What’s the cost to charge your car battery?
With the rising cost of electricity and the mounting cost of living, one of the most frequently asked questions is “how much does it cost to charge my car battery?”
CTEK has calculated that, with the use of a CTEK MXS 5.0 battery charger and based on an average electricity cost in Canada of 15.6 cents per kWh1, it costs around 9.7 cents to get a half empty 12V, 75Ah battery fully charged (assuming battery power efficiency of 85%2 and charger efficiency of 85%).
We can therefore conclude that you can charge your battery for the same cost as watching TV for 5 hours, and for less than or playing on a game console for 2 hours (10 cents), and for less than it would cost you to cook in an electric oven for 20 minutes (11.4 cents) or do a load of laundry (15.6 cents)!3
You will be able to charge your battery for the equivalent cost as watching TV for 5 hours or playing on a game console for 2 hours, and for less than it would cost you to cook in an electric oven for 20 minutes (11 cents) or do a load of laundry (15 cents)!3
The precise costs will vary, depending on how much you’re paying for the electricity and other reasons like the size of the battery and the state of it. The minimum effort needed to charge your battery on a regular basis will not only save you the frustration of a car breakdown, it could also save you money.
Even a small change of charge can decrease battery health, diminish its life and make replacement critical. Battery failure can lead to the destruction of the vehicle’s electronics as well, causing high repair costs, and if you find yourself trapped on the road with a dead battery, you’ll have the cost of failure and recovery to deal with as well.
If you have a vehicle with a ‘stop/start’ function, this will perhaps not kick in if your battery is running out of charge. This will increase the amount of fuel you’re using, and with today’s fuel prices, fuel is a key asset that we truly can’t afford to waste. And dependable battery charging can in fact increase your battery’s life up to three times, saving you hundreds of dollars on battery replacement.
Calculation estimates are subject to change due to market fluctuations.
Sources:
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Lead Acid battery energy efficiency based on: Encyclopedia of electrochemical power sources (2009) by Garche Jürgen.
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Average power consumption figures based on: Electricity consumption around the home (2022) by National Energy Action. NEA.org.uk.
