- Electrify America sent a notice to customers Friday outlining an upcoming increase for price-per-kWh and price-per-minute charging in March.
- The company cites energy and operational costs as the reasons for the price increase
- Customers will see an 11% to 25% increase in charging prices after March 6, 2023.
A cross-country EV road trip is looking a bit more expensive now…
Over the past couple years, gas prices have sent the vast majority of drivers for a loop. Even now, prices are moving in the painful direction, so the prospect of saving a substantial amount by switching to an EV looks more appealing. After all, both Tesla and Ford have dropped their prices in recent weeks, not to mention there’s a wider eligibility of vehicles for the $7,500 EV tax credit as of Friday. So, time to make the plunge right? Well, charging an EV is getting more expensive soon if you plan to use the Electify America network to run your electric car.
The company announced Friday it would increase pricing for its DC fast charging stations as of March 6, 2023. The price-per-kWh — currently 43 cents — will increase to 48 cents on that date.
That amounts to an 11.6% increase, and you’ll also see a hike in states that use per-minute charging rates. The per-minute price for EA Pass holders will go up from $0.32 to $0.37, or about 15.6%, if you charge at a rate between 90-350 kW. The change for slower speeds is a steeper 18.8%, from $0.16 per minute to $0.19.
EA Pass+ members see an even bigger increase, even with their more expensive membership tier. Rates for 1-90 kW charging go up from $0.12 to $0.15 (+25%), while charging faster than that goes from $0.25 to $0.29 (+20.8%).
Why are prices going up?
“We’ve tried hard to maintain our current pricing,” Electrify America told its customers in a Friday email explaining the increases. The company blames rising energy and operational costs for the change, saying, “We shall continue to maintain simple, uniform pricing across the country, and this adjustment ensures we can uphold our commitment to drive electric vehicle adoption and the future of electric mobility.”
What would the increase look like in real life? Let’s take a more extreme example with our GMC Hummer EV. In charging its 200-kWh battery from 20% to 80% (about 120 kW), we would spend $51.60 at the current per-kWh rate. Under the higher pricing scheme, a single charge will cost $58.80, or $7.20 more.
Again, that is an extreme case, as most vehicles don’t have batteries anywhere near that large. However, while three or four dollars for most people may not be a huge difference, that will add up over time. With the price changes going into effect in a few weeks, Electrify America is (naturally) nudging customers to upgrade to the Pass+ plan for a $4 monthly fee, with a promise of 25% cheaper per-session charging.
It may work out to be a deal, if Electrify America can improve the reliability of their network in the coming months. That will prove more crucial than ever as EV adoption continues to increase. We haven’t always had the greatest experiences, though I will say from my own that it has at least gotten better than it was a couple years ago.
Check out more on said issues and our cross-country road trip on Electrify America’s network below:
