Exactly how much it costs to charge at a publicly accessible charging station is a complicated issue. We find that charging station and charging card providers in the market do not always provide transparency on the exact price or on the additional costs charged. We want to deal with this differently and be clear and transparent about the structure of pricing and the costs charged.

First of all, it does not matter whether a charge point is registered “public,” “semi-public” or private. The difference is in the activation of “roaming” on the charge point to allow paid transactions with third parties. This can be independent of where they are located. If they are on public property, a “public charge point” is always required to activate “roaming” and the tender when awarded determines the rate to charge electricity. If they are on private property, say from a company, then it is a “semi-public charge point” and the company determines the rate. But that rate determined by the owner of the charge point is not simply one-to-one the price paid by the final user. We briefly explain the parties in between and how the final rate is set.

The Charging Station

The party managing the charging station on behalf of the owner is called the C harge P oint O perator. The owner will ask the CPO to set a rate for charging. The rate can be set with three different parameters: 1. a rate per minute (during charging and/or when the car is fully charged) 2. a rate per kwh of electricity charged 3. a starting rate Any combination between these three rate options is possible. The owner asks the CPO to set a tariff with which he/she will cover the investment cost of the infrastructure (Charging post + cabling and fuses and possibly even a medium voltage cabin or distribution box). On the other hand, there is also the purchase cost of the electricity that the owner wants to recover. On top of that there are costs for maintenance, repair or vandalism that are provided for.

What is the revenue model of the CPO? For managing a charge point, monthly hosting fees apply to bring the charge point online with a data sim card and activate “roaming” so that the charge point becomes accessible for payment with a third-party charge card. In addition, there is the option – obviously mandatory for public charge points – but not for semi- or private ones to share the location of the charge point with common apps. For each transaction at a charge point, CPOs can also charge a transaction fee based on the same 3 parameters that the owner can set. This fee is then deducted from the fee to the owner and shown on the invoice. For own charge cards where there is no settlement with third parties, these CPO surcharges are often exempt, but it is best to ask explicitly. Stroohm charges a rate of 0.05€/kwh for charging sessions with third-party charge cards and does not charge a starting rate or a rate per minute. These costs are intended to cover the support and questions of the end users on the one hand and to cover the financial transactions and collection costs for third party receipts on the other hand.