ESB has announced massive hikes in their rates for EV charging. This comes on the back of significant increases in toll charges announced only a few days ago. EV drivers seeking to use the ESB network will face increases of about 50% when charging on the public network from the 20th of December.
Charges across the board will increase by approximately 50% on all ESB plans. Membership fees and overstay fees will remain unchanged. The new rate for Pay As You Go customers using Standard chargers will increase from €0.375 to €0.563 per kWh, a hike of 50%. Fast chargers will increase from €0.432 to €0.647, also a hike of 50%. Those seeking to use the High Power chargers will see an increase from €0.461 up to €0.682, a hike of 48%. Similar increases are also being applied to those that have a Membership or a Fleet Plan, although the rate charged is slightly lower than the Pay As You Go, model.
This now means that owners of a new Nissan LEAF will pay somewhere from €21.96 to €26.60 for a theoretical 0-100% charge. Those driving Ireland’s most popular EV of late, the Volkswagen iD.4, will now pay from €43.35 up to €52.51.
These significant increases mean that those charging on the High Power chargers will be paying nearly as much as an equivalent Petrol or Diesel car to cover the same distance. Although still cheaper to run and maintain than combustion cars, EV drivers are seeing the savings eroded when they need to charge on the public network.
These hikes come on the back of significant increases being passed on to the Irish motorist across the board. With soaring costs of new and used vehicles, fuel prices and toll charges, Irish motorists are seeing a huge part of their take-home pay going toward their transport costs.
The price increases also come at a time when ESB is being criticised for not improving the network sufficiently. With a year-on-year increase in EV sales of approximately 80%, the number of charge points is not increasing in line. Although the units are quite reliable, queues for chargers are becoming increasingly common.
