Electric vehicles may be more cost-effective to use in certain situations, but that doesn’t make them immune to general trends—specifically the rising cost of energy. While most EV drivers charge at home (presumably, or at least hopefully, at off-peak hours), many rely on destination charging or opportunity charging at stations. Electrify America announced it would hike its rates starting next month for charging at its stations for pass holders and non-pass holders. The rates effectively jump 15%, a significant hike, akin to a 52-cent jump in the average price of a gallon of gas.
Electrify America said it would raise the price of charging to $0.36 per kWh for Pass+ holders, and non-members would pay $0.48 per kWh. Those are hikes of $0.05 respectively, although pass holders will still pay a subscription fee of $4 per month.
Single-session, per-minute charging rates are going up, too. The price for charging up to 90 kW will rise $0.03 to $0.15 per minute, while fast-charging up to 249 kW will rise to $0.29 per minute, which is a $0.05 increase.
Compared to the national average residential rate of $0.16 per kWh or $0.13 per kWh for businesses, it clearly pays to charge more at home and during off-peak hours. Although, that may not be convenient for EV drivers who live in cities or live in apartments and don’t have access to needed infrastructure or parking. Despite EA’s price hikes next month, EVs are more affordable to run in the long run in most cases, although that relies heavily on the EV tax credit at the point of purchase and varies depending on where and when you charge, and how and where you drive.
Now, if EA could only get those chargers to work consistently when we need them.
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