The electric car offers multiple advantages over another gasoline or diesel. Apart from the lower environmental impact that electric motors have over traditional ones, zero emission vehicles are more efficient compared to those that run on fuel. Although the price of an electric car is higher than that of its internal combustion variant, after a few years the initial outlay is offset by lower fuel consumption.
But to get the most out of an electric car, you have to recharge it with a good energy rate. The best option is to have access to a domestic charger or in another place where the car remains parked for many hours, such as the workplace car park, since in this way a slow charge can be carried out, which is the most economical .
The Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) warns that before installing a domestic charger, electricity rates should be taken into account, since not all operators offer similar prices or the same conditions. This consumer defense association ensures that some companies such as Iberdrola, TotalEnergies or Repsol announce special rates for electric vehicles, but “they contribute almost nothing”.
Although Iberdrola offers an interesting rate of only 3 cents (plus taxes) from 00:00 to 07:00, the OCU denounces that “the rest of the hours are so expensive that it can only be of interest for a supply where there is no daytime consumption”. That is, a garage that has an independent contract or a warehouse, specifies the organization.
The OCU recommends contracting a rate with hourly discrimination that charges a lower price for the kWh consumed at night, although it indicates that there are operators that offer low rates with a single price. The best option is the Octopus tariff, winner of the VII Collective Purchase, with a cost of €0.1093/kWh (0.114765 VAT included). With this fee, traveling 100 kilometers with a car that uses 20 kWh/100 km costs 2.3 euros.
Charging the car outside the home is more expensive than doing it at home, especially when it is necessary to replace a lot of energy in a very short time. It is a situation in which we can find ourselves when moving on roads on a long trip, since most electric cars have a range of autonomy of around 300 kilometers.
On the other hand, the deployment of charging networks is being slow, which is why it is sometimes difficult to plug the car into a supercharger. According to the employer association of vehicle manufacturers, Anfac, there are currently 698 high-power public access charging points, but 3,513 need to be in operation this year to reach the goal of 610,000 charging points that appear in the designed roadmap. by the Government.
The rates offered by the charging stations for fast charging range between 50 and 80 cents per kWh, a very respectable figure compared to what we can find in public parking lots, in shopping centers and even on some streets.
When it comes to accessing slow charging, the price is much cheaper. According to the OCU study, the rates for chargers of up to 50 kW range between 25 and 50 cents. However, we must bear in mind that some establishments offer free recharging, so we can leave the car plugged into the electricity outlet while it is parked.
