Daily guide · HU · 2026-08-24
Charging an EV in Hungary this week: what the prices actually said
All numbers computed from the week's published auction results at publication and frozen — this article is an honest snapshot, not a page that rewrites itself. Reproduce via the API.
The clearest signal this week is the gap between midday and evening. Averaged across the seven days, the cheapest charging window sat at 94,75 EUR/MWh, while the evening peak averaged 207,36 EUR/MWh. That is a 54 percent difference, and it holds up day after day rather than resting on a single outlier.
The weekend is where it becomes striking. On 22 August the midday window averaged 0,33 EUR/MWh and on 23 August 1,34 EUR/MWh, against evening levels of 197,90 and 194,39 EUR/MWh respectively. Solar-heavy midday hours are effectively giving the energy away, while the evening still commands the same premium it does midweek. The cheap window opens between 09:00 and 13:00 depending on the day, so timing matters more than volume.
The takeaway is simple: shift your charging into that midday window rather than plugging in when you get home. On the 150 kWh a typical week assumes, moving off the evening peak is worth 16,89 EUR this week alone, and roughly 878 EUR over a year. Set the charger timer once and the saving runs on its own.
Every day at 13:00 CET, an auction sets electricity prices for every hour of tomorrow — separately, for each European bidding zone. Those prices routinely differ by a factor of two to three within a single day, because solar floods the middle of the day and demand peaks in the evening. If you charge an EV, that spread is money: the car doesn't care when it charges, only that it's full by morning. This is what the spread looked like in HU this week.
54%
cheaper to charge in the best 3h window than at the evening peak, on average this week
94.75 vs 207.36
€/MWh: best window vs 18–21h evening habit (week average)
≈€878
a year on the wholesale component, for 150 kWh/week of charging at this week's gap
Day by day: when the cheap window actually fell
| Day | Cheapest 3h window | Window avg €/MWh | Evening 18–21h | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-17 | 13:00–16:00 | 148.98 | 222.44 | −33% |
| 2026-08-18 | 11:00–14:00 | 133.08 | 200.66 | −34% |
| 2026-08-19 | 13:00–16:00 | 128.65 | 210.22 | −39% |
| 2026-08-20 | 12:00–15:00 | 112.37 | 206.25 | −46% |
| 2026-08-21 | 11:00–14:00 | 138.5 | 219.64 | −37% |
| 2026-08-22 | 12:00–15:00 | 0.33 | 197.9 | −100% |
| 2026-08-23 | 09:00–12:00 | 1.34 | 194.39 | −99% |
Local time. Notice the window MOVES — sometimes after midnight, sometimes midday when solar peaks. A fixed night tariff catches some of this; following the auction catches all of it.
Automate it in ten minutes
You don't need to read auction results at 13:00 every day — ask the API for the cheapest window and let your wallbox follow it. One call:
curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"zone": "HU", "duration_minutes": 180}' \
https://voltcast.com/api/v1/optimize/cheapest-windowHome Assistant users: the Voltcast integration exposes the same window as a sensor you can automate against; evcc users get a ready-made tariff config. The Home plan (€9/mo) covers one zone of your choice with 7-day forecasts; public pages and widgets let you inspect the data before subscribing. And if you want to charge on a forecast of tomorrow before the auction even publishes, that's the P50 curve — scored publicly every day so you know exactly how much to trust it.
Method & citation. Prices are hourly means of published day-ahead auction results (native 15-minute periods averaged; ENTSO-E/SMARD, attributed). Wholesale-price component only — grid fees and taxes come on top and vary by supplier. Cite as "Voltcast Research, voltcast.com/guides/ev-charging-hu-2026-08-24".
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