Electric Vehicle Charging Consumes Less Energy than Water Heating in a Typical Household (source: energy.gov)

The US DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy reports that electric vehicles are the biggest user of electricity in household - provided you don't use any electric heating for your furnace or water.

2018 Nissan LEAF charging

The report states that the average electricity usage in a typical household for heating (furnace and space) is 11,300 kWh, while water heating is 4,700 kWh.

The electric car (data based on Nissan LEAF usage via EV Project) consumes some 2,800 kWh every year (for 9,697 miles of travel), which is basically twice that of what a refrigerator needs.

"Charging an electric vehicle consumes less energy than several common household appliances. Annual energy consumption for a typical household shows that home heating consumes by far the most energy (11,300 kW-hrs) followed by water heating (4,700 kW-hrs) and charging an electric car (2,800 kW-hrs). Based on average driving habits and consumption rates for the Nissan Leaf, charging an electric car consumes just over twice as much energy as a refrigerator which consumes about 1,300 kW-hrs annually. While an electric vehicle adds to household electricity usage, it eliminates the need to purchase gasoline for that vehicle which would cost considerably more based on national average gasoline and residential electricity prices." Notes: The electric car data are based on a 2013 Nissan LEAF driven 9,697 miles per year which was the average annual mileage of a Nissan LEAF in the EV Project.

For comparison, a 2013 Nissan LEAF is rated at 115 MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) and a conventional 2013 Nissan Versa is rated at 35 MPG. This results in a cost of 3.8 cents per mile for the LEAF and 6.7 cents per mile for the Versa at 13 cents per kW-hr and $2.35 per gallon of gasoline.

Data in the 2009 Residential Energy Consumption Survey are presented in British thermal units (Btu) and represent site or delivered energy (1 kW-hr = 3,412 Btu).

source: energy.gov