Charging an EV at home: what is the cheapest time?
On a three-rate tariff, the same charge can cost almost twice as much depending on when you plug in. Enter your battery, state of charge and home charging power to see what you pay if you plug in now, how much you save at the cheapest time and when charging will finish.
By: Şarj Rehberim · Updated: · 5 min read
Cheapest time to charge at home
Enter your car's figures and see what you pay depending on when you plug in.
EPDK residential tariff (4 April 2026), taxes included. Night 22:00–06:00, day 06:00–17:00, peak 17:00–22:00. About 10% loss is added for home charging; constant charging power is assumed.
In the app you get a "plug in now" reminder when the cheapest hour starts; your settings stay on your phone.GetShort answer
On a three-rate tariff, the cheapest time is at night between 22:00 and 06:00; the most expensive is the evening peak between 17:00 and 22:00. On a single-rate tariff the time makes no difference, as the kWh price is the same all day.
An example at October 2026 prices: charging a car with a 60 kWh battery from 20% to 80% on a 7.4 kW home unit costs about 240 ₺ if you plug in at 18:00 and about 129 ₺ if you plug in at 22:00. That is a difference of about 111 ₺ on a single charge.
Three-rate tariff hours and prices
Prices are calculated from EPDK's residential (low-voltage) tariff in force since 4 April 2026, including 5% electricity consumption tax and 10% VAT. Times are Türkiye time.
| Band | Hours | ₺/kWh incl. taxes |
|---|---|---|
| Night | 22:00–06:00 | 3.26 |
| Day | 06:00–17:00 | 4.92 |
| Peak | 17:00–22:00 | 7.00 |
| Single-rate, above 8 kWh per day | All day | 4.86 |
Sources (as of 22 October 2026): EPDK: Tariff tables for electricity bills (4/4/2026) · EPDK: Electricity bill calculator
How is it calculated?
- Energy into the battery = battery (kWh) × (target % − current %) ÷ 100.
- Energy from the grid = that energy × 1.10 (about 10% loss when AC charging at home).
- Charging time = energy from the grid ÷ home charging power (kW).
- Cost = the energy falling in each band × that band's price; a charge crossing 22:00, midnight or 06:00 is split across the bands.
- The cheapest time is found by trying every start time in the next 24 hours.
Example: 60 kWh battery, 20% to 80%, 7.4 kW
36 kWh goes into the battery and, with losses, about 39.6 kWh is drawn from the grid; charging takes about 5 hours 21 minutes.
| Tariff and plug-in time | Cost | Charging done |
|---|---|---|
| Single-rate, any time | ≈ 192 ₺ | 5 h 21 min later |
| Three-rate, 09:00 | ≈ 195 ₺ | 14:21 |
| Three-rate, 18:00 | ≈ 240 ₺ | 23:21 |
| Three-rate, 20:00 | ≈ 184 ₺ | 01:21 |
| Three-rate, 22:00 | ≈ 129 ₺ | 03:21 |
Should I switch to a three-rate tariff?
A three-rate tariff affects all of your home's consumption, not just the car: if cooking, laundry and air conditioning fall in the peak hours, that part of the bill gets more expensive. Before deciding, think about when your household uses most of its electricity.
If yearly household consumption exceeds 4,000 kWh, the last-resort supply tariff applies instead of the national tariff and the unit price can rise. Regular home charging makes it easier to cross this limit; in that case, redo the calculation with the unit price on your bill.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest time to charge an electric car at home?
- On a three-rate tariff, at night between 22:00 and 06:00. In October 2026 the night price is about 3.26 ₺/kWh including taxes, and about 7.00 ₺/kWh at peak (17:00–22:00). On a single-rate tariff the time makes no difference.
- How much does charging on the night tariff save?
- Charging a car with a 60 kWh battery from 20% to 80% costs about 240 ₺ if you plug in at 18:00 and about 129 ₺ at 22:00. On a single-rate tariff the same charge is about 192 ₺.
- What if charging continues after 06:00?
- The part after 06:00 is priced at the day rate (about 4.92 ₺/kWh). The calculator splits the charge across the bands; even for long charges, starting at 22:00 is cheapest because the overflow falls into the day band, not the peak.
- Are the prices in the calculator up to date?
- Home electricity prices are EPDK's residential tariff in force (4 April 2026) and are updated when the tariff changes. If the unit price on your bill is different (for example on the last-resort supply tariff), the result changes too.