How much does it cost to charge a BMW i4?

A full charge for a 2026 BMW i4 eDrive40, 18-inch wheels costs about $17.38 at home, at the US average residential electricity rate of 18¢/kWh. Filling up the same car costs $11.93 in Idaho, the cheapest state, and $32.11 in California — your own rate decides it.

That full charge draws roughly 97 kWh from the wall and buys 333 miles of EPA-rated range — about $0.052 a mile.

What it costs at three real electricity rates

Your rate is the only input that really moves this number, so here is the same car at three real ones — the cheapest state, the national average, and the most expensive large mainland market.

Hawaii is higher still at 52¢ — a 4.2:1 spread from the cheapest state to the dearest. EPA figures checked September 2026; electricity rates checked August 2026.

What it costs per mile

A BMW i4 costs about $0.052 a mile to charge at home at the US average electricity rate, or $5.22 per 100 miles. That is energy only — the EPA rates this car at 29 kWh per 100 miles measured at the wall socket, so charging losses are already inside the figure and should not be added again.

Per mile is the number that survives a change of car: it does not care about battery size, so it is the only fair way to line this car up against one with a much bigger or smaller pack.

What it adds to your electricity bill

Charging a BMW i4 at home adds about $52 a month to your electricity bill at the US average rate, driving 12,000 miles a year. That is the yearly cost of $626 spread evenly across twelve months — a month with a road trip in it costs more, and a quiet one costs less.

Nothing else on the bill changes: the car draws the same kilowatt-hours whatever else is running in the house, so the increase is the charging and nothing more.

At the cheapest state rate the same driving adds $36 a month, and $96 at the most expensive — the table above has all three. If your utility offers an overnight or time-of-use rate, charging on it lands at the low end rather than the middle.

Where the numbers come from

The EPA rates this eDrive40, 18-inch wheels at 29 kWh per 100 miles with 333 miles of combined range. Those two figures together give the energy for a full charge, which is where the 97 kWh above comes from.

We work it out that way rather than quoting a battery size on purpose. Manufacturers publish gross capacity, which includes a buffer at each end of the pack that never takes a charge, so a cost built on it overstates your bill. And the EPA measures at the wall socket rather than at the battery, so charging losses are already inside the figure — no need to add them, and adding them would count the same loss twice.

What this means for this car

The cheapest i4 to run is not the cheapest one to buy. The 2026 eDrive40 on 18-inch wheels is rated 29 kWh per 100 miles with 333 miles of range, which beats a Hyundai Ioniq 5 or Kia EV6 and sits four kWh behind the Teslas. The entry eDrive35, listed by the EPA only on 19-inch wheels for 2026, is rated 31 with 251 miles, so the lower-priced car uses more energy per mile. The same 19-inch wheels cost the eDrive40 two kWh per 100 miles and 26 miles of range. All-wheel drive takes the xDrive40 to 33 on 18-inch wheels and 36 on 19-inch. The M60, which replaced the M50 at the top of the range for 2026, is rated 34 on 19-inch wheels and 41 on 20-inch — one wheel option adding about a fifth to the energy bill, and the 20-inch M60 using 41% more per mile than the car in this table. That is a wide spread to carry under a single model name, so the trim and wheel boxes decide the running cost far more than the badge does. The 2026 update itself helped a little: a 2025 eDrive40 on 18-inch wheels was rated 30 kWh per 100 miles with 318 miles of range.

How it compares

All at 18¢/kWh and 12,000 miles a year. The gas comparison is illustrative — it is not a claim about any particular car.

Figures are for the 2026 BMW i4 eDrive40, 18-inch wheels. Other trims of the same car are rated differently — see above. How these figures are calculated.