Biggest EV fast-charge company raising prices, but you can get a discount

Electrify America, the largest supplier of high-powered DC fast charging for electric vehicles, will increase prices 16%-25% March 6, depending on local electric regulations. Drivers who pay $4 a month for EA’s premium Pass+ discount status will continue to pay less than walk-up customers at EA’s 3,500 charging kiosks, but prices will rise for them, too.

DC fast charging is key to the widespread adoption of EVs because it makes long road trips practical by reducing charging time to levels competitive with gasoline vehicles.

DC fast chargers work several times faster than the 240v chargers EV users commonly use at home. They are also more expensive.

EA’s prices will increase from 31 cents a kilowatt hour to 36 cents for subscribers to its Pass+ discount rate. It’s EA’s first rate increase since 2020.

Some states require electricity to be resold at a price per minute rather than by the kilowatt. In those states, the Pass+ rate increases from 12 cents to 15 cents a minute at chargers delivering up to 90 kW, and from 24 cents to 29 cents per minute at chargers providing up to 350 kW.

More:I saved nearly $37 vs. gasoline on my EV road trip. Most EV owners do better.

Members save about 25%

Pass+ customers save about 25% compared with “walk-up” customers who don’t pay the monthly fee.

Drivers without the discount will now pay 48 cents a kWh, or 19 or 37 cents a minute. The subscription fee doesn’t change.

Electrify America proposed this design for charging station signs on interstate highways.

The increases reflect inflation and investments to expand and improve EA’s network. Other leading EV fast-charging companies declined to comment on plans for imminent price hikes.

More:Can you make a long highway drive in an EV? I did 1,100 miles and enjoyed it.

Electrify America currently has about 3,500 DC chargers at 800 locations across the United States and Canada. It aims to increase that to 1,800 locations and 10,000 chargers by 2026.

Contact Mark Phelan: 313-222-6731 or mmphelan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark_phelan. Read more on autos and sign up for our autos newsletterBecome a subscriber.

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