E-drivers have it easy: Instead of diesel, super and petrol, there is only one type of fuel for them: electricity. However, it is much more difficult to find out the price for charging with electricity.
Fuel prices are one of the favorite topics during the breakfast break or in between. Most people know what a liter of diesel or petrol currently costs. For e-car drivers, on the other hand, this is often not so clear. Here it is calculated in cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) and the prices vary between 0 and around 75 cents.
Depending on whether you fill up at home, at a public charging station or at work and whether you are charging normally or at a fast charging station. Why are there these differences and how do I find the cheapest price?
If you don't have the opportunity to recharge your batteries at home, you can't avoid public charging stations. However, while the price per liter can be read from large panels at classic petrol stations, this is not the case for charging stations. The only thing that helps here is to compare the prices yourself, because the price per kilowatt hour can vary depending on the provider.
"Similar to gas stations, it's worth checking several provider apps and finding the cheapest tariff for you," says Sandra Duy, energy expert from the "Finanztip" money guide. The reason for the price differences are different tariffs and the contracts that a charging card provider has concluded with the local charging station operator.
In addition to the provider apps, there are also applications that show who is offering their electricity at a charging station and at what price. "Apps like Ladefuchs offer a quick price comparison," says Carina Belluomo from the trade journal "Auto, Motor und Sport". Anyone who has charging cards from several providers can then choose the cheapest option and quickly save 10 to 20 cents per kilowatt hour.
The Federal Association of Consumers has determined average prices of between 35 and 50 cents per kilowatt hour for slower charging with alternating current (AC), and customers pay between 45 and 75 cents for fast chargers (DC). Significant deviations, however, are not uncommon. Sites such as "GoingElectric" or "ChargeFinder" offer a comprehensive overview of the charging stations in Germany and list the providers from which electricity can be refueled there. According to the ADAC, there are now a good 72,000 publicly accessible charging points.
How much electricity actually costs at the charging station also depends on how an app is used. "Some providers have subscription models where you can charge the electricity at a significantly lower price for a monthly basic fee, which is usually between three and ten euros," says Sandra Duy.
The energy expert believes that these subscription models are more economical for those who have no way of charging their Stromer at home or at work. The electricity is usually paid for via the customer account, in which a credit card is stored, for example. "However, ad-hoc charging is now also possible at many charging stations, for which no customer account is required," says Duy.
Then the activation takes place, for example, via a QR code or an SMS. According to "Finanztip", the prices for this type of charging have often been higher in the past.
It is usually cheaper if you can charge the car at your home wall box, i.e. at the household network. "Then the electricity price that the customer pays for their own four walls also applies to the electric car," says Carina Belluomo. The electricity price brake of 40 cents per kilowatt hour also applies here.
Depending on the electricity provider, special car electricity tariffs can sometimes be booked for the home wall box, which are cheaper. Whether it's worth it depends heavily on how much fuel is being used.
According to "Finanztip", an electric car consumes between 15 and 30 kWh per 100 km. The higher the electricity costs, the more expensive driving an e-car becomes.
"But a second electricity tariff also requires a second electricity meter, a smart meter, for which additional annual costs of up to 100 euros are due," says Sandra Duy. Conversely, electricity providers would sometimes also offer reduced tariffs for households with very high electricity consumption. "So it can make sense to let the wall box run on the house electricity."
It is even cheaper if the car power is generated by your own photovoltaic system. According to "Finanztip", the electricity costs are then 12 to 16 cents per kilowatt hour, because the production of your own electricity first requires investments in a solar system. One speaks here of electricity generation costs.
According to most model calculations, however, they pay off after 20 years at the latest. "We calculated this for a family of four with an electric car and a power consumption of 7000 kWh per year and came to a saving of 280 euros after 20 years," says Belluomo. After these 20 years, the investment costs were amortized.
Ideally, the electricity flows into the car for free, but this is possible at fewer and fewer charging points. "The time of free petrol pumps is almost over, there are only a few supermarkets that offer that," says Belluomo. Some companies offer their employees free charging in the company car park.
And if you drive an older Tesla, you may be able to use it for free. Because until a few years ago, the electric car manufacturer sometimes granted new customers of a Model S or Model X free refueling at the company's own superchargers - sometimes for the life of the car.
