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Is fast charging too expensive?
Why public fast charging is a bit more expensive than AC charging at home
Hello GOFAST team,
When I decided on my Model 3 last year, price was an important factor. I was willing to pay a little more than for a comparable model with a combustion engine, because electric cars are simply unbeatable when it comes to maintenance and energy costs. Back then, however, I didn’t realise how much the energy costs can vary depending on whether I’m charging at home or on the road, such as at a GOFAST fast charging station. I’ve noticed in particular that Swiss providers of charging solutions seem to be charging premium prices. And GOFAST is clearly no exception. But surely the rates charged by energy producers for major customers should allow for more attractive prices? Can we expect to see a big drop in prices soon?
Thanks for your feedback and best wishes,
Livia
Dear Livia,
Many thanks for your enquiry. It is indeed the case that, when calculating the costs over the entire lifetime of a vehicle (the total cost of ownership), electric cars do better than combustion engines despite being somewhat more expensive to purchase. Sample calculations also assume a mix of charging at home and on the road (see this calculation for the German market, for example). So when it comes to calculating energy costs, electricity prices vary depending on your charging behaviour. If you want to enjoy flexibility with your electric car and treat yourself to ultra-fast charging with GOFAST during a short coffee break, for example, it’s true that you can expect to pay a slightly higher electricity rate.
Twice as much as at home
At home, you pay between CHF 0.20 and CHF 0.25 per kilowatt hour for electricity. The price also varies depending on the time of day, and can be lower at night than during the day. At GOFAST, we usually charge between CHF 0.45 and CHF 0.49 per kilowatt hour for fast charging your electric car. The prices, incidentally, can always be found on our location map or on your charging network operator’s app. Some electric car drivers find this expensive because they sometimes even have access to free electricity, for example within their car maker’s ecosystem or at a supermarket car park. Below we’ll explain why this is not a premium pricing policy but actually quite a fair approach.
High investment and operating costs
It may not seem so at first glance, but a functioning fast charging station with outputs sometimes of over 300 kilowatts costs a lot of money. In addition to the cost of charging technology and construction, there are connection costs for the high output. In addition, rents have to be paid regularly for the use of well-located parking spaces. Connection to a billing system is needed for payment and invoicing, and of course, the facilities also need to be maintained and upgraded on a regular basis.
Output rate charged by energy suppliers
It’s not actually the case that we, as a charge point operator (CPO), can buy electricity at more favourable conditions. Quite the opposite – often, we pay more for electricity than our customers do at home. Due to the high connected load (over 300 kilowatts per charging station in some cases), the energy provider charges us not only the price per kilowatt hour but also an ‘output rate’, which in the case of fast charging stations can amount to several thousand Swiss francs per month. In addition, in most cases we’re not yet able to purchase electricity on wholesale terms. Each individual location must first qualify for the liberalised market (100 MWh/year) before we can buy freely.
So as you can see, there are a lot of different factors involved. And for the whole approach to eventually become viable, we have to charge our customers slightly higher prices per kilowatt. But we really do believe this is a fair solution.
Electric greetings,
Adrian