Tesla Owners and Drivers Club

Taken from their own website “Britain’s first and biggest national network of electricity pumps, our mission is to make it easier for electric vehicle owners to make long distance journeys – to help make EVs the logical choice for Britain’s drivers…. After five years of providing charging for free, we’re now moving to a ‘charging for charging’ model.”

In my previous blog posts I have used the free Electric Highway charging points to supplement gaps in the Tesla Supercharger network. This week is the first time I have been in need of using one of the converted points that charge via the app.

By way of an experiment, I charged using the standard AC Type 2 connector and the DC CHAdeMO connector using the adapter which can be purchased from Tesla.

After some debate, Ecotricity have decided to charge £6 for 30 mins charge, regardless of connection type and the ratioanale for this is based on making the cost comparable to ICE powered vehicles and quote costs for a Nissan Leaf.

Firstly, on the AC connector. 30 minutes  got me 32 miles of additional range from 11.7kWh. That’s a price of 51.3p/kWh and around 3 times more expensive than the equivalent price for home charging if you get your electricity from Ecotricity (quoted at 15.9p/kWh) It also works out a 18.75 pence per mile!! *

After that I did 30 minutes on the DC  which added 58 miles of additional range from 20.9kWh. That’s  28.71 p/kWh or 10 pence per mile which at current forecourt prices for the same services equals 53mpg for a Diesel car.

In other words it now costs the same to fill up as a BMW 520D but you’d have to stop again in 58 miles.

I’m not sure this is fair pricing. Particularly when the pricing is the same regardless of charging speed and is so much more than the same company sells its Electricity to the market for.

I must admit that a fixed duration for charging is a good idea and (in theory**) means you know exactly how long you will need to wait if the point is busy when you arrive.

EDIT: I just watched This episode of Fully Charged where @bobbyllew talks to the guys behind the Dutch charging network Fastned. They have a range of pricing options targetting the infrequent to the extensive user. Their middle tier works out at €0.35/kWh which at todays exchange rate is 29p. So, very similar to that of the Ecotricity for the fast DC charge but not capped in duration or penalising for slower charging. Plus, you get a roof and a free Tesla CHAdeMO adaptor to use.

*Prices do not include the price of coffee

** Assuming the correct etiquette is in play