When Is the Cheapest Time to Charge Your EV?
Compare three charging windows using energy price, charging power and available hours. The calculator allocates required charging energy to the cheapest available periods first, subject to their charging capacity.
How the charging optimizer chooses a schedule
The model first converts the required battery energy into source electricity by allowing for charging losses. It then fills the cheapest available charging window before moving to the next-cheapest window.
Why charging capacity matters
A low electricity price is not useful if there are not enough available hours or sufficient charger power to deliver the required energy. The optimizer treats each window as a limited resource.
What happens when the cheap window is too small?
The remaining energy is allocated to the next-lowest-cost period. If all windows together cannot supply enough source energy, the tool clearly reports the unmet energy instead of pretending the schedule is feasible.
Why tariff details matter
Real electricity plans can include demand charges, fixed charges, minimum billing, taxes and restrictions on EV charging. This calculator isolates the energy-price component so its assumptions are transparent.
FAQs
Does the cheapest window always get all charging?
Only if it has enough available charging capacity to accommodate the requirement.
Does this model battery degradation?
No. It is a charging-cost scheduler.
Can I use this for home EV charging?
Yes, provided the three windows represent realistic periods when the vehicle and charger are available.
What if all windows have the same price?
The modeled energy cost is the same, so schedule choice is then mainly an availability question.