Why are EV charging fees rising?
Industry experts said that electric vehicle owners should be guided to charge during low hours and participate in peak shaving.
Recently, electric vehicle owners in Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Qingdao and other places have reported that charging costs have risen significantly, and the increase in peak hours in some regions has even reached 87%. A Shanghai car owner said that the charging fee in the same time period in Shanghai has risen from the previous 1.15 yuan / kWh to 2.15 yuan / kWh.
Taking the charging station of Star Charging Ocean Building in Huangpu District, Shanghai as an example, the reporter of "China Energy News" inquired about the Star Charging App and learned that the charging price during peak hours from 8:00 to 12:00 am in the city was 1.75 yuan / kWh, and the charging price during peak hours from 12:00 to 14:00 rose to 2.10 yuan / kWh.
The level of charging costs is directly related to the cost of using electric vehicles. Why has the cost of charging electric vehicles quietly risen recently?
The widening of the peak-to-valley price difference pushes up the charging fee
The charging fee for electric vehicles using public charging piles includes two parts: electricity and service charges. "Every time the owner charges, he has to pay the electricity and service charges. In summer, the power supply is tight, and some areas have adopted time-of-use electricity price policies. As a result, electricity bills will rise during peak periods. The staff related to the special call said that the charging fee of the special call is charged to the customer according to the access electricity price of the venue. At the same time, Tremordial is also negotiating with local governments and power companies to reduce electricity meters to reduce the cost of electricity access.
Since the beginning of summer this year, high temperature weather in many places in China has frequently appeared, resulting in an increase in electricity load, and in July, many places across the country began to implement peak electricity prices. Taking Shanghai as an example, the peak hours of general industrial and commercial and other two-part and large-scale industrial two-part electricity consumption are 8:00-15:00, 18:00-21:00, weekdays are 6:00-8:00, 15:00-18:00, 21:00-22:00, and the trough is 22:00-6:00 the next day. Among them, 12:00-14:00 in July and August is the peak period. Electricity prices during peak hours are 80% higher than the flat electricity price, low hours electricity prices are 60% lower than the flat electricity price, and peak hour electricity prices are 25% higher than peak hours.
According to statistics, in July this year, a total of 20 provinces and cities implemented peak electricity prices, and the maximum peak-to-valley price difference in 19 provinces and cities exceeded 0.7 yuan. In July, the highest peak-to-valley price difference in the country was Shanghai, and when large industries implemented the two-part system of 1.5 times the peak electricity price, the peak-to-valley price difference was 1.8923 yuan/kWh. The area with the largest peak-to-valley electricity price difference since August is still Shanghai, and when large industries implement the two-part system of 1.5 times the peak electricity price, the peak-valley price difference can reach up to 1.9027 yuan/kWh.
In this regard, Tong Zongqi, deputy secretary-general of the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, said in an interview with China Energy News: "In fact, the recent price change of charging service fees is small, but due to the implementation of peak electricity prices in some regions, the previous flat electricity price has turned into a peak electricity price, which in turn pushes up the overall charging cost." ”
In May this year, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the Notice on Provincial Power Grid Transmission and Distribution Prices and Related Matters in the Third Regulatory Cycle, showing that a new electricity price plan was implemented from June 1, gradually classifying the electricity prices of users into three categories: residential life, agricultural production and industrial and commercial electricity (except for the implementation of residential life and agricultural production electricity prices), and the electricity consumption of large charging stations was classified as industrial electricity. Compared with residential electricity and agricultural electricity, the price of industrial electricity is relatively high.
Service fee increase
It has little impact on this price increase
Tong Zongqi further introduced that in fact, some operators are also raising charging service fees recently. "At present, the utilization rate of some public charging piles that have been built is not high, resulting in charging operators still in a loss-making state, and the cost payback cycle is long. Therefore, the charging service fee of some operators will increase to a certain extent. ”
In this regard, e-charging related staff said that the upper limit of the service fee standard of commercial charging piles is formulated by the price supervisor of the provincial people's government or his authorized unit to make up for the operating costs of charging facilities.
In fact, in recent years, the difficulty of profitability has always plagued charging pile operators. Taking the special call from the head enterprise of charging pile operation as an example, from 2019 to 2022, its net profit after deduction of non-attributable parent was -165 million yuan, -269 million yuan, -135 million yuan, and -26 million yuan, respectively, and has not yet achieved profitability.
So, can the increase in charging service fees solve the profitability of pile enterprises? Tong Zongqi calculated an account for the reporter of "China Energy News": "Taking Zhengzhou as an example, in the first half of this year, the average charging service fee of the city's public stations was two cents per kWh, calculated according to the construction of 10 120-kilowatt double gun piles per station, even if 30% of its construction cost can be subsidized by the government, it is still difficult for enterprises to recover costs within 8 years." However, if the service fee is charged at three cents per kWh, it will be recouped in about 6 years. This means that the increase in charging service fees can provide greater profit support for pile enterprises. ”
"At present, the national average charging service fee is about four cents per kWh, but different operators adopt different pricing strategies in different regions, so real-time adjustment of service fees is also a routine operation, but it has little to do with the increase in electric vehicle charging fees." Tong Zongqi emphasized.
Guide car owners to participate in peak shaving and valley filling
It is understood that the charging service fee standard follows the market-oriented pricing principle as a whole, but some local governments will also have pricing restrictions on service fees. In Tong Zongqi's view, the early construction investment of charging piles and the quality of supporting services all affect the price of charging service fees.
In terms of electricity prices, the Notice on Further Improving the Time-of-Use Electricity Pricing Mechanism issued by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2021 clarifies that where the peak-to-valley difference rate of the largest system is expected to exceed 40% in the previous year or current year, the peak-to-valley electricity price difference shall not be less than 4:1 in principle, and in other places in principle, it shall not be less than 3:1. In principle, the proportion of peak electricity price on the basis of the peak electricity price shall not be less than 20%.
So, will the peak-valley spread widen further in the future? How should electric car owners choose the charging time?
Chen Haoyong, director of the Institute of Electric Power Economy and Power Market of the School of Electric Power of South China University of Technology, said that whether the peak-valley price difference will further widen in the future depends on the design of the price mechanism. "In a market environment, it is theoretically impossible to control what the peak-to-valley spread is, because prices are formed by voluntary trading in the market."
"Under the new power system, the peak-valley difference of the net load will become larger and larger, although in the real market transaction, the peak-valley price difference is not completely controllable, but objectively it is necessary to further widen the peak-valley price difference, which can better guide the orderly charging of electric vehicles." Chen Haoyong believes that if the electricity price is not high during peak hours, it can also try to reduce the price during low hours to guide electric vehicles to charge during low hours.
In this regard, Tong Zongqi expressed a similar view. He suggested that EV owners should be guided to charge during low hours to participate in peak shaving.
Wen 丨 Reporter Yang Zi of this newspaper
Produced | China Energy News (ID: cnenergy)
Editor丨Yan Zhiqiang