Demand and unicorn energy policies will only cause more price increases.

Electrify America raises its charging prices nationwide

Expect electric road trips to be a little more expensive in 2023

ZAC PALMER

Feb 3rd 2023 at 12:49PM

Electrify America announced today that it will increase pricing in March this year. As of today, the price per-kWh at EA stations across the country (that charge per-kWh) is $0.43. Come March, that’s going up to $0.48 per-kWh.

For those doing the math at home, that’s an 11.6% increase in charging costs headed your way. To put that into a real-world scenario, charging our long-term 2022 Kia EV6 from 5% to 100% battery on an EA station currently costs approximately $32. With the price increase, that same charge will be nearing $36. Is it going to break the bank? No, but over time the more expensive charging will add up.

If you’re an EA Pass+ member paying the $4 monthly fee for cheaper charging rates, the increase in pricing is even more severe, from $0.31 to $0.36 per-kWh. It’s the same 5-cent increase as non-members are subject to, but that calculates out to a 16% increase in overall costs.

Now, not all states bill your electric car charging by kWh, instead opting for billing by the number of minutes you’re plugged in. Electrify America is, of course, raising rates here, too. If your vehicle is charging at speeds between 1 and 90 kW, the price goes from $0.16 to $0.19 per minute. If your vehicle charges in the 90-350 kW range, the price is going from $0.32 to $0.37 per-minute. Those are increases of 19% and 16% respectively.

If you’re an EA Pass+ member, the price per minute rises from $0.12 to $0.15 per-minute for 1-90 kW charging and from $0.24 to $0.29 per minute for charging faster than that. These increases amount to 25% and 20.8% increases respectively.

For folks who road trip their EVs frequently or rely on public charging, this array of price increases will hit the hardest. However, if you charge at home most of the time, your costs will mainly fluctuate with the cost of electricity where you reside. 

Said cost of electricity is one reason why EA is increasing its prices, too. In a note to customers, EA stated the following: “We’ve tried hard to maintain our current pricing, but rising operational and energy costs have now made adjusting our pricing necessary. We shall continue to maintain simple, uniform pricing across the country, and this adjustment ensures we can uphold our commitment to drive electric vehicle (EV) adoption and the future of electric mobility.”

Customers should expect the new pricing to be implemented on March 6. We can only hope that the price increases allow for EA to increase the reliability of its chargers, too.