Pricing of public chargers
Discussion
A couple of things that have annoyed me recently, having tried public charging a couple of times.
Firstly, I am a newbie at charging on public chargers but
1. Why is the pricing all over the place? For example whilst in Edgbaston this weekend within a small radius I could be charged 92p/KW or 58p/KW? Surely no one pays 50% more and why has competition not evened out the pricing?
2. It is often not obvious how much each charging station is? You have to get out the car flick through numerous screens before you realise zapmap has the pricing completely wrong? Why no legislation (is it?) like petrol stations with really clear signage above each charger??
First world problems, I know, but an annoyance.
Firstly, I am a newbie at charging on public chargers but
1. Why is the pricing all over the place? For example whilst in Edgbaston this weekend within a small radius I could be charged 92p/KW or 58p/KW? Surely no one pays 50% more and why has competition not evened out the pricing?
2. It is often not obvious how much each charging station is? You have to get out the car flick through numerous screens before you realise zapmap has the pricing completely wrong? Why no legislation (is it?) like petrol stations with really clear signage above each charger??
First world problems, I know, but an annoyance.
I'm guessing the more expensive one was a faster DC charger? People will pay the extra to get a 20 minute charge to complete thier journey, especially if they're usually paying peanuts for home charging and only using an expensive public one a few times a year.
Zapmap, Tap, and other apps are useful for finding chargers, but as a third party they're going to add a small fee as well. If you have one's you use regularly then it's well worth signing up to the specific provider. Zapmap will show you which provider runs each charger so you can then just have several apps on your phone for them all, but it's a pain.
Many providers will also give you discounts if you subscribe, but only worth it if you user thier chargers a lot. Some charge a connection fee and then a lower price per kWh, so only worth it if your battery is big enough. A lot of people will be on corporate charge cards so don't care about the price or get massive discounts...it's a mess.
Zapmap, Tap, and other apps are useful for finding chargers, but as a third party they're going to add a small fee as well. If you have one's you use regularly then it's well worth signing up to the specific provider. Zapmap will show you which provider runs each charger so you can then just have several apps on your phone for them all, but it's a pain.
Many providers will also give you discounts if you subscribe, but only worth it if you user thier chargers a lot. Some charge a connection fee and then a lower price per kWh, so only worth it if your battery is big enough. A lot of people will be on corporate charge cards so don't care about the price or get massive discounts...it's a mess.
mike9009 said:
A couple of things that have annoyed me recently, having tried public charging a couple of times.
Firstly, I am a newbie at charging on public chargers but
1. Why is the pricing all over the place? For example whilst in Edgbaston this weekend within a small radius I could be charged 92p/KW or 58p/KW? Surely no one pays 50% more and why has competition not evened out the pricing?
2. It is often not obvious how much each charging station is? You have to get out the car flick through numerous screens before you realise zapmap has the pricing completely wrong? Why no legislation (is it?) like petrol stations with really clear signage above each charger??
First world problems, I know, but an annoyance.
For now, the pricing is a bit complicated. You buy a new car, and you get a card that lets you charge at about 0.30€/kWh on certain networks, whereas roaming users pay close to 1€/kWh (real-life example from next door, rates from memory and rounded a bit).Firstly, I am a newbie at charging on public chargers but
1. Why is the pricing all over the place? For example whilst in Edgbaston this weekend within a small radius I could be charged 92p/KW or 58p/KW? Surely no one pays 50% more and why has competition not evened out the pricing?
2. It is often not obvious how much each charging station is? You have to get out the car flick through numerous screens before you realise zapmap has the pricing completely wrong? Why no legislation (is it?) like petrol stations with really clear signage above each charger??
First world problems, I know, but an annoyance.
Charger networks provide pricing information (as you can dig it up - eventually), but I think there must be some licensing condition that forbids app developers from using cost to filter stations. I think I've seen one obscure app that filtered by price (happy to be reminded or proven wrong!).
I think there will be gradual improvement, as you start to see price of electricity (paid by credit card) displayed on the gas station forecourts next to the fuel prices. Starts to be common in the Nordic countries.
There are some initiatives to improve roaming between networks (e.g. https://chargeleague.com/), but I'm not entirely convinced of the long-term success.
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