Regional monopolies, anti-competitive practices squeeze e-car owners

The daily routines of electric vehicle owners are made more complicated and expensive by high charging rates and few charging station, according to a press release from LichtBlick. The green energy provider writes that, in some cases, seven of the 11 charging station operators in Germany charge rates far higher than the average kilowatt hour price of household electricity – sometimes nearly double. “The charging infrastructure is a chaotic patchwork quilt. Regional monopolists dictate prices and create a Babylonian jumble of maps, apps, and payment systems. At the end, it’s the customer who loses,” says Gero Lücking, energy industry leader at LichtBlick.

Read the press release in German here.

For background, read the dossier The energy transition and Germany’s transport sector.