What an EV Road Trip on Italian Motorways Really Costs in August: The Actual Numbers

The number that scares people, and the one that puts it in perspective

Every August the same argument comes round: is a long trip in an electric car actually worth it? The honest answer is that it depends almost entirely on where you charge, and the spread is far wider than anyone who has not run the numbers would guess.

Start with the worst case, the one that fuels the nightmare-journey stories. Ultrafast motorway stations, those above 150 kW, charge between 0.80 and 0.95 euros per kWh. At those rates a single stop can cost 50 to 57 euros, and the running cost passes 17 euros per 100 kilometres [1]. Set against an efficient diesel, that comparison simply does not hold up.

Now the opposite case. Over a 700-kilometre trip, a Tesla Model Y with a measured consumption of 14.8 kWh per 100 kilometres completes the journey for roughly 59 euros in total [2]. Same motorway, same country, completely different order of magnitude. The difference is not the car: it is the charging strategy.

The tariff ladder, most to least expensive

Understanding the price tiers is the first step to avoiding an unpleasant surprise:

• Motorway ultrafast, above 150 kW: 0.80 to 0.95 euros/kWh [1]. The most expensive segment there is, and in August also the busiest.
• Rapid charging, 50 to 150 kW: 0.55 to 0.70 euros/kWh [1]. These are the chargers typically found at shopping centres and on trunk roads, often only a few kilometres from a motorway exit.
• Subscription charging on an HPC network: with Ionity Power 365 the rate drops to 0.47 euros/kWh [1], roughly half the pay-as-you-go ultrafast price.

That alone accounts for most of the variance. Doing an entire trip on pay-as-you-go ultrafast is the choice that produces the disastrous figures circulating online.

Are subscriptions actually worth it?

It depends on the usage profile, and it is worth being precise rather than generalising. For drivers who charge at home 70 to 80% of the time and only use public chargers on long trips, the lightweight plans make the most sense: Electra+ costs 1.99 euros a month, Ionity Passport Motion 5.99 euros a month [1].

The logic is straightforward. If a 5.99-euro monthly plan cuts the rate from around 0.89 to 0.47 euros/kWh, the saving on a single 60 kWh charge is already over twenty euros. One summer trip pays for months of subscription. Anyone who takes a single long journey a year and otherwise always charges at home can comfortably skip the subscription and simply budget extra for the trip.

Planning matters more than the price per kWh

One piece of operational advice recurs in every guide and becomes decisive in August: on a long trip, never plan a single charging stop, always plan a primary stop and an alternative [2].

The reason is obvious but routinely ignored. On peak getaway weekends, motorway charging stations queue exactly like petrol pumps, with the difference that a charging stop takes considerably longer. Arriving with 5% battery at a station occupied by three vehicles is what turns an ordinary journey into a frustrating one. Arriving with 15% and a known alternative twenty kilometres further on is the same day, experienced without the anxiety.

A second consideration concerns when you charge. EV charging curves are much faster at the low end: taking a battery from 10 to 50% takes far less time than from 60 to 90%. On a long trip, two short stops are almost always more efficient than one long one.

What changes if the car is used

Anyone making the trip in a second-hand EV has one extra variable to consider, and it is not the obvious one. It is less about quoted range than about the maximum charging power the vehicle will accept: many EVs from a few years back cap out at 50 or 100 kW, which means plugging into a 350 kW charger delivers no benefit while still being billed at the ultrafast rate.

This is one of the few situations where it makes sense to deliberately seek out the less powerful, cheaper charger, because the stop will take a comparable amount of time anyway. Worth checking that figure on the spec sheet before departure, not at the first stop.

The bottom line

An August EV trip is neither the nightmare some describe nor the bargain others claim: it is an exercise whose cost is decided almost entirely before you set off. Between pay-as-you-go ultrafast charging and the same energy taken on a subscription at a charger just off the motorway, tens of euros per stop are at stake. Drivers who plan two short stops instead of one long one, keep a backup charger in reserve and know their car's maximum accepted power will cover the same route at a fraction of the worst-case cost. Those who set off without thinking about it pay the highest rate in the country, in a queue, at forty degrees.

Further reading

1. InsideEVs Italia, EV charging tariffs 2026: comparing costs and providers, 2026
2. Moveo by Telepass, Summer 2026: what travelling by electric car really costs, 2026
3. Quotidiano Motori, What it costs to charge an electric car in Italy in 2026, 2026
4. Cifre Elettriche, What does charging an electric car cost in 2026? Calculator, ARERA tariffs and public networks, 2026
5. LifestyleBlog, Electric cars: what charging really costs in 2026, March 2026