Imagine having to have a subscription to a petrol station in order to fill up your car?
That’s what ESB, who now run the EV public charge points, are suggesting. The subscription when added to the costs for charging (which is calculated by time rather than kWs transferred) mean that EVs are not economical compared to high efficiency petrol vehicles. In essence an artificial tax.
Then there’s this:
Directive 2014/94/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014
Article 4 Section 9 – All recharging points accessible to the public shall also provide for the possibility for electric vehicle users to recharge on an ad hoc basis without entering into a contract with the electricity supplier or operator concerned.
So the ESB subscription contract, North and South of the border, is actually in contravention of an EU Directive. It will be interesting to see how this progresses.