Energy costs are higher than ever before. So everyone should try to save energy. But is this even necessary when charging a smartphone? To do this, we first have to find out how much it actually costs you to charge your smartphone. Öko-Test has taken on the topic. With a very simple formula you can calculate for yourself how much the charge will cost you.
Öko-Test calculates charging costs for smartphones
If you want to know exactly how much it will cost you to charge your smartphone, you can easily follow a simple formula. But first you need to know a few parameters:
Size of the battery Electricity costs Efficiency
Let’s start with the size of the battery, which most manufacturers specify in milliamp hours (mAh). For the formula we need a value in watt hours (Wh). To get this value, you have to measure the capacity of the battery Multiply mAh by 0.00385. In the case of my Pixel 6 Pro (test) with a 5,000 mAh battery, that would be 19.25 Wh.
The second value you need is yours current electricity price. In my case that would be 39 cents per kWh. In addition, not all of the power always reaches the battery. The Efficiency is given by Öko-Test as 80 percent. With these three values you can then calculate the actual cost of charging your smartphone using the following formula:
Charging costs = electricity price * battery capacity / 800
In the case of my Pixel 6 Pro the calculation would look like this:
39 Cent * 19,25 Wh / 800 = 0,94 Cent
Charging a Pixel 6 Pro with a 5,000 mAh battery wouldn’t even cost a cent at my electricity rate of 39 cents per kWh.
With a balcony power plant you can noticeably reduce your electricity costs:
Conclusion on charging costs for smartphones
The battery of a smartphone is so small that the charging costs for a smartphone are in the cent range basically no impact on your electricity bill should have. Even if you charge your cell phone every day, it will cost you 30 cents per month or 3.60 euros per year. You can save significantly more elsewhere.
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