Ecotricity Whacks British Drivers With High EV Charging Fee

Ecotricity is the exclusive provider of EV charging equipment on England’s motorways. Recently, it decided the best way to balance the need for chargers along major highways with the cost of operating the system was to impose a flat fee for a 20 minute charge. Ecotricity uses only renewable energy to power its charging stations. The number it came up with is £5 — almost $7.00 before Brexit but more like $6.00 afterwards. British motorists are outraged.

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is one of the best selling plug-in hybrid cars in the UK. 20 minutes on a charger will get the battery to about a 50% state of charge. That’s good for around 15 miles of all electric driving. The same distance would cost around $2.50 in gasoline.

In an email sent out to its users, Ecotricity said: “When we began in July 2011, there was a bit of a chicken and egg situation – people were reluctant to buy electric cars because there were no charging facilities being built, but nobody wanted to build those facilities while there were still so few cars on the road. That’s when we jumped in to help kickstart the electric car revolution in Britain. And that’s going pretty well. Today there are over 40 models to choose from and 64,000 plug-ins on the road. The Electric Highway itself comprises almost 300 electricity pumps – of the fast charging variety.”

The move makes it almost pointless to charge plug-in hybrid vehicles at motorway service stations now. It seems like a step in the wrong direction as more and more manufacturers are adding plug-in hybrid cars to their line-ups. Hyundai launched its new Ioniq hybrid this week — with a plug-in hybrid version set to follow next year. The change in pricing policy comes just as the UK Department for Transport reveal that 45% of drivers are put off buying an electric car due to concerns over charging.

Ecotricity added: “The combination of more cars on the road and faster charging means we’re now delivering two million miles of clean driving each month – all powered from the wind and sun. That’s a great result. It’s also a growing cost. And to keep pace with demand, we need to build more electricity pumps – at existing and new locations. So the time has come for us to charge – for charging. We’ve taken a lot of feedback from EV drivers in order to arrive at the right pricing model. We’ve decided that a simple flat fee of a fiver for a 20 minute fast charge strikes the right balance.”

The ‘pay-per-use’ EV charging system is being rolled out across the network starting on Monday July 11 and is expected to be completed by Friday August 5. EV drivers who wish to continue to use the Ecotricity stations will have to download the company’s mobile app, which will show available chargers and allow them to pay online.

One of the selling points for electric cars is supposed to be lower operating costs compared to gasoline and diesel. That equation still works for cars like the Nissan LEAF but not for the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Perhaps the charging fee is fair. After all, it cost a lot of money to install and maintain 300 DC fast chargers. But the time allowed may be much too short for the fee assessed. No matter how you slice it, it still has gotten some people upset and is doing nothing to promote driving electric cars. Here’s one tweet from a disgruntled customer.

Mahindra Plans Low Cost EV For British Drivers

Mahindra means diesel powered tractors for most Americans. But the giant industrial manufacturer from India is also keenly interested in the EV market. It already fields a team in Formula E, the international racing series for open wheel cars. Unlike Tesla, which wants to build its electric car company from the top down, Mahindra is more interested in starting at the bottom and working its way up.  It will begin selling it no-frills e20 electric car in the London area soon.

The e20 EV is priced between £10,000 and £13,000, which is equivalent to about between $14,500 and $18,500. It has a maximum range of 75 miles. Its price is about half that of a Nissan LEAF in England. While the LEAF is a larger, better equipped car, half price is still a powerful sales tool.

Arvind Mathew, chief executive of Mahindra’s electric vehicle business, tells Enland’s The Standard, “We want to take [electric cars] out of the elitist market and make it more of a run-of-the-mill thing. Our product is really designed for city commuting, not for long distance driving.” He adds, “Our foray into the UK is purely electric, so it’s a big deal for us because as a brand we don’t exist. From the Mahindra group perspective, this is a huge deal.”

The target market for Mahindra’s E20 EV is young families looking to buy their second car. The e20 will only be available online and it will be delivered directly to the customer’s home. Repairs will be done at home by a fleet of mobile service vehicles. After sales begin in London, the company plans to expand sales to other British cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, and Milton Keynes.

Mahindra’s entry into the UK market started badly when it bought a company called Reva in 2010. Reva manufactured an EV known as the G-Wiz. A perfectly dreadful little car, it was the butt of numerous jokes on Top Gear. Mahindra will be swimming upstream against a tide of negative publicity for a while before customers begin to accept the e20 as something other than a rebadged G-Wiz.

Small urban commuter cars are part of an enormous market worldwide. They are much in demand in China, especially in rural areas where luxury motor cars are less important than basic transportation. By starting at the bottom of the market, Mahindra is following in the footsteps of some other manufacturers who have gone on to modest commercial success — companies like Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, and Kia.

Note to Elon Musk: He who laughs last, laughs best. Don’t be too quick to dismiss Mahindra and its diminutive EV. At least not yet.