What Canadians Actually Pay to Charge an EV

As of this week, the national average price of gasoline in Canada sitting at $1.69 per liter, and that's down from the $2.05 peak hit earlier this spring. But what if drivers charged their cars the same way they fueled it?

What would that look like on a price-per-liter-equivalent basis?

Equivalency: The Ioniq 6 is a useful benchmark as the EPA recognizes it as the most energy-efficient EV on the US market for the past two consecutive years, posting 140 combined MPGe, compared to 24 kWh per 100 miles. Its gas-burning sibling, the Hyundai Elantra, manages about 36 MPG combined. In Ontario, based off today’s gas and power prices, driving an average of 20,000 kilometers per year, the Ioniq 6 would result in fuel savings of nearly $2,300 per year. 

Like many electric vehicles, the Ioniq 6 comes with a large price tag, with the base model selling for $49,999 in Canada, including a $5,000 rebate. Compare that to the $22,599 cost for a new Elantra.

The math: The $27,400 net price premium (after rebate) is fully recovered somewhere around year 12–13, after which the Ioniq 6 owner is genuinely ahead. The average vehicle lifetime across all powertrains is about 17.8 years and roughly 200,000 km, which means most EV owners who keep their car long enough do come out ahead.

EVs are a long game. The people who win financially are the ones who buy and hold.