Ecotricity says the new model will mean more flexibility and lower charging costs for users
Ecotricity has confirmed that it will be scrapping its flat fee and replacing it with a pay as you go service on all of its motorway charging stations across the UK.
Currently the company, who are the only motorway charging providers in the country, charge a flat fee of £6 but this will now be replaced by a pay as you go model.
In 2016, Ecotricity decided to charge users a £6 flat fee which enabled EV drivers to charge their vehicle for 30 minutes at a time. The company has 300 charging stations located on motorways throughout the country.
Pay as you go to replace flat fees at motorway electric car charging stations © Copyright Jaggery and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
The new pay as you go service will charge at a rate of £0.17p per kWh of electricity and include an extra £3 fee whenever you plug in your vehicle at a charging station. As well as changing the pricing structure, users will now be able to charge their EV for 45 minutes instead of the current 30 minutes.
The new changes will come into effect across their 300-strong charging network from June 26.
According to an email released by the company, the new pricing model will provide more flexibility and generally lower charging costs for all types of EVs.
“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,” said Ecotricity in its email.
Ecotricity believe that by separating the cost of the service they provide and the cost of energy used, a better balance has been found. The price of energy under the new model will cost £0.17p per unit, a similar rate to what people pay at home, users will then be charged a £3 connection and service fee every time they plug in to one of the 300 charging stations.
The company has said that their customers will still be allowed 52 free charges every year and once they’ve been used, they won’t have to pay the £3 connection payment.
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