EV cost calculator Jamaica
EV running costs in Jamaica
What you spend depends on how far you drive and where the electricity comes from. Compare JPS charging with solar used during the day or stored for later.
How much of your driving could solar cover?
Weekly coverage is an energy budget: charging days need to fit your journeys, with room in the battery to accept the energy. It does not check a departure schedule.
A day’s sunshine, shared
The house gets its share first.
The orange area serves the house. The blue area is what the car can take. Any production above both is left over.
See the hourly figures
Could that get me to a full battery?
It depends on how much charge you start with. Try it with our example 60 kWh battery.
This is a charging-energy estimate, not a daily charge-limit recommendation or installation design. Charging may slow near full. Follow your vehicle’s guidance.
Sunshine saved for later
Keep some for the house. Use the rest for the car.
The panels supply the house first, then charge the home battery with the surplus. At night, only the energy above your chosen reserve is available to the car.
The home battery starts empty in this example. It may not fill on a cloudy day. We allow for storage and car-charging losses; grid charging and energy carried over from previous days are excluded.
The same driving, different charging
What would you spend in a week?
Fuel and electricity only. Existing solar is assumed; equipment, servicing, repairs and insurance are excluded.
The example behind this picture
We use a 60 kWh EV battery, 17 kWh per 100 km, a 7 kW charger and 10% charging losses. The house uses 12 kWh a day, mostly mornings and evenings. These are illustrative assumptions.
Solar output is an illustrative 4.3 kWh per installed kW per day, spread over daylight hours. The cloudy test halves it. Roof shade, parish, season and weather will change the answer. The stored-solar option uses your selected usable home battery capacity and reserve. It assumes a 5 kW charge/discharge limit, 95% efficiency each way and an eight-hour overnight charging window. Battery wear is not priced.
Prices and calculation details
Petrol: J$200/litre and 7 litres/100 km. Home electricity: J$75.96/kWh from a March 2026 residential bill example, not a current tariff quote. Export credit forgone: J$27.201/kWh, a December 2025 example, only relevant if you receive export payments.
Each hour, the house uses solar first. The car takes the remaining output up to 7 kW, pausing below an illustrative 1.4 kW minimum. Charging stops at the available battery space. The main result assumes 20% starting charge, leaving 48 kWh of space. The full-battery check uses your selected starting charge separately.
Weekly solar use is capped at the driving energy required. Remaining energy is priced at the home electricity rate. Multiple charging days assume the same conditions and enough driving between them to make room; the result is not a weekly battery simulation.
A home battery moves solar energy into the evening; it does not create more energy. Whether buying one pays for itself is a separate calculation. Read our battery guide for sizing and backup. For household system sizing and a fuller solar estimate, start with your JPS bill. Read about export payments before counting them as income.
Home or on the road?
Is charging at home on JPS cheaper?
It depends on the rate and the time you charge. Being able to plug in at home is convenient. It does not, by itself, mean the electricity costs less.
Charge ’n Go publishes different prices through the day. Against our March 2026 home-rate example, its daytime and off-peak prices are lower; its weekday evening peak price is higher. That is a comparison with one household bill, not a rule for every home.
| Where and when | J$ per kWh |
|---|---|
| Home · March 2026 bill example | 75.96 |
| Charge ’n Go · off-peak | 50.95 |
| Charge ’n Go · standard | 62.02 |
| Charge ’n Go · peak | 131.16 |
Public prices: JPS Charge ’n Go. Confirm the final price, tax treatment and any session or parking fees before charging. Other operators may charge differently; extra fees and travel to a charger are excluded here.
Which hours are cheaper at Charge ’n Go?
Weekdays: off-peak is 10pm–6am; standard is 6am–6pm; peak is 6pm–10pm.
Weekends: off-peak applies except 6pm–10pm, when the standard price applies.
These are public-charging time bands. Do not assume your home electricity gets cheaper at night unless your own tariff says so.
For your usual charging, compare the final price with the extra-unit cost on your JPS bill. For a trip, check the charger you will actually use. A lower electricity price may not be worth a special journey or a long wait.