Why is DC fast charging so expensive? (self.newzealand)

submitted 1 week ago by absGeekNZ to c/newzealand

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I recently drove my EV from Taupō to Auckland and back.

ChargeNet is great and all, very nice quick charging. But wow is it expensive.

$0.99/kWh on a Sunday afternoon. That is 2.5x what I pay at home, and probably 10x the wholesale rate which they are buying power at.

I am an engineer, so I understand the complexities of delivering huge power loads at a moments notice. But is it really worth the 10x markup?

For context my EV gets approx 5.5km/kWh ~20c/km; vs my ute at currently 32c/km. It would be cheaper running a small petrol car rather than an EV using public charging.

I mostly charge at home at ~19c/kWh; or ~4c/km which is much more reasonable. Long trips are a killer.

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[-] Venator 2 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Early "Christmas present" from Genesis energy: they now limit it to 500kwh per month and cut you off entirely if you use 500kwh two months in a row...

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[-] absGeekNZ 2 points 11 hours ago

500kWh/month seems like a lot.

But in saying that I would have used 120 kWh in a 2.5 day period. So if I regularly travel to Auckland or even Hamilton; maybe needing to visit a sick parent or similar. I could easily get to 500kWh in a month.

I know someone who, until they died, used to travel to Hamilton from Taupō at least twice a week to see their sick dad. This went on for around two years. At around 300km per round trip, that is 6-900km/week. Say average is 700km/wk or 2800km/month. A good EV will get 17kWh/100km on the open road; 20kWh/100km for a mid range EV. So we are talking 474-560kWh/motnh.

You better hope that at least 1/2 of your charging is at home over night.