Our workplace EV charging taxable benefit piece answers whether giving an employee free charging at the office creates a tax problem. This is the companion, more operational question: if you're a small business running EVs — whether as a delivery fleet, service vehicles, or reimbursing an employee who charges a company car at home — what does it actually cost to keep those vehicles charged, and how do you track it properly?
Quick answer: Depot-rate charging costs for a fleet EV vary meaningfully by province — Quebec and Manitoba's sub-10-cents-per-kWh electricity works out to roughly $2.25 per 100 km, Ontario and BC's $0.11-0.13/kWh runs $2.75-3.25 per 100 km, and Alberta's higher $0.15-0.18/kWh lands at $3.75-4.50 per 100 km. A typical commercial EV with a 75 kWh battery costs roughly $6-14 to fully charge at depot rates. Installing dedicated Level 2 depot charging runs $7,000-15,000 per port, versus $1,000-3,000 for a single home charger setup (with rebates available in some provinces). If an employee charges a company vehicle at home instead of at a business-owned charger, our CRA mileage piece covers the separate question of per-kilometre reimbursement — the two systems (metered charging cost reimbursement vs. flat per-km allowance) shouldn't be mixed for the same vehicle without picking one approach and applying it consistently.
Two different questions: fleet infrastructure vs. individual reimbursement
Small businesses running EVs tend to hit this cost question from one of two directions, and it's worth being clear about which one applies to you, since the right answer differs. If you're operating a fleet of vehicles that charge at a central depot or business location, your question is largely an infrastructure and per-kWh cost one — what it costs to install and run charging equipment, and what your electricity actually costs per vehicle per day. If instead you have employees driving company vehicles (or their own vehicles for business purposes) who charge primarily at home, your question shifts toward reimbursement mechanics — either paying for actual metered electricity used, or falling back to the CRA's flat per-kilometre rate.
What it actually costs to charge a fleet EV, by province
Electricity pricing is the single biggest variable in fleet charging cost, and it varies enough by province that a national average figure isn't very useful. At the low end, Quebec and Manitoba's electricity — generally under $0.10/kWh for commercial rates — works out to approximately $2.25 per 100 km driven. Ontario and BC, with commercial rates generally in the $0.11-0.13/kWh range, land around $2.75-3.25 per 100 km. Alberta, with the highest rates among the provinces typically covered in this kind of comparison at $0.15-0.18/kWh, runs $3.75-4.50 per 100 km. For a typical commercial EV with a 75 kWh battery, that translates to roughly $6-14 for a full charge at depot rates, depending entirely on which province you're operating in.
Compared to an equivalent gas-powered van — roughly 12 L/100 km at $1.50/L, or about $18 per 100 km — the electricity cost advantage is real and substantial across every province, even Alberta's higher end. One industry estimate puts the aggregate savings at over $6,000 per van annually when switching from gas to electric, though that figure will move meaningfully with your specific driving patterns, provincial electricity rate, and vehicle efficiency, so treat it as a directional estimate rather than a number to budget precisely around.
Depot charging infrastructure costs
Installing dedicated Level 2 charging at a business location for a fleet runs roughly $7,000-15,000 per charging port — a meaningful capital cost that needs to be weighed against the number of vehicles you're actually running and how often they need a full charge versus a top-up during the workday. By comparison, a single home charger installation (relevant if you're reimbursing an employee for home charging equipment rather than building depot infrastructure) runs a much lower $1,000-3,000, with some provinces offering rebates up to a few hundred dollars that can offset part of that cost — see our home charger rebates by province guide for the current province-by-province picture.
If your fleet vehicles end up relying on public charging rather than depot or home charging — a real possibility for delivery routes that run long distances between depot visits — expect to pay considerably more: public charging generally runs $0.25-0.45/kWh, roughly 2-4 times depot rates. Our public fast charger pricing guide breaks down why public pricing varies so much between networks. For cost-conscious fleet operations, minimizing reliance on public charging by maximizing depot or home charging capacity is one of the more straightforward ways to control your actual per-kilometre operating cost.
Reimbursing an employee who charges a company vehicle at home
This is a genuinely common small-business scenario that doesn't have one universally correct answer: an employee drives a company-owned EV (or their own EV for business purposes) and charges it primarily at their home outlet, and you need a fair, defensible way to reimburse them for the electricity. Two broad approaches exist. The first is metered reimbursement — the employee tracks actual kWh used for business charging (via the vehicle's own charging history, ideally) and you reimburse at your local utility rate or a reasonable estimated rate; typical annual home charging costs for a single passenger-EV-level of usage run around $277 per year as a rough benchmark, though this obviously scales with actual driving. The second is the CRA's flat per-kilometre allowance, covered in detail in our CRA mileage piece — 73 cents per km for the first 5,000 km and 67 cents after that for 2026, which as that piece explains, tends to run well above an EV's actual electricity cost per kilometre, making it a genuinely generous option for the employee if your business is comfortable with a flat-rate approach rather than tracking actual charging costs.
Whichever method you choose, apply it consistently for a given vehicle and employee, and document the choice — mixing a flat per-km allowance with separate reimbursement for metered home charging on the same vehicle risks double-paying for the same driving, and could complicate how CRA views the arrangement.
The bottom line
Fleet and small-business EV charging costs break down into two genuinely separate problems: what it costs to run and install charging infrastructure at a business location (province-dependent, roughly $2.25-4.50 per 100 km in electricity plus $7,000-15,000 per depot port), and how to fairly reimburse an employee charging a company vehicle at home (either metered actual-cost reimbursement or the CRA's flat per-km rate, chosen deliberately rather than mixed). Either way, the electricity-cost advantage over gas vehicles is real and substantial across every province — the main work is picking a defensible, consistent reimbursement or cost-tracking method and sticking with it.
FAQ
How much does it cost to charge a fleet EV in Canada? Roughly $6-14 for a full charge of a typical 75 kWh commercial EV at depot rates, varying by province from about $2.25 per 100 km in Quebec/Manitoba up to $3.75-4.50 per 100 km in Alberta.
Should I reimburse employees for home charging by the kWh or by the kilometre? Both are legitimate approaches. Metered kWh reimbursement pays actual cost; the CRA's flat per-km rate (73¢/67¢ for 2026) is simpler to administer and tends to run above an EV's actual electricity cost, making it more generous to the employee. Pick one method per vehicle and apply it consistently.
How much does it cost to install fleet charging infrastructure at a business location? Roughly $7,000-15,000 per Level 2 charging port for depot-style installations, versus $1,000-3,000 for a single home charger setup.
Is public charging a viable option for a small business fleet? It's meaningfully more expensive — generally $0.25-0.45/kWh versus depot rates — so it's better used as a backup for longer routes than as a primary charging strategy if cost control matters.
Sources: 7Gen, "The Real Cost of EV Charging for Canadian Fleets (2026)". Provincial electricity rates and installation costs change over time — confirm current commercial rates with your utility before budgeting a fleet transition.
