GRIDSERVE has penned an open letter to its customers detailing the need to raise the price of its electric vehicle (EV) charging network amid “unprecedented times”.
The EV infrastructure company confirmed it has raised the pricing of its high-power EV charging to 66p/kWh, the price of medium power charging to 65p/kWh, the cost of its low power charging to 49p/kWh and the cost of the GRIDSERVE Electric Forecourt to 64p/kWh.
In the letter, GRIDSERVE stated that whilst it intends to use renewable energy, such as solar, to keep the cost of charging as low as possible, the firm has been unable to maintain this over other competitors due to the rate of expansion of the network.
In June, the firm disclosed that in the year since GRIDSERVE acquired the Electric Highway, the number of charging sessions had tripled while the energy supply has quadrupled.
This increase in demand for the energy supply has coincided with a wholesale gas crisis that has seen prices rocket for energy. Osprey equally had to raise the cost of their rapid charging network to £1/kWh in what they described as “extraordinary circumstances”, mirroring GRDISERVE’s own thoughts.
Due to demand exceeding supply, the company has had to purchase increasing amounts of renewable energy from the market, which has grown in price with it pegged to the spiralling wholesale gas prices.
The RAC has also raised concerns around the increasing costs of public EV charging. In four months, the costs have increased by 42% from 18.75p/kWh in May to an average of 63.29p/kWh.
It stated that there are now fears that more chargepoint operators (CPOs) could also increase the price of EV charging and thus reduce public interest in EVs – something that appears to be materialising.
The large increases could be enough to deter many drivers from adopting EVs. Last month, Centrica’s Hive revealed 54% of UK drivers wanted to switch to an electric car within the next five years ahead of the internal combustion engine production ban from 2030. It is unknown what impact the energy crisis has now had on these figures.
GRISERVE confirmed it is stepping up investments into new solar farms, batteries and technology so that it can future-proof its EV network and continue to deliver low cost, clean energy for all of its users.
Current±’s publisher Solar Media is running the EV World Congress on 5 and 6 October at the Leonardo Royal Hotel Tower Bridge. To find out more and get your ticket, see here.
