Why is express shipping more expensive?

Charging: Lars Godbolt, charging expert at the Electric Vehicle Association, answers questions from members of the Electric Vehicle Association in this new column on elbil.no. Photo: Jamison Buthikari/elbil.no

Why do you actually have to pay much more at a charging station than you would at home?

01.12.2023 17:06 | Updated 17:36

The Electric Vehicle Association’s Member Service receives a steady stream of inquiries from both new and more experienced EV drivers with questions about all things EV.

Many of the questions we receive revolve around charging – whether that’s about home charging and charging box issues as well as questions about express charging and street charging.

In this column, our charging expert Lars Godbolt will answer the questions many people have about electric vehicle charging.

Question of the day: Why is express shipping more expensive?

One of the great financial advantages of choosing an electric car is that charging it at home is cheaper than filling it up with fossil fuels at the gas station.

But why is express shipping all the way more expensive compared to charging at home?

Ladd Lars Answers

We fully understand that there are some questions being asked about this topic. At home, you can monitor the price of electricity hour by hour, and charge it when it is cheapest. In addition to paying for electricity, you also pay to use the electricity grid (renting the Internet).

As you know, the price of electricity varies a lot during the day, but let’s take an example: if you are charging at home, and you have a car that can store 64 kWh on the battery, charging will cost you about 45 NOK 10 to 80 percent of the electricity price and the total rent is Online 1 NOK per kilowatt hour.

On the other hand, if you go on a trip and stop at a fast charging station, the price can quickly reach NOK 7 per kWh. Then the bill suddenly reaches more than NOK 300 – for the same amount of electricity.

It’s easy to think that the price of electricity is the alpha and omega when it comes to fast charging, but it’s not that simple. Although the price of electricity of course affects the cost of charging companies, we know that there are other factors that usually make up the largest cost.

The Electric Vehicle Association’s new charging column:

How long can you expect the battery to last?

First, fast chargers are expensive to build. It can cost between half a million and more than a million kroner for a single fast charger. In other words, a lot more than you paid for the cargo box in the garage. This cost is part of what shipping companies have to cover with the express shipping price.

Second: You are not only paying for electricity, but you are getting a lot of electricity quickly. The whole point of a fast charger is to charge the battery while you eat a burger. This means that the load on the power grid will be higher than if you were charging at home, and this is something chargers have to pay for through higher grid rent. Again, this is why express shipping costs money.

Rudshøgda shipping park — RUDSHØGDA CHARGING PARK: Fast chargers from Tesla, Kople and Mer, powered by E.ON Drive & Clever.

Thirdly, there are the costs of maintaining the chargers, and of course covering the shipping company’s other operating costs.

Finally, we must also not forget that the electric car market is still quite new, and in some places there is uneven and low use of fast chargers. As the number of electric cars increases, there will be more people to share the costs with, leading to lower prices.

Be price conscious

But back to the price of electricity. During the electricity crisis in 2022, fast charging prices increased dramatically, the reason cited being the rise in electricity prices. Then many companies worked at prices up to or above nine kroner per kilowatt hour. This was at a time when electricity prices were much higher than normal, so it wasn’t entirely unreasonable for the price of fast charging to rise as well.

On the other hand, the Electric Vehicle Association was critical that it took a long time to adjust the price of fast charging again when the price of electricity fell. Now shipping rates are adjusted often, and by being a price conscious consumer, you can save money. In addition, you contribute to charging fees to companies competing with you as a customer and not setting a price higher than necessary.

On average, the price of fast charging today is just over five kroner per kilowatt-hour.

Here is an overview of prices:

This costs express shipping

Then we have Tesla, which consistently falls short of most of its competitors in its stations.

Currently, Tesla credits range between three and five kroner per kilowatt-hour.

Tesla has traditionally covered some of the prices of setting up fast charging stations in the sale of its cars, and may also have other advantages that can help keep costs down, such as its own production of chargers, as well as fewer, but larger, charging sites.

This was a long answer, but hopefully there’s a decent explanation as to why using a fast charger is more expensive than a charging box at home.

The Electric Vehicle Association’s new charging column:

Shouldn’t you charge more than 80 percent?

Do you have any questions about shipping? Sign up to the Electric Vehicle Association to get answers from our subject matter experts. We respond to our members as quickly as possible, depending on the request and complexity of the question.

Ladeklubben, ElbilAppen and the blue charging chip

Become a member!

Get the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association’s charging tag which gives you access to charging stations in Norway and Europe, expert charging assistance and superior roadside assistance offers. Do like over 120,000 other electric car drivers!