How Much Does It Cost to Charge an Electric Bike? 5 Ways to Reduce Charging Cost

In the past few years, electric bikes have made a significant impact in terms of vehicles. Using an electric bike has become very convenient around the city for groceries and running your everyday errands.

It sure is a very environmental-friendly alternative, but have you ever thought about how much does it cost to charge an ebike? Well, the cost of setting up an electric bike does not only depend on your Watt per hour consumption but also the battery type of your e-bike as well.

This article will explain how much it costs to charge your e-bike. How does the battery life affect it? How much power your electric bike would consume annually? 

Make sure you stick to the end to know the best ways to reduce your e-bike charging cost and some important faqs regarding this.

How Much Electricity Does an Electric Bike Use/Consume?

Well, broadly a regular electric bike battery would take around 500-800 watts for charging. This would round off to a consumption of 0.4-0.8 watts per hour. According to this, it would cost you 0.10$ per hour to charge your e-bike.

However, the cost of charging an electric bike must be calculated considering various factors such as the battery type. So, let’s see what type of battery the e-bike has and how much does it cost to charge an ebike.

• Lithium-ion polymer battery: These are one of the most favored batteries amongst riders because of their lightweight and good battery life which goes anywhere between 3 to 5 years. That’s the main reason, most electric bikes have li-on batteries. Let’s know, how much does it cost to charge an ebike battery (lithium-ion).

How to Calculate the Cost of Charging an EBike?

There are ways to get the cost of charging an ebike. You can either use the electric bike charging cost calculator or calculate manually by following the below-mentioned process. Here is the very simple process:

Moreover, the cost of charging any battery depends on three main factors:

• The voltage of the battery: Usually lithium-ion batteries are 36v, 48v, and 52v for e-bikes.
• Ampere hour of the battery: For e-bikes, 10 Ah is pretty standard.
• Your region’s electricity rates: According to a report by EIA, US average rate is 11.10 cents per kWh.

You have to follow these 3 simple steps to calculate the cost of charging an electric bike battery:

Step 1: Calculate the capacity of the ebike battery

Watt-hour (Wh) indicates the capacity of batteries, normally it is mentioned on the battery itself. If It is not mentioned, Wh can be easily calculated by using this formula:

V x Ah = Wh

This means, Simply multiplying the voltage (V) and amp hours (Ah) to get the watt hours(Wh). You can easily find this on any battery.

For instance, If you have a 48v battery with 10 ah.

Then, Wh = 48v x 10ah = 480 Wh

This means your battery has got 480 Wh capacity. I hope you have understood till here. Let’s move on to the next step.

Step 2: Covert the capacity of the ebike battery into kWh

Kwh stands for kilo-watt hour which is also known as 1 unit of electricity, electricity providers measure the Kwhs while calculating the electricity cost/bill to their customers. We do have to find the same (kWh) in order to calculate the cost of charging an electric bike.

This means we have to convert Wh (calculated in step 1) into kWh. Here is the simple formula:

Wh/1000 = kWh

As we have already calculated 480 Wh in step 1. After following the above formula we get:

480/1000 = 0.48 kWh

So, we have got 0.48 kWh of ebike battery having 48v with 10 Ah till now. It’s pretty simple to calculate. Let’s move on to the next step 3.

Step 3: Multiplying your battery’s kWh with the local electricity rate

You can easily find out the kWh rate charged by your electricity provider in your electricity bill. Once you find it, Just follow this formula:

Cost of charging ebike battery = kWh rate x kWh of your battery (calculated in step 2)

Suppose, the kWh rate is $0.14 per unit then, It’s just an example, It may vary from country to country and state to state.

Cost to charge an ebike battery = $0.14 x 0.48 kWh = $0.0672

So, It costs roughly around 7 cents to charge an ebike battery. Surprisingly, It’s quite low. The range of this bike is around 25-40 miles. It means this bike can travel up to 40 miles for just 7 cents.

Results may vary from battery type, voltage, electricity rates and other factors.

I hope you have understood the process to calculate the cost to charge an electric bike battery. If you have any doubt, let me know in the comment section below.

Note: This was an example to show how to calculate the cost of charging any bike. Similarly, you can calculate the cost for another type of battery as well.

How Much Does It Cost to Charge an Ebike Annually?

Well, the convenience of an e-bike does come with very convenient and budget-friendly charging costs as well. You will be surprised to know that it would not cost you more than $20 to $30 per year in the US. Way better than those rising gas prices right? Let’s understand this point with an example.

Suppose you have an ebike with a 48v battery of 10 ah and the cost to charge this battery is 7 cents/charge (calculated above). You travel around 30 to 40 miles every day and you charge it daily.

so the annual cost of charging an ebike would be around:

7 cents x 365 days = $25.55

As you can see, the cost to charge an electric bike annually is roughly around $26 and it may vary on various factors. Such as battery age, type of battery, electricity rates, battery voltage, etc.

How much does it cost to charge an electric bike per mile/km?

If you are a rider and want to know your expenses per mile/kilometer then all you need to do is, find out the range you get from the battery and calculate the charging cost to fully charge the battery, and follow the below-mentioned formula:

Cost per mile or km = cost of charging the battery / Average range of the bike

We have already shown you how to calculate the charging cost of an ebike! Now suppose you are covering 35 miles from a fully charged 48v battery. Then it should cost you somewhere around:

Cost per mile = 7 cents / 35 miles

Cost per mile = 0.2 cents/mile

As you can see, It’s very low compared to any other vehicle. So don’t worry and get going with your endless rides around the city as an electric bike is one of the cheapest modes of transportation.

What is the cost of charging a 20Ah battery?

Usually, the amp hour of an electric bike does not go more than 10Ah in the case of ebike batteries. Even though the cost to charge a 20Ah battery with the same voltage of 48v would simply cost double which is 14 cents.

But if you want to calculate the cost of charge of a 20Ah battery then you can follow the above-mentioned formulas i.e.,

• STEP 1: Ah x V= Wh
• STEP 2: Wh/ 1000= kWh
• STEP 3: kWh x local electric charges = Cost of charging an ebike

Cost of Charging Electric Bikes Vs Electric Cars

Electric Cars have definitely been marketized to the public as the best mode of personal transport but that was when the e-bike market was limited and well honestly not the best option to go for.

What if I tell you that you can get an experience of a 20 mph – 50 mph smooth ride at a much lower expense than your electric car? Cars sure have their own profile but you must remember that an electric car consumes more energy to cover the same distance as an e-bike does.

So, the cost of charging your e-car is automatically more than that of an e-bike, even though they are covering the same distance.

Another important factor that we often miss while calculating the cost of charging electric vehicles is that as the battery ages, it tends to consume more energy and that indirectly increases your expense on charging.

Let’s take an example and compare side by side the cost of charging an e-bike vs an e-car. We will be using the same method of calculating the cost of charging.

Tesla Modle 3 consumes around 50kWh and assumes the electric rate to be around $0.14

Cost of charging an Tesla Modle 3 = 50kWh x $0.14 = $ 7

Clearly, there’s no comparison between the charging cost of an e-bike and that of an electric car. Remember that these are the charges for the same distance covered!

Notes: It’s just an example to make you understand, actual results may vary.

How to Reduce the Cost of Charging an EBike?

As we know the average cost of charging an e-bike is $29 per year which is pretty minimal yet there is no harm in further reducing the cost of charging an electric bike. One most effective ways of saving money on charing an e-bike are improving the energy consumption of the battery.

Lets’ see what are the best ways by which you can reduce your e-bike charging costs:

1. Maintain your e-bike’s battery

The more healthy your battery is the more effective charing benefits you will get. It is very important to maintain basic practices like draining the full battery before charging again and making sure you do not keep it plugged in when it’s fully charged. This affects your battery’s future performance to a large extent. Learn more tips if you are a beginner.

2. Don’t charge during peek hours

Most people don’t know about this full-proof method but, the electricity providers usually offer cheaper rates per kWh during off-peak hours. These hours might vary from a range of 9 pm to 7 am. This is a very friendly method as well because usually sleeping hours.

Do you know? How long to charge an ebike battery of 48v?

3. Usage of renewable energy

This is one the smartest way not just to save your e-bike charging costs but also to be environmentally friendly. Using renewable energy does not only reduce your charging costs but also saves you the initial money of the battery since renewable energy devices are cheaper than non-renewable ones!

4. Look for better rates

Who doesn’t love saving on everyday usage things indeed? In fact, we try to get the best offers possible. One of the most foremost ways by which you can reduce your e-bike charging costs is by looking for a provider with comparatively cheaper rates per unit (kwh).

5. Using governmental facilities

With the sudden rise in the usage of electric vehicles, the government authorities contribute to encouraging people to use e-vehicles by installing e-vehicle charging pods around the city. Honestly, this is the easiest way to reduce your e-bike charging costs. So don’t be shy and take advantage of the provided services.

6. Don’t  use worn-out batteries

This is a very common mistake that riders make. After a point of time, the efficiency and the performance ability of your e-bike’s battery reduces. Using such batteries will end up costing you more charging money than getting a new battery would. So, do periodic check-ups on your batteries and do invest in efficient batteries.

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FAQs: Electric Bike Charging Cost

Final Thought: Cost to Charge an EBike Battery

With the high rising gas prices and an emerging energy crisis situation, using e-bikes is the most suitable thing. So, we calculated the cost an e-bike would take to charge, and well it goes without saying that it is so much cheaper than any other mode of transportation.

What’s better than saving some serious gas money, switching to very convenient e-bikes as they are very budget-friendly and environmentally responsible all at the same time.

Do let us know in the comment section how much does it cost to charge your electric bike and what method you guys use to save your charging cost. If you have an ebike with a 350w hub motor, you must know what is its maximum speed so that you can get the best performance.

If you find this article helpful, do share this with your friends who love riding bikes.

Stay tuned!