ÖAMTC criticizes the jungle of tariffs when charging electric cars

Unlike petrol and diesel, there is usually no or no clear price display at the station. And depending on the charging card used, very different tariffs would often be charged at the same charging point, which is sometimes due to high third-party card tariffs. The choice of payment method also plays a role.

The ÖAMTC relies on one Study by Arthur D. Little on behalf of the club, who examined the charging prices of 18 of the largest Austrian providers. The prices per kilowatt hour without a basic fee when charging with the charging point operator’s charging card, with a credit card and the standard offer for competing charging providers were analyzed. The whole thing for standard, fast and ultra-fast charging stations.

Expensive third-party networks

Result: In two thirds of all cases examined, end customers who paid by credit card received a better price than competing charging card operators with a standard offer (“Offer-to-All”). Compared to the charging prices that charging point operators charge their own customers, third-party networks paid more in 90 percent of all cases. This surcharge was a maximum of 118 percent.

According to the ÖAMTC charging compass, the prices for consumers differ by a maximum of almost 70 cents per kWh – which corresponds to additional costs of 142 percent compared to the cheapest charging tariff. “That would be like paying 4.80 euros for a liter of diesel at a gas station instead of 2 euros,” calculates the club.

Reference to mobile communications

The ÖAMTC director calls for “effective rules that can also be enforced nationally”. “Technically, charging via different providers has been working for a long time. Clear rules of the game are now needed for transparent prices and fair conditions. If this does not work with the revision of the AFIR, it could become necessary – based on the roaming regulation in mobile communications – to intervene massively in the market and, for example, to prescribe concrete limits for surcharges or maximum prices for end customers,” says Kloboucnik.

According to a current study by researchers at the Technical University of Munich, electric cars, including emissions during production and electricity consumption, have an average CO2 balance that is 41 percent better than combustion engines. The study authors demand that a “life cycle-based standard” be used for the climate footprint of cars in the future, “which takes into account every verifiable contribution to reducing fossil emissions”. The researchers explain that measuring CO2 emissions exclusively in the exhaust gases and thus in the exhaust is not scientifically tenable.