From the third week of January 2026, the cost of charging electric vehicles in Ukraine has risen sharply, with tariffs jumping by around 50%. At fast public charging stations, the price per kilowatt-hour has reached 30–32 hryvnias, compared with 18–20 hryvnias previously. This increase makes the use of electric cars at public charging points economically unprofitable compared with diesel and even petrol vehicles.
The key factor behind the sharp rise was changes in energy legislation. The national regulator (NEURC) raised price caps on electricity for businesses in order to encourage the purchase of imported electricity during peak load periods. As a result, charging station operators, who buy electricity at commercial rates, were forced to revise their pricing. Previous tariffs had become loss-making. Although not all operators have updated prices yet, the process is spreading rapidly across the country.
At the new rate of 29.99 UAH/kWh, the cost of fully charging a 60–70 kWh battery approaches the price of filling the tank of a small petrol car. To understand the real economics, it is worth calculating the cost per kilometer.
Here are the calculations for popular electric car models under the new tariff:
- Nissan Leaf (40 kWh): 5.10 UAH/km (full charge — 1,200 UAH).
- Tesla Model 3 RWD (~60 kWh): 4.50 UAH/km (full charge — 1,800 UAH).
- VW ID.4 (77 kWh): 5.70 UAH/km (full charge — 2,310 UAH).
- Hyundai Kona Electric (64 kWh): 4.80 UAH/km (full charge — 1,920 UAH).
For comparison, as of 22 January 2026, the average price of A-95 petrol is 59.56 UAH per liter, and diesel costs 59.24 UAH per liter.
- Petrol C-class car (fuel consumption 7.5 l/100 km): cost per kilometer — 4.5 UAH.
- Diesel C-class car (fuel consumption 5.5 l/100 km): cost per kilometer — 3.3 UAH.
The analysis shows that public charging makes operating an electric vehicle more expensive than driving a diesel car (3.3–3.8 UAH/km) and comparable to the cost of using a petrol car (4.5–5.1 UAH/km). An electric vehicle loses its main advantage — low running costs — if the driver relies exclusively on fast public charging stations.
