ChargePoint account, which describes most casual, pay-as-you-go users — pay roughly double: $0.49 per Level 2 session and $0.99 per DC fast session [17][18]. Workplace charging, free/complimentary sessions, zero-energy sessions, fleet accounts, and roaming-partner stations (such as EVgo or Blink chargers accessed through ChargePoint's app) are exempt from the fee [17]. Trade press coverage since the rollout describes driver pushback over the change, though no regulatory action or lawsuit specifically targeting the fee has surfaced as of this update [18].

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Idle and session fees: the second price layer

Idle fees run $0.40–$1.00 per minute once a car finishes charging and stays plugged in, and they can turn a cheap session expensive if a driver wanders off. Electrify America charges $0.40 per minute after a 10-minute grace period once a session completes [6]. Tesla's structure is two-layered: a traditional idle fee of $0.50/minute once a Supercharger site is at least 50% occupied, doubling to $1.00/minute at full occupancy (waived if the car is moved within 5 minutes), plus a separate congestion fee of $1.00/minute that kicks in once a car's state of charge passes roughly 80–90%, meant to clear stalls during busy travel periods [21]. EVgo doesn't publish a network-wide idle fee, but its guest sessions carry a $0.99–$1.99 session fee, a $3 advance-reservation fee, and a $2.99 fee for credit-card-initiated sessions; a free EVgo account removes the session fee at most locations, and its $0.99/month Basic tier removes it outright [7][8]. ChargePoint has no network-wide idle-fee schedule, since idle policy is set per host location and shown in-app before a session starts [17].

None of these fees are large on a big session, but on a small top-up a flat $1–$3 fee can meaningfully change the effective per-kWh cost. Our guide to hidden EV charging fees beyond the kWh rate and our idle and congestion fee breakdown cover this in more depth network by network.

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Why fast charging costs what it costs: the demand-charge problem

Demand charges can account for more than 90% of a DC fast charging station's electricity bill, according to RMI's widely cited analysis of a 230-station EVgo deployment in California — because commercial utility tariffs bill fast chargers for their single highest 15-minute power draw each month, not just the energy delivered, and a lightly used fast charger can rack up a huge demand charge on very little actual energy sold [31]. RMI found that at one Northern California station, month-to-month energy revenue swung by up to 70% while the peak-demand cost driver moved only 16% — a structural mismatch between how these stations earn money and how they're billed for power [31].

That mismatch is a large part of why fast-charging prices haven't fallen as the market has matured, and utilities are starting to restructure around it rather than eliminate it. In California, PG&E's BEV1/BEV2 rate replaces a straight demand charge with a subscription-based kW allocation sold in 50 kW blocks for sites of 100 kW or more; SDG&E's EV High Power rate uses 25 kW subscription increments with overage penalties; and Southern California Edison's EV-TOU-7/8/9 rate stays energy-only, with no demand charge, through the end of 2029, when the demand-charge exemption is scheduled to expire [via industry summary, corroborating Atlas Public Policy's rate-comparison work at 32]. Atlas Public Policy maintains a dedicated dashboard comparing demand-charge exposure across fleet and public fast-charging use cases against major utilities' commercial tariffs, for readers who want to go deeper on a specific state [32].

The operator economics layer on top of that: an industry survey found 82% of charging network operators reported better EBITDA than a year earlier, though many remain free-cash-flow negative, with typical station payback running 2–5 years and a site needing roughly 10–15% utilization to break even — under 5% utilization is typically loss-making [33]. Broader utility-rate inflation compounds the pressure: electricity prices generally have been rising faster than headline inflation as utilities navigate higher wholesale power costs, strained supply chains, and rising demand, independent of anything happening in the EV charging market specifically [34]. None of that is charging-specific price gouging — it's the underlying cost structure a driver's per-kWh rate has to cover.

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Per-kWh vs. per-minute billing: why "price per kWh" isn't universal everywhere

Not every US state historically allowed non-utilities to sell electricity by the kWh, which is why per-minute billing persisted at some networks even as the market converged toward kWh pricing [22][26]. California mandates per-kWh (or per-megajoule) pricing: Level 2 chargers installed since January 1, 2021 and DC fast chargers installed since January 1, 2023 must comply at installation, with older units required to convert by 2031 and 2033 respectively [22]. Electrify America bills per-kWh wherever state rules permit and per-minute in the remainder [25]. EVgo has expanded per-kWh and time-of-use pricing across most of its footprint, though some regions still see per-minute rates [12][13]. Per-minute billing penalizes slower-charging vehicles specifically: a car accepting 50 kW pays roughly twice the effective $/kWh of one accepting 100 kW at the same per-minute rate, which is exactly the ambiguity per-kWh regulation is meant to remove. For the full state-by-state billing-method picture, see our per-kWh vs. per-minute billing by state guide.

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NEVI funding tracker: frozen, unfrozen, and now partly clawed back

Federal NEVI (National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure) formula funding is flowing to states again as of August 2026, following a permanent injunction states won in January — but Congress has since redirected a meaningful chunk of what was left, and the program's authorization runs out this year with no successor enacted yet [37][38]. Because this is exactly the kind of fast-moving policy area readers may be checking mid-quarter, here's the timeline in full.

The freeze and the lawsuit. The US DOT froze new NEVI obligations on February 6, 2025, dropping funds available for obligation to $0 nationally [37]. A coalition of roughly 20 states plus Washington DC — led by Washington, California, and Colorado — sued in State of Washington v. U.S. Department of Transportation (W.D. Wash., No. 2:25-cv-00848), arguing the freeze was unlawful [38]. A preliminary injunction in June 2025 restored funding for the 14 states that were plaintiffs at that point, and FHWA issued new interim guidance in August 2025 that simplified state planning requirements and loosened the previously rigid 50-mile corridor-spacing rule [37].

The ruling. US District Judge Tana Lin granted summary judgment for the states on January 23, 2026, with final judgment entered the next day, holding that DOT's abrupt reversal of approved state plans was "arbitrary and capricious" under the Administrative Procedure Act [38][41]. The court issued a permanent injunction barring USDOT from withholding NEVI funds for any reason not authorized by the original infrastructure law, restoring roughly $1 billion in funding across the plaintiff states and DC [38][41].

The clawback. That win didn't leave NEVI untouched. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (P.L. 119-75), enacted in February 2026, rescinded or transferred about $503.8 million of unobligated NEVI formula funds to other federal highway programs, allocated proportionally against each state's unobligated balance as of January 31, 2026, plus $300 million from NEVI's competitive-grant set-aside and $75 million earmarked for the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation — roughly $879 million redirected out of the program in total [39][40].

Where the money actually stands. Figures conflict across sources depending on snapshot date, so treat any single number as dated. As of the February 2025 freeze point, states had obligated about $527 million, funding contracts for roughly 4,000 DC fast ports at 990 locations [39]. Per a January 30, 2026 report from the Eno Center for Transportation, citing roughly September 2025 data: $4.4 billion in NEVI funds was available nationally, only about $94 million (2%) had actually been spent/reimbursed, $1.4 billion was obligated for stations expected to open through 2028, and about 121 NEVI-funded stations were operational with 370-plus individual fast chargers energized [37]. The program remains active at the state level in the meantime — New Hampshire's DOT, for instance, opened its NEVI Round II solicitation with proposals due August 21, 2026 [42].

Rules for NEVI-funded chargers, unchanged through the freeze/injunction saga. NEVI-funded ports must maintain at least 97% average annual uptime per port, sites must host a minimum of four DC fast ports rated 150 kW or higher, stay open 24/7, and accept open-access, per-kWh-capable payment with no membership requirement to use the charger [23]. None of that changed during the freeze, the litigation, or the subsequent clawback.

What's next. NEVI is a five-year formula program covering FY2022–FY2026 under the original infrastructure law, and no reauthorization or extension had been enacted as of this update [40]. Trade-press reporting has described a proposed FY2027 federal budget request that would cancel all remaining unobligated NEVI and CFI (Charging and Fueling Infrastructure) program funds — we could not independently verify this against a primary federal budget document, so we flag it as reported rather than confirmed [via secondary trade-press aggregation, not independently verified]. For the practical driver-facing question of whether NEVI stations are actually cheaper to use, see is NEVI-funded EV charging free or cheaper?

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State by state: why the spread is so wide

Commercial electricity rates ran from 7.38¢/kWh in North Dakota to 46.19¢/kWh in Hawaii as of May 2026 data — a more than sixfold spread that filters straight into public charging prices, since demand charges and generation costs scale off the local commercial tariff [30]. Other cheap-power states cluster around abundant grid capacity: Oklahoma at 8.1¢, Texas at 8.26¢, Idaho at 9.34¢, and Washington at 11.72¢. Expensive states are either geographically isolated, like Hawaii and Alaska (23.71¢), or carry high generation and regulatory costs, like California (24.1¢) and Connecticut (21.08¢). The US commercial average was 13.54¢/kWh; Hawaii's rate alone rose 28.95% year over year, the largest jump of any state in that data [30].

AAA's public charging price data tracks a similar shape: $0.312/kWh in Kansas, the national low, up to $0.529/kWh in West Virginia and $0.519 in Hawaii as of August 16, 2026 [1]. Notably, Hawaii's electricity is expensive at the wholesale/commercial level but its public charging price isn't the single highest — a reminder that local competition and station density matter alongside raw power costs. For the full state ranking, see our EV charging cost by state guide.

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The infrastructure behind the prices

The US had 74,265 public DC fast charging ports as of July 1, 2026, up 27% year over year, with Tesla Supercharger alone accounting for 37,159 of them — exactly half the national total, and more than the next nine networks combined [28]. Electrify America (5,743 ports, 7.7%), EVgo including its Pilot & Flying J locations (5,208, 7%), and ChargePoint (4,848, 6.5%) trail well behind, with Blink, Red E Charge, EV Connect, Ford Charge, IONNA, and Rivian Adventure Network rounding out a top ten that together controls 83.9% of all DC fast ports nationally [28].

Zooming out to all public charging infrastructure — not just DC fast — a broader August 12, 2026 count puts the national total at 81,709 stations and 255,294 ports, of which DC fast makes up 74,564 ports (29%) and Level 2 the remaining 180,042 ports (71%) [29]. That roughly matches the Department of Energy's own long-standing characterization that nearly 80% of US public charging ports are Level 2 and just over 20% are DC fast [24]. California leads by a wide margin on raw station count, with New York and Massachusetts a distant second and third [29].

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The demand side: fewer EV buyers, same charging bill

US EV sales came in at 247,226 units in Q2 2026, up 14.7% from Q1 but down 20.5% year over year — the third consecutive year-over-year decline — putting EVs at 5.8% of new-vehicle sales, well below the 10.6% peak recorded in Q3 2025 [35]. Q1 2026 told a similar story: roughly 212,600–216,399 units sold, down 27–28% year over year, with Tesla holding 54.2% of that shrinking EV market (117,300 units) against every other automaker combined (99,099) [36]. The decline tracks directly to the expiration of the federal $7,500 Clean Vehicle Credit on September 30, 2025, with no replacement enacted since [36].

That slowdown hasn't touched charging prices directly — the cost of electricity at a Supercharger has nothing to do with how many new EVs are sold that quarter — but it does mean charging networks are competing for a flatter, slower-growing pool of drivers even as their own port counts keep expanding 27% a year. That's part of the backdrop for why Tesla opened its network to other brands, why IONNA and Rivian have pushed toward NACS compatibility for everyone, and why per-kWh rates haven't fallen despite more competition: fixed infrastructure and demand-charge costs are being spread across a customer base that's growing more slowly than the charger count itself. One offsetting signal: used EV sales rose 12% year over year to 93,500 units in Q1 2026, with average used-EV pricing ($34,821) nearly at parity with used gas cars ($33,487), and hybrid sales are forecast up 9% year over year in the first half of 2026 against an overall new-vehicle market down 2.2% — electrification demand hasn't disappeared, it's shifted toward used EVs and hybrids [36]. For the incentive landscape behind that shift, see EV tax credit dead in 2026: alternatives and savings and US EV incentives and rebates by state.

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Key takeaways (quotable)

The seven figures below summarize this update, each traceable to the sourced data above:

• The ChargeCostLab US Public EV Charging Price Index's Q3 2026 baseline, set July 7, is $0.4775/kWh — the average non-member DC fast charging price across Tesla Supercharger, Electrify America, EVgo, and ChargePoint.
• Live station-level tracking on August 16, 2026 puts the same four networks' average non-member rate at $0.543/kWh, about 14% above the Q3 baseline — Tesla, Electrify America, and EVgo all drifted upward; only ChargePoint's host-set rate held flat.
• Against AAA's August 16, 2026 gas price of $4.07/gal, the Q3 baseline works out to roughly 21% more expensive per mile than gasoline; averaging live network rates instead widens that to roughly 38% more expensive.
• Home charging at the US average residential rate (18.44¢/kWh, EIA, May 2026) is equivalent to $1.91-per-gallon gasoline — about 53% cheaper than driving on gas at August 2026 pump prices.
• ChargePoint's guest (non-account) session fee for DC fast charging is $0.99, not the $0.49 account-holder rate — double what a signed-in user pays, and the tier that applies to most casual pay-as-you-go drivers.
• IONNA, the eight-automaker charging joint venture, now guarantees a flat $0.39/kWh across its network — undercutting every major DC fast network in this index, including the CCL-CPI baseline itself.
• Federal NEVI charging funding is flowing again after a January 2026 court ruling reversed a year-long freeze, but Congress clawed back roughly $879 million of it two weeks later, and the program's authorization expires this year with no extension enacted.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the ChargeCostLab Charging Price Index? A quarterly benchmark of what US drivers pay for public DC fast charging without a membership: the equal-weighted average $/kWh across Tesla Supercharger, Electrify America, EVgo, and ChargePoint. It was set at $0.4775/kWh (index level 100) in the first week of Q3 2026, July 7, and is recomputed the same way each quarter.

Is public fast charging cheaper than gasoline in August 2026? Mostly no, at non-member rates. The Q3 baseline works out to $4.94 per gasoline-gallon-equivalent against AAA's August 16 pump price of $4.07 — about 21% more expensive. Averaging live network-observed rates instead of the baseline inputs widens that to roughly 38% more expensive. Home charging, at $1.91/gal-e, beats the pump by about 53%.

How much does it cost to fast-charge an EV from 20% to 80% in August 2026? For a 75 kWh pack (45 kWh delivered), roughly $19–$29 at non-member rates on the four major networks, plus any session or idle fees. The same energy costs about $8.30 at the US average home rate. IONNA's flat $0.39/kWh rate brings a session to $17.55, undercutting every other public DC fast network.

Why do public charging prices vary so much by state? Underlying commercial electricity rates, demand charges, and competition. Commercial power ran from 7.38¢/kWh in North Dakota to 46.19¢/kWh in Hawaii as of May 2026 — over 6 times the spread — and AAA's August 2026 public charging data shows a similar pattern, from $0.312/kWh in Kansas to $0.529/kWh in West Virginia.

What happened to federal NEVI charging funding? The Trump administration froze it in February 2025; a coalition of roughly 20 states and DC sued, and a federal judge ruled the freeze illegal in January 2026, restoring the program. Congress then rescinded about $879 million of unobligated NEVI and related funds in a February 2026 appropriations act, and the program's FY2022–2026 authorization runs out this year with no enacted extension yet.

Are charging memberships worth it in 2026? Usually, if you fast-charge on that network more than about once or twice a month. Tesla's $12.99 non-Tesla membership erases a roughly 39% non-member premium; Electrify America's $7 Pass+ cuts about 25% off a $0.615/kWh guest rate; EVgo Plus at $6.99 and PlusMax at $12.99 both undercut its $0.644/kWh pay-as-you-go rate.

What is ChargePoint's new charging fee? Since March 1, 2026, ChargePoint has charged a network service fee on top of the host site's energy rate: $0.25 per Level 2 session and $0.49 per DC fast session for signed-in account holders, but nearly double that — $0.49 and $0.99 — for guests without a ChargePoint account, which is most non-member pay-as-you-go drivers.

What does public Level 2 charging cost? Typically $0.20–$0.40/kWh, averaging around $0.25/kWh as of 2025–2026 industry tracking, though many Level 2 stations bill per hour ($2–$5/hr) instead of per kWh, and some workplace or retail Level 2 charging remains free [27].

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About the author

This index is written and maintained by Petra Halvorsen, Energy & E-Mobility Cost Analyst. Petra analyses European retail power markets and electric-vehicle running costs. Her work focuses on reconciling regulator data, charging-operator tariffs and real-world consumption into figures drivers can act on. She does not accept payment from charging networks or energy suppliers, and every calculation is reproducible from the cited primary sources.

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Sources

All figures accessed or updated August 16–17, 2026 unless a specific date is noted in the source title.

1. AAA — EV Charging Prices. https://gasprices.aaa.com/ev-charging-prices/
2. AAA — Fuel Prices (national average). https://gasprices.aaa.com/
3. EIA — Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A (average retail price of electricity). https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a
4. EIA — Weekly U.S. Regular All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices. https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_gnd_dcus_nus_w.htm
5. Electrify America — Pricing page. https://www.electrifyamerica.com/pricing/
6. Electrify America — Glossary and FAQ (idle fee terms). https://www.electrifyamerica.com/glossary/
7. EVgo — Pricing page. https://www.evgo.com/pricing/
8. EVgo Help Center — EVgo Plans. https://helpcenter.evgo.com/hc/en-us/articles/8927166231063-EVgo-Plans
9. DCFC Tracker — Tesla Supercharger Prices report. https://dcfctracker.com/reports/supercharger
10. DCFC Tracker — Electrify America Pricing Report. https://dcfctracker.com/reports/electrify-america
11. DCFC Tracker — EVgo Charging Prices report. https://dcfctracker.com/reports/evgo
12. Recharged — Electrify America Charging Cost per kWh (2026 Guide). https://recharged.com/articles/electrify-america-charging-cost-per-kwh/
13. Recharged — EV Supercharger Cost per kWh in 2026. https://recharged.com/articles/ev-supercharger-cost-per-kwh
14. TrendX Insights — EV Charging Prices by State, Network & Charger Type in 2026. https://trendxinsights.com/blogs/ev-charging-prices-by-state-usa/
15. F-150 Lightning Forum — Electrify America raising Pass+ membership to $7 (July 2023). https://www.f150lightningforum.com/2023/07/18/electrify-america-raising-pass-membership-price/
16. InsideEVs — Electrify America Is Completely Changing Its Pricing Structure. https://insideevs.com/news/678257/electrify-america-raises-prices/
17. EV Connect — New ChargePoint Fees: What's Changing and Who Pays More. https://www.evconnect.com/blog/chargepoint-raises-fees-in-2026/
18. World of EV — ChargePoint's New Per-Session Fees Ignite Driver Outcry. https://worldofev.com/post/chargepoints-new-per-session-fees-ignite-driver-outcry-threatening-loyalty-and
19. Electrek — Tesla offers 1 year of free Supercharging, claims ~40% premium for non-Tesla EVs (2026-04-24). https://electrek.co/2026/04/24/tesla-model-3-free-supercharging-non-tesla-pricing-premium/
20. Electrek — IONNA just beat every major EV fast-charging network (2026-08-13). https://electrek.co/2026/08/13/ionna-just-beat-every-major-ev-fast-charging-network/
21. Notebookcheck — Tesla owners will pay US$1 per minute to charge beyond 90%, new congestion fee. https://www.notebookcheck.net/Tesla-owners-will-pay-US-1-per-minute-to-charge-beyond-90-as-new-congestion-fee-arrives-for-busy-Superchargers.771222.0.html
22. AFDC (US DOE) — Electric Vehicle (EV) Charger Billing Requirements. https://afdc.energy.gov/laws/12511
23. AFDC (US DOE) — NEVI Standards and Requirements Final Rule. https://afdc.energy.gov/laws/13185
24. AFDC (US DOE) — Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (port levels and shares). https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/electricity-stations
25. Green Car Reports — Electrify America reboots pricing, bills EV charging by the kWh where it's allowed. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1129626_electrify-america-reboots-pricing-bills-ev-charging-by-the-kwh-where-its-allowed
26. Charged EVs — California to ban time-based billing for EV charging. https://chargedevs.com/newswire/california-bans-time-based-billing-for-ev-charging/
27. Stable Auto Insights — EV Charging Pricing Trends. https://stable.auto/insights/electric-vehicle-charger-price-by-state
28. evchargingstations.com — Largest DC Fast-Charging Networks in the US: July 2026. https://evchargingstations.com/chargingnews/dc-fast-charging-july-2026/
29. usevchargingstations.info — US EV Charging Statistics (updated August 12, 2026). https://usevchargingstations.info/statistics/
30. ChooseEnergy.com — Electricity Rates by State: August 2026 Report. https://www.chooseenergy.com/electricity-rates-by-state/
31. RMI — Rate-Design Best Practices for Public Electric-Vehicle Chargers. https://rmi.org/resources/rate-design-best-practices-public-electric-vehicle-chargers/
32. Atlas Public Policy — EV Fleets and DC Fast Charger Rates Dashboard. https://atlaspolicy.com/ev-charging-rates-dashboard/
33. Driivz — Industry Report: 2026 State of EV Charging Network Operators. https://driivz.com/resources/industry-report-2026-state-of-ev-charging-network-operators/
34. Utility Dive — Electricity prices are rising. EV managed charging can help everyone. https://www.utilitydive.com/spons/electricity-prices-are-rising-ev-managed-charging-can-help-everyone/747508/
35. Cox Automotive — EV Market Stabilizes in Q2, as New Entries Help Slow Sharp Sales Decline. https://www.coxautoinc.com/insights/q2-2026-ev-sales-report-commentary/
36. Cox Automotive — EV Sales Decline Slows in First Quarter of 2026, Share Stabilizes Near 6%. https://www.coxautoinc.com/insights/q1-2026-ev-sales-report-commentary/
37. Eno Center for Transportation — Washington v. U.S. Department of Transportation and NEVI Progress Updates. https://enotrans.org/article/washington-v-u-s-department-of-transportation-and-nevi-progress-updates/
38. Washington State Office of the Attorney General — Judge rules USDOT illegally withheld funds for EV charging infrastructure. https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/judge-rules-usdot-illegally-withheld-funds-ev-charging-infrastructure
39. GCN — States had obligated over $500 million to put fast chargers along every major highway corridor. https://gcn.com/states-obligated-over-500-million-put/20671
40. Atlas Policy — Fact Sheet: Out of Juice? What's Next For NEVI. https://atlaspolicy.com/out-of-juice-whats-next-for-nevi/
41. Earthjustice — Judge Protects Billions for Reliable EV Charging, Cleaner Air and Lower Driving Costs Across the Country. https://earthjustice.org/press/2026/judge-protects-billions-for-reliable-ev-charging-cleaner-air-and-lower-driving-costs-across-the-country
42. New Hampshire Department of Transportation — NHDOT Releases NEVI Round II RFP. https://www.dot.nh.gov/news-and-media/nhdot-releases-nevi-round-ii-rfp

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© 2026 ChargeCostLab. Independent EV running-cost analysis. Figures reflect data available as of August 17, 2026 and will change as tariffs, policy, and pump prices move. Informational, not financial advice.