New energy vehicle owners cross province charging?, Electricity bills increase twice every two months | Electricity bills | Car owners

"Click to open the charging app, and if there is a pop-up window, you will feel 'clunky', which means that the price will rise again or the peak valley time will be changed." Mr. Shan, a Tesla owner in Wuhu, Anhui, recently complained to Zhongxin Jingwei.

All along, benefiting from relatively low electricity costs, new energy vehicles have a certain cost advantage in energy replenishment compared to gasoline vehicles. But as charging costs increase, this advantage may be discounted.

Does the electricity bill increase twice in two months, and do car owners charge across provinces?

"I use cars frequently and often travel back and forth between Wuhu and Nanjing, with a one-way distance of about 100 kilometers. Previously, when I drove a gasoline car, the monthly fuel cost was about 1000 yuan. This year, I felt that the electric car technology had matured, so I switched to a Tesla, and the monthly charging cost was between 200 and 300 yuan. Although it is much lower than the fuel cost, it cannot withstand the continuous price increase," said Mr. Shan.

Mr. Shan claimed that the electricity price of the car he picked up at the end of April increased once in June, and then again in July, with an increase of about 0.2 yuan per kilowatt hour. Although the increase was not significant, the frequent price adjustments still made Mr. Shan feel that he was not far from being cut off.

Many fuel car owners pay attention to fluctuations in oil prices, and the phenomenon of long queues in front of gas stations often occurs on the eve of oil price increases. For electric vehicle owners, the fluctuations in electricity bills have also made them ponder how to spend less money.

For example, when Mr. Shan discovers the difference in electricity prices between Wuhu and Nanjing, he will fully charge the car before leaving Nanjing. Without affecting the battery life, he will also go to Nanjing to recharge the car.

From the screenshot of the charging app provided by Mr. Shan, taking the electricity price on August 2nd as an example, the e-charging station in Nanjing charges 1.15 yuan per kilowatt hour, while the e-charging station in Anhui charges 1.6987 yuan per kilowatt hour, with a price difference of about 0.55 yuan per kilowatt hour. "The electricity bill in Nanjing is much cheaper than in Wuhu, and a single charge can save about 10 yuan," said Mr. Dan.

It is understood that in addition to Wuhu, where Mr. Shan is located, many new energy vehicle owners in Zhengzhou, Shanghai, Chongqing and other places have also reported an increase in charging prices, with some areas experiencing peak increases of up to 87%.

"A few days ago, while charging on the highway, I paid 30 yuan in advance according to my previous habit. Later, I found that it was hasty, and the electricity price increased from 1.15 yuan per kilowatt hour to 2 yuan. I didn't reach the target electricity level, so I made up nearly 20 yuan," said the customer of a Volvo C40 car in Shanghai.

If calculated based on a price of 2 yuan per kilowatt hour, Mr. Gu expects to spend an additional 150 yuan per month on charging in the future. "However, not every charging station costs 2 yuan. At most, just compare a few and charge more at night. There is always a cheap and economical charging solution," Mr. Gu said.

Mr. Sun, who runs online car hailing services in Beijing, has a deeper understanding of how to find a more cost-effective charging solution.

"I live outside the Sixth Ring Road and need to charge twice a day. Before driving, I need to charge at a nearby charging station, which costs about 1 yuan per kilowatt hour. It costs around 30 yuan to fully charge. In the afternoon, I will charge near the destination of the order, which is uncertain. If I'm unlucky, it will cost 50 yuan to charge once. The most frightening thing is to receive orders to various shopping malls in the city center before charging in the afternoon."

Zhongxin Jingwei saw on a certain charging mini program that many charging stations in Beijing have seen their electricity bills rise to 2 yuan per kilowatt hour, with the highest even reaching 2.5 yuan per kilowatt hour. For example, the "Beijing Chehao Internal Charging Station" in Chaoyang District has a unified price throughout the day, with a charge of 2.5 yuan per kilowatt hour, of which 1.7 yuan is for electricity and 0.8 yuan is for service.

Some charging stations charge lower fees during the early morning hours, such as the Beijing Science and Technology Road Network Ride hailing Charging Station in Daxing District, which charges 0.8826 yuan per hour between 0:00 and 7:00, of which 0.4826 yuan is for electricity and 0.4 yuan is for service.

Affected by the region and car usage habits of car owners, China News Service has noticed that many car owners do not have a clear feeling of the price increase of charging stations. "I don't use many cars, and I usually wait until after 11pm to go to a fixed charging station to charge. The electricity bill is higher during the day and cheaper at night, but I don't feel that the cost of electricity has increased much," said Ms. Bi, a Tesla owner living in Beijing.

Who is raising prices?

According to public information, the charging piles currently available in the market can be divided into household charging piles and public charging piles. Among them, public charging piles can be roughly divided into four categories. One type is self built charging piles by car companies, such as Tesla, NIO, and Ideal. Some of these charging piles are open to the public; The second type is charging piles operated by companies such as Special Power and Star Charging; The third type is charging piles operated by third-party charging service platforms such as Nenglian and Kuaidi; The fourth type is the charging piles laid by the State Grid, which are generally more expensive in terms of fees.

According to data from the China Charging Alliance, as of June 2023, the cumulative number of charging infrastructure in China is 6.652 million, including 4.503 million private charging stations, accounting for 78% of the total number of charging stations. 2.149 million public charging stations, accounting for 22%. Among them, there are a total of 5 charging operation enterprises in China that operate over 100000 charging stations, including Special Power, Star Charging, Cloud Fast Charging Operation, State Grid Operation, and Xiaoju Charging Operation.

According to feedback from car owners, the charging stations that have seen significant price increases are mostly found in charging station operators such as Special Power, Star Charging, and Kuaidi, as well as third-party charging service platforms. In addition to electricity fees, service fees have also increased. In addition, e-charging and charging stations operated by car companies are also showing an upward trend.

According to insiders from Zhongxin Jingwei, although the charging stations operated by car companies have also seen some price increases, the main reason for the price increase is the increase in electricity costs caused by the tight summer power supply.

Special call customer service stated that the increase in electricity bills is due to the tightening of electricity supply in summer, and some regions have adopted a time of use electricity price policy. During peak electricity consumption periods, electricity bills may rise, which will increase charging costs. At the same time, the other party stated that they are currently negotiating with the government and power companies to reduce electricity meter usage costs.

As for the increase in service fees, the customer service of the special hotline stated that this is a "pullback to the normal range".

"Due to the disorderly competition at low prices in some cities, service fees have been consistently low, resulting in serious losses for charging operators and affecting investment in charging infrastructure construction. These cities' charging prices have fallen back to the normal range, improving the fairness and transparency of the charging market." said the customer service representative of Telegraph.

Behind the price increase of charging stations is the current situation of most charging station enterprises operating at a loss.

Public information shows that the revenue sources of charging pile enterprises can be divided into three parts, namely electricity service fees, electricity price differences, and value-added services.

Zhang Xiaorong, the director of the Deep Science and Technology Research Institute, publicly stated that the operation of charging piles is a "high investment slow return" business, and pile construction is a heavy asset with a long payback period. The charging pile market is still in the early stages of construction and development, and most charging pile operating companies currently have poor profitability. The charging service business is in a loss making state, mainly relying on businesses other than charging pile services for blood transfusion.

Taking A-share listed company Autoxun as an example, in the first half of 2023, the company is expected to incur a loss of 16 million to 24.5 million yuan. "The new energy electric vehicle charging business is still in a climbing period, and the current sales revenue has not covered cost expenditures," which is one of the reasons for the loss announced by the company.

Expert: Still has a significant advantage over oil prices

Zhang Hong, Secretary General of the New Energy Branch of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, pointed out to China News Service that the frequent price adjustments of charging stations are caused by multiple factors. In addition to operational pressure on the enterprise side, it is currently the peak summer electricity consumption season, and the power supply pressure is greater than usual. "The use of price regulation can alleviate power supply pressure, and in some areas, the electricity consumption of large charging stations has been planned for industrial use. As is well known, the price of industrial electricity is higher than that of civilian electricity."

According to the Notice of the National Development and Reform Commission on Provincial Power Grid Transmission and Distribution Prices and Related Matters for the Third Regulatory Cycle, a new electricity pricing scheme will be implemented in China starting from June 1, 2023. The public charging stations used for charging new energy vehicles generally belong to industrial and commercial electricity, so charging costs have increased in various regions.

Zhang Hong believes that charging facilities have been included in the national basic construction plan, and social capital will also enter on a large scale. With the popularization of charging facilities, the basic factors leading to charging price increases due to insufficient charging facilities will be alleviated.

In addition, the imbalance between supply and demand is also one of the factors leading to an increase in charging prices. According to a research report by CITIC Securities, as of the end of 2022, the stock vehicle to pile ratio in China was 2.5:1, and the ratio of stock new energy vehicles to public charging piles was about 7.1:1, which is still far from the goal of "one vehicle, one pile". The southern region has a relatively large number of new energy vehicles, and the supply-demand contradiction is more prominent, so the price increase is more obvious.

The increase in charging costs not only increases the usage costs of car owners, but also reduces the cost advantage of using new energy vehicles. In the long run, if the cost of electricity continues to rise, will the cost advantage of new energy vehicles be discounted?

Zhang Hong believes that "currently, the cost of using electric vehicles is still much lower than that of gasoline vehicles. Therefore, the sales of new energy vehicles will not fall into weakness due to the so-called increase in charging costs."

At the same time, Zhang Hong pointed out that the classification of peak and valley electricity consumption can allow car owners to charge off peak. He suggested that whether it is a public charging station or a home charging station, car owners can choose to supplement energy during periods of low electricity consumption and appropriate prices.