Electric car charging fees on UK motorways to change
Ecotricity is replacing the £6 flat fee for for its 300-strong network of motorway EV chargers with a pay as you go structure
The UK's sole motorway charging provider for EVs is scrapping its £6 flat fee, and replacing it with a pay as you go pricing struture.
Last year, Ecotricity introduced a £6 flat fee for a 30 minute charge on its 300 strong network of EV charging stations across the UK's motorway network. The company has now scrapped the flat fee rate and replaced it with a new pay as you go system.
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Electricity will now be charged at £0.17p per kWh, with an additional £3 fee everytime you plug your car in. The maximum amount of charging time has now also been increased from 30 to 45 minutes and the new rates will apply from 26 June onwards.
In an e-mail, the company said: "The new model that we've developed will give more flexibility and typically lower charging costs across all makes and models. The main issue we've been wrestling with is the fixed time period charging and the different amounts of energy that various models can use in that time - coupled with the need to reflect in the pricing model the costs of installing and running the infrastructure, not just the energy."
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"To better balance these issues we are separating the cost of energy from the cost of providing the service. The new energy will be charged at 17p per unit, which is pretty much the rate that people pay at home and the cost of providing the service will be via a £3 connection fee for all sessions."
Ecotricity also said that its customers will still benefit from 52 free charges per year, and even after the free charges run out, won't face the £3 connection fee.
Do you think it's fair to charge electric car drivers a flat-fee for charging use. Tell us in the comments below...
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