E-car sales in Germany are accelerating rapidly, the public charging infrastructure is panting behind. The many new e-mobilists find a confusing market - and increasingly unattractive electricity tariffs.
The sale of traction current on the roadside is not good business in Germany. There are already too many expensive charging stations for still too few potential customers. And from the operator's point of view, the disparity is likely to increase in the future. Not least, the customers are currently suffering from this: The tariffs for public electricity tap are becoming increasingly unattractive for them.
The first big public annoyance came in early 2020 when the fast charging station operator Ionity raised electricity prices for non-contract customers to 79 cents per kilowatt hour. Suddenly, driving an e-car seemed more expensive than operating a gasoline sports car: for an average battery-powered vehicle, this course leads to energy costs of around 16 euros per 100 kilometers. The outcry among fans and opponents of the new drive was correspondingly great. The latter overlooked the fact that nobody is forced to fill up at this rate, at least not regularly. But the price increase on the fast chargers, which are prominently positioned at motorway service stations, is just one of many unpopular tariff measures in recent months.
Cheaper by mobile phone than by card
As a result, some roaming providers removed the Ionity columns from their range or increased their prices again massively. Plugsurfing, for example, currently charges 1,09 euros per kilowatt hour on the fast chargers - a price that is probably only paid, if at all, by thoughtless company car owners with a fuel card. Everyone else would be well advised to book the ad-hoc tariff for 79 cents on their mobile phone - a little less convenient than with a fuel card, but significantly cheaper. The example shows: If you fill up with electricity on the go, you must expect nonsensical payment models. Which are also constantly changing.
In general, the e-mobilist is under pressure to keep his eyes open and to register changes quickly. The e-mobility provider EnBW, for example, introduced a so-called blocking fee in autumn. Anyone who stands at the charging station for more than four hours pays a fine that can add up to 12 euros. There is no electricity at this time. Customers without their own wallbox who charge their e-vehicles on the roadside overnight had to look for a new provider or switch back to a petrol engine.
The explanation for the proliferation of tariffs is simple: The business with traction current is not. At least not yet. Selling on the roadside is simply not worthwhile for charge point operators (CPOs). “We are still a long way from operating the public charging infrastructure economically,” explains the German Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW). According to him, around 33.000 fully electric vehicles would be necessary for economical utilization of the 550.000 public charging points. There are currently only half of them. And thus far too few potential customers.
More cars and more charging stations in the future
Rapid growth in the fleet would not necessarily generate profits on the column either, because the number of charging points should grow at the same time in order to make e-mobility attractive to more and more motorists. The EU gives a guideline value of ten vehicles per charging station (Directive 2014/94 / EU). If one million e-cars are to be on German roads as planned in 2025, 100.000 columns would be needed. According to the BDEW calculation, that would be tens of thousands too much for an economic operation.
The poor earnings situation could be changed by increasing prices - probably one of the reasons for the current upward movements in tariffs. But the fact that selling electricity does not generate any money is not necessarily a disaster for the charging station operators. Because apart from direct income, the erection of pillars is also worthwhile in other ways. For example, for customer loyalty: municipal utilities and other local electricity providers can, for example, also supply their household electricity customers with the traction current and thus prevent them from switching to the cheap competition. The provision of charging options for retailers, which enable their customers to charge their batteries for free on site, has a similar appeal. The motivation for car manufacturers such as Daimler, Volkswagen, BMW, Ford and Hyundai is slightly different, who can offer their e-car customers through their joint venture Ionity not only vehicles but also discounted access to a suitable charging infrastructure. If you buy a VW ID.3, you only pay 79 cents instead of the usual 59 cents on the fast charger. Mercedes drivers even get away with 29 cents. That makes buying from one of the Ionity partners particularly interesting for frequent drivers. Drivers of other makes should not find this unfairly unfair.
The Federal Network Agency considers the tariff confusion to be normal at the moment. Fluctuating charging prices can often be observed in the early phases of a developing market, according to the monitoring report on the electricity market published in early 2021. A few weeks earlier, however, the authority had also outlined a possible solution to the consumer-unfriendly situation: a free choice of provider for customers at every public charging station. As is the case with household electricity. E-car drivers could fill up at every pillar of their home and yard supplier at a uniform contract price - without nasty surprises and with no effort in price research. At least technically and legally, the network agency sees no problem for such deliveries in a resolution from December. She has already outlined a corresponding processing model at the same point.
A glimpse of hope
According to the Federal Network Agency, infrastructure operators have long been required to choose their providers. One of the best-known supporters is the green electricity provider Lichtblick, who would also like to offer its electrical goods at the energy pumps of all charging point operators in Germany. In order to make the business interesting for the latter, the Berliners would pay a fee. “In the long run, the transmission fees would have to level off at about the same level as the electricity network fees. Around 4 cents per kilowatt hour should currently be sufficient. Depending on the hardware used, a little less, ”says Ralph Kampwirth from Lichtblick. He does not see the high costs of the charging station operators for setting up the infrastructure that is then shared as an obstacle. Most of the recently built charging points have been funded by public funds at 40 percent and more.
Whether the charging points will be released depends not least on a current investigation by the Federal Cartel Office. The competition watchdogs check whether individual charging station operators have established market-dominant monopolies in some regions of Germany. Should that be the case, the new pace could bring a liberalization of the delivery situation.
The state is to blame
On the other hand, rising prices at the public charging stations should not be an option. Regulatory changes could remedy this, believes the BDEW and wants above all to reduce taxes and duties. At the moment, more than 50 percent of the electricity price is state-caused. In order to reduce this, the EEG surcharge should be frozen in the opinion of the association and the electricity tax should be reduced to the minimum permissible under European law. That would also relieve the e-mobilists who charge at home. Because there, too, electricity prices have been rising continuously since the late 90s. In 2020, the average private customer paid just under 32 cents per kilowatt hour (industry without EEG exemption 14 cents, with 12 cents) - 1,09 cents more than a year earlier
The fact that the high prices for traction current in Germany, despite cheap liquid fuel, have so far not been a problem for the establishment of electromobility, is also due to the generous funding amounts for e-car purchases. However, if new user groups are to be developed, electricity must also be financially attractive. And not just in comparison to driving with conventional cars, which in the long run will inevitably become increasingly expensive. At the moment, however, only at a moderate pace: The CO2 pricing at the start of the year, for example, costs the average driver just around 70 euros a year.
