FairCharge reposted this
Senior public relations & policy professional | Media spokesperson | Campaigning | Storytelling through data
The cost of charging an electric vehicle - is it too high for those without the ability to charge at home? Consumers saw domestic electricity bills peak after the Russia/Ukraine war, then come down (admittedly they are rising again a little now). But rapid and ultra-rapid EV charging prices - for effectively the same commodity - didn’t fall. Why? Speaking to the industry, there are a number of reasons and this piece of work sets out what these are. It’s perhaps easy to forget that charging networks are today, essentially, building the infrastructure millions more drivers will need in the years to come, and that comes at a cost. But there’s more, including the impact of charges the networks have to pay and the fact there is no price cap like domestic customers have benefited from. Read more and find out what can be done to reduce the cost of charging - including, of course, cutting VAT at public chargers to match the 5% home rate: https://lnkd.in/e-JBQpcz Andy Eastlake Vicky Read Ian Johnston Dora Clarke Euan McTurk Quentin Willson Ben Kilbey
I agree, we must bring down the cost of public charging and increase utilisation rates. It’s easy to blame the CPOs, but standing charges, rents, cost of equipment and grid connections have all soared in price. Plus we have some of the most expensive electricity prices in Europe. The VAT cut is now so obviously necessary it’s becoming embarrassing. Govt needs to get a grip on this.
Sean Keating
1d
This is entirely right - At the moment a small group of drivers are using the infrastructure - in doing so, they each contribute a significant proportion towards rent, operations and fixed costs for grid capacity. It’s these costs that push up the current tariffs, as charge point operators try to break-even (most have operated with losses for many years). This will ease substantially as EV uptake and utilisation takes place (more customers to share the fixed costs with = lower tariffs), but much like getting your coffee from Starbucks, much of the price isn’t just paying for the raw materials but the location, operating costs and VAT. As a thought experiment, if you were to calculate the rent (or mortgage equivalent) of your home driveway and the depreciation on the purchase of your home charger and the wrap these back into your EV pence per kWh on the driveway, you’d find the price gap closes substantially and get an idea of what a public charging operation has to wrestle with. You’d also quickly consider whether you could share you driveway charger with others to bring the cost down😂
Ashvin Suri
20h
Rod Dennis though I agree, in that, the cost of public charging needs to become far more cost effective, in particular, for those without access to home charging. However, another point worth noting for those that charge at home and public charging. The most appropriate cost of charging an EV should be a weighted average cost between charging at home and public charging destinations. Given that the majority of charging is done at home (much cheaper), the weighted average cost of charging an EV is far below refuelling at a gas station, despite the current costs of public EV charging.
FairCharge
1d
Rod Dennis couldn’t agree more, especially with the last point; ‘ … find out what can be done to reduce the cost of charging - including, of course, cutting VAT at public chargers to match the 5% home rate …’ ⚡️🥊🔋⚡️
Ben Whitaker
1d
Cross-pavement cable channels like Kerbo Charge open up cheaper home charging for far more households wherever the councils approve them, but so far only just over 30 Local Authorities have started fitting them... You can use sharing apps to open them up to neighbours too which can make the switch to EV more attractive for terraced homes.
Ben Kilbey
1d
Standing charges are also a real 🦴 of contention… right Ian Johnston / Delvin Lane?
Retired after 45 years in power industry
16hThese rates are literally “highway robbery” home charging in China is ~£0.05p/kWh and the most I gave paid for public chargers is £0.20p/kWh, this was a State Grid charger on a motorway service area, as with petrol and diesel these service areas have captive audience so charge premium prices. Normal chargers (non motorway) I pay £0.11p/kWh. U.K. bulk electricity prices are generally between £65-£100/MWh. Highest peak was just over £500/MWh (for short period), these rip off companies are charging ~£800/MWh, they need regulating.