Joined
·
454 Posts
We all bemoan the shortage of (working!) 50kW Rapid Chargers, and hopefully Ionity/Shell/BP are going to plug (!) the gap soon, and give us 100kW ones too. But I do wonder how they're going to make any money from it.
To be useful, we need banks of 6,12, maybe more chargers per site, enough so that even at peak times, at least one will be empty. That implies a very low utilisation of very expensive kit. I don't know how much a 100kW DC charger costs, but it must be a lot. Then the infrastructure to supply the site with perhaps a MegaWatt of power. And utilities usually charge industrial users more on the basis of their peak power than their energy consumption. All of which adds up high up-front and running costs with poor utilisation and a dubious return on a very large investment.
I think we should expect to pay what may seem at face value to be "extortionate" prices for the use of very rapid chargers. Comparison with unit costs of electricity for home charging is not realistic or fair. We will be paying to save time, and even the most parsimonious of owners is probably prepared to pay, say, £25 extra for a 50kWh-hr charge achieved in 30mins rather than 1hr. That's 50p/unit premium over the accepted cost of a 50kW charge (30p/unit on Ecotricity if you can find a working one). I know Ionity's "launch price" is only £8 per session, but what will it be in 2019 or 2020?
But as most users will get 90% of their electricity from home charging, and as those that are using en route 100kW chargers frequently are probably business users whose time is even more valuable than recreational drivers, this shouldn't really worry us. But I think it is important that we are prepared to pay high prices, at least for a few years, to ensure we get the infrastructure. Once there is a surfeit of chargers, market forces will determine the "fair" price, which may come down again as the cost of the hardware reduces.
This is all just my personal opinion. What do others think?
To be useful, we need banks of 6,12, maybe more chargers per site, enough so that even at peak times, at least one will be empty. That implies a very low utilisation of very expensive kit. I don't know how much a 100kW DC charger costs, but it must be a lot. Then the infrastructure to supply the site with perhaps a MegaWatt of power. And utilities usually charge industrial users more on the basis of their peak power than their energy consumption. All of which adds up high up-front and running costs with poor utilisation and a dubious return on a very large investment.
I think we should expect to pay what may seem at face value to be "extortionate" prices for the use of very rapid chargers. Comparison with unit costs of electricity for home charging is not realistic or fair. We will be paying to save time, and even the most parsimonious of owners is probably prepared to pay, say, £25 extra for a 50kWh-hr charge achieved in 30mins rather than 1hr. That's 50p/unit premium over the accepted cost of a 50kW charge (30p/unit on Ecotricity if you can find a working one). I know Ionity's "launch price" is only £8 per session, but what will it be in 2019 or 2020?
But as most users will get 90% of their electricity from home charging, and as those that are using en route 100kW chargers frequently are probably business users whose time is even more valuable than recreational drivers, this shouldn't really worry us. But I think it is important that we are prepared to pay high prices, at least for a few years, to ensure we get the infrastructure. Once there is a surfeit of chargers, market forces will determine the "fair" price, which may come down again as the cost of the hardware reduces.
This is all just my personal opinion. What do others think?
