E.ON pioneers flexible rates for public charging in Denmark

Charging at half the price? German energy pioneer E.ON is making it possible for Danish EV drivers, as it has unlocked flexible rates at its charging stations in the capital of Copenhagen. The company has been testing dynamic pricing since the beginning of the year and offers it publicly for the first time.

With dynamic pricing, customers pay the electricity rate in real-time. As these tariffs are more advantageous at times of high production and low demand, EV drivers charging at a dynamic rate can benefit from these market fluctuations. Today, public charging is performed at flat rates, so customers miss out on potential cost savings from off-peak hours.

‘Excited about the results’

E.ON also remedies the lack of transparency for public charging, as customers of dynamic pricing are informed about the prices before the charging process.

Unless EV drivers have a subscription with contractual rates, the paid price per kWh at public chargers is usually undisclosed at the later time of billing. The European Commission has agreed on pricing labels for public charging points.

The project in Copenhagen is a test case – and operational since Tuesday – to reveal insights and data about the possibilities and challenges of dynamic charging prices in a real-world environment.

“As one of the first major charging providers in Europe to test this approach, we are excited to see the results of this pilot project,” says Anders Krag, Managing Director for E.ON Drive Infrastructure in Denmark. He also called dynamic pricing a win-win, as it merits both the customer and the environment.

To calculate the exact pricing, E.ON considers the time of charging, the proportion of renewable energy, and the grid capacity. Compared to the flat rates, the company claims that discounts of 50% can be achieved when plugging in under the right conditions.

What the segment needs

As a German provider, E.ON already introduced dynamic pricing at several stations in its homeland. But both the pilot in Augsburg, which concluded at the beginning of the year, and the two DC stations at the premises of Mercedes-Benz were in contained environments. These projects run in collaboration with LEW, a regional energy supplier in Bavaria. The Danish spin-off is the first of its kind in public charging.

That the pricing model enables to pass on spot-market prices to customers is precisely the kind of attractive, innovative solution that the segment needs at this point, according to the company, especially for commercial vehicles.