Ecotricity to start charging £5 for electric car drivers using rapid-chargers on UK motorwayís
The only provider in the UK of motorway charging stations, Ecotricity, has decided to start charging a £5 flat-fee for electric car drivers who use rapid-chargers on motorways throughout the country.
Ecotricity now has 300 rapid-charging stations across the UK and the new £5 flat-fee will be introduced for one, 20 minute charge. On a 20 minute charge, most plug-in EVs and hybrids would be able to charge half of their battery.
All 300 charging points will be switched to the new payment system manually and work is set to begin on Monday, July 11 and hoped to be finished by Friday, August 5.
Owners of a Tesla who use Tesla’s own Supercharger network, will not have to pay the fee but those who purchase the upcoming Model 3 will have to pay at some point in the future, says Tesla Motors CEO, Elon Musk.
Recent figures revealed that there are now almost 60,000 electric cars on the road in the UK, a 23% rise on the previous year. This sharp rise in electric car sales has left experts believing that the target the Government set, to see all new car sales by 2040 to be of electric cars, will be reached.
Ecotricity said in an e-mail to it’s users: “The combination of more cars on the road and faster charging means we’re now delivering two million miles of clean driving each month – all powered from the wind and sun. That’s a great result. It’s also a growing cost. And to keep pace with demand, we need to build more electricity pumps at existing and new locations.”
The e-mail also went on to say that the time had come for them to charge for charging. The company has looked at the feedback of EV drivers to make sure they arrive at the right price to charge. They decided that a flat-fee of £5 for a 20 minute rapid-charge was a fair price to ask people to pay.
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