Transparency of charging prices still poor
In many cases, it is still unclear what it costs to charge an electric car at a charging station. The Electric Drivers Association is disappointed with the state of affairs.
The latest Benchmark Price Transparency from the National Knowledge Platform Charging Infrastructure (NKL) shows that there is still a lot of discrepancy between charging costs and displayed charging prices. No less than half of the invoices do not match what prices were found in advance, and in 20 percent of the cases, no price was findable in advance at all. In practice, this often results in charging costs that are (far) above expectations.
According to the VER, the situation has worsened, and there are ‘numerous examples’ where a charging session turned out to be up to tens of cents per kWh more expensive than expected in advance. Also, the invoices afterward are sometimes unclear because the price structure of the tariff is not transparent. For example, it is possible that the pre-communicated price does not include all price components and that these are then included on the final invoice.
Anyone considering driving an EV is, of course, not exactly encouraged to make the switch by these kinds of developments. Partly for this reason, the VER is now sounding the alarm: “This slows down the transition to sustainable mobility, while speed is crucial right now,” says VER director Marina van Helvoort. “The measure is now full for us. The sector must get moving, and the government must intervene. The VER calls for mandatory, active price communication with every charging session – before and during charging. This easily solves the vast majority of problems.”