There have been numerous cases of exorbitant charges at EV charging stations, with one instance involving a charge of 100,000 yen.
It has been reported that there have been multiple cases of electric vehicle (EV) drivers receiving exorbitant bills of tens of thousands of yen at charging stations. Most recently, a man who used a charging station at an authorized Hyundai dealer was charged $418 (approximately 65,000 yen) for about 40 minutes of charging.
When public charging stations aren't so public, and why it matters
The most recent person to encounter this problem was Stanley Kupenkan, a resident of Michigan. Kupenkan was driving a rented Chevrolet Bolt EV and used the EVgo app to find a charging station, which he found at Elder Hyundai 's Macomb Township dealership.
After charging for approximately 40 minutes, Mr. Kupenkan saw the bill of '$418' and, thinking it was a mistake, contacted EVgo. Ultimately, Elder Hyundai refunded Mr. Kupenkan $405 (approximately 63,000 yen) after communication with EVgo.
This was not a case of incorrect billing. Elder Hyundai explained that '(the charging station used by Mr. Kupenkan) is intended for dealer customers and their vehicles, and is priced high to discourage use by outsiders.' They set a price of $5 per kWh (approximately 780 yen) and added an additional charge of $5 for every minute of connection time.
In Japan, the Japan Fair Trade Council for Home Electrical Appliances uses 31 yen per kWh as a guideline price, which shows just how exorbitant this price is.
According to Steve Burkett, who drives a Hyundai ICONIQ 5, a full charge at a Hyundai authorized dealer's charging station in New Jersey costs $15,000 (approximately 2.34 million yen), and despite the car being capable of 240kW fast charging, it is almost always limited to 50kW-60kW charging.
Furthermore, the report points out that there are few charging stations in total, they cannot be used outside of dealership business hours, and even though information on the location of charging stations is publicly available, users are sometimes not actually allowed to use them.
According to the EV news site Electrek, while gas stations display price information in a location visible from the road, EV charging station operators are not required to display price information, making it entirely possible for unscrupulous operators to set exorbitant prices. Photos of charging stations taken by Burkett show that some are marked 'Not for General Use' and this is not apparent until you get close.
Incidentally, there have been reports on Reddit of people being charged $671.60 (approximately 105,000 yen) at charging stations in Illinois.
What's the most you've ever paid to charge? I'll start…
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