1 yuan per minute, car owners complained that it was too expensive! some people found that there was an extra "space fee" after charging, which was even more than the charging fee...
2024-09-11
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according to the data from the china charging alliance, by the end of june 2024, the total number of charging infrastructure in china will be 10.243 million. during the same period, the number of new energy vehicles in china reached 24.72 million. based on this, the share of new energy vehicles in china in terms of charging piles is estimated.on average, there is one charging station for every 2.4 new energy vehicles.
image source: visual china
with the popularization of new energy vehicles, the demand for charging piles continues to increase. charging stations built by some car companies have begun to charge "overtime occupancy fees", usually one yuan per minute, to improve the efficiency of charging pile use.
many car owners have reported that some new energy vehicle charging stations lack clear charging reminders and signs, causing them to passively bear high fees.this matter has caused controversy.
some people pay more for "occupancy fees" than charging fees
according to shangguan news, recently, some shanghai citizens reported that some charging stations secretly charged car owners high "space fees" without any reminders or clear instructions. citizen mr. cai is a taxi driver. one early morning in early august, he chose xiaopeng motors' fast charging pile to charge at the ground parking lot of ledongli gymnasium, no. 377 panjing road, baoshan district. after he parked, he scanned the qr code on the charging pile, logged into the lianlian charging pro app, plugged in the charging port and went back to the car to wait. he remembered that the app showed that charging was free of parking for 2 hours, so he played with his mobile phone with peace of mind. at about 4 a.m., estimating that the "limited free time" was about to end, mr. cai unplugged the charger and drove out of the parking space.the order showed that he needed to pay 47.12 yuan, of which 29 yuan was a seat fee.
image source: shangguan news
what is the parking fee? mr. cai quickly looked through the introduction interface of the charging station and saw that in addition to the description of "charging is limited and free, gates are exempted", there is another line of small words"if you fail to unplug the gun and leave the parking space within 30 minutes after charging, a parking fee of 1 yuan per minute will be charged."turn out to be,his vehicle had finished charging at 3:46 am. although parking fees were limited, "parking fees" were incurred."why didn't i receive a reminder to move my car? besides, this is a suburb, and there is no shortage of charging parking spaces." he also thought that the charging standards for parking spaces were not clearly displayed."if i park for one night, wouldn't i have to pay hundreds of dollars in parking fees in addition to the parking fee?"
mr. cai contacted the app customer service, who said that the charge was a business operation of the charging station. he then asked the customer service staff of the charging station brand, who responded that there was a description of the charging station on site that charged for occupying a space, implying that mr. cai did not read it carefully.as for the upper limit of fees, it is set internally but has not been made public.
it is understood that the original intention of charging "occupancy fees" is to increase the utilization rate of charging piles under tight charging resources and avoid hindering the use of other car owners. the reporter found that the charging standards vary depending on the brand and location of the charging piles.some brands automatically count the occupancy time within a certain period of time after the battery is fully charged, while others dynamically adjust the charging price based on the idle rate in the station.
in this regard, some netizens believe that this is an effective means to regulate charging resources, and high occupancy fees can discourage the behavior of occupying parking spaces. other netizens believe that parking fees can be collected, but they cannot be collected arbitrarily, and the charging standards need to be fully informed and publicized.
charge information is hidden in "corners and corners"
according to china national radio, recently, ms. zhang from jinan, shandong, went to a theme park. after her car was charged at the charging pile in the parking lot, the operatorone dollar per minutean "overtime seat fee" is charged according to the standard.ms. zhang finally paid 40.72 yuan for charging fee, 11.8 yuan for service fee, 46 yuan for parking fee, and 8 yuan for parking fee, which means that the parking fee was more than the charging fee.ms. zhang said that before charging the "occupancy fee", the charging pile operator did not give any reminders, and the charging standards were not clearly publicized.“the fee information is displayed in a font that is smaller than normal, making it difficult to notice.”
the unobtrusive billing rules on a charging station app. image source: china national radio
a reporter from china national radio found more than 400 complaints on an online complaint platform. many car owners said that the charging pile operators charged high parking fees without informing them.after he finished charging his electric car downstairs in the company, he was forced to pay a "space fee" of 120 yuan without any warning.
the car owner, mr. he, said that he had been charged 30 yuan for an hour of overtime "occupancy fee" without any reminder. he believes that this "occupancy fee" is too expensive and unreasonable, whether from the perspective of parking or charging. the reporter called the operator of the charging pile reported by mr. he, and the customer service staff said that the standard for charging "occupancy fee" is set by the charging station, and whether there is a reminder for charging "occupancy fee".the customer service staff said that consumers need to add reminders themselves.
mr. he said that the "occupancy fee" is set by the station, and the platform itself does not charge this fee. "before scanning the code to start charging, relevant information will be displayed andthere is an option to turn on sms instructions below the charging order. the owner needs to turn it on manually to receive reminders. if you do not choose to turn it on, you will not receive any notifications.he added that in some places, a prompt will pop up when scanning the code to charge, informing the car owner that a "space fee" will be charged.
the reporter of china national radio randomly downloaded several charging station apps that were widely used by users and noticed that the relevant charging reminders were not eye-catching enough.some charging fee reminders are only presented in a smaller gray font, and the charging standards of each company vary. some show that the overtime "space fee" is capped at 100 yuan, while others have no upper limit.
many car companies set up "occupancy fees" for charging piles
industry insiders: there are no relevant regulations on charging standards
according to a previous report by xinhua news agency, in august last year, xiaopeng motors issued an announcement stating that it would severely crack down on the behavior of "occupying a charging station". the announcement stated that if a car owner is found to be "occupying a charging station", xiaopeng motors will remind the owner through text messages, phone calls, etc., andfrom the moment you reserve a seat, an additional charge of 1 yuan per minute will be charged.if the car owner does not pay the fee on time, it will affect the normal use of the xiaopeng self-operated charging station.xiaopeng motors reserves 30 minutes in case the owner cannot unload the gun in time after charging is completed.
using the method of charging overtime to avoid charging piles being occupied has also become a common choice for car companies such as tesla, zeekr, and nio.tesla previously introduced that if the owner does not vacate the parking space within 5 minutes after fully charging, a certain parking space fee may be charged.when the number of idle charging piles exceeds half, no occupancy fee will be charged; when the number of idle charging piles is less than 50%, the charging pile occupancy fee is 3.2 yuan/minute; if the charging pile utilization rate reaches 100%, the overtime occupancy fee is 6.4 yuan/minute.
according to china national radio, mr. liu, a shanghai new energy vehicle industry insider,there are currently no relevant regulations on the charging standards for "overtime seat fees"."at present, my country has not yet established corresponding technical standards, industry standards or laws and regulations to constrain and supervise charging pile charges. if there are no relevant rules, it is completely reasonable and legal for companies to supervise and remind in their own way, which is in line with the development laws of the market economy."
tang jiansheng, deputy secretary general of the shanghai consumer rights protection committee, believes that although there is no uniform charging standard for "seat reservation fees",industry supervision should emphasize that charges should be more open and transparent, and strengthening reminders should be the operator's obligation.
tang jiansheng said that operators should make very clear reminders to consumers, and reasonable "space fee" standards should be accompanied by more friendly reminder methods. for example, merchants can obtain consumers' mobile phone numbers or use apps to make timely notifications to ensure consumers' right to know.
daily economic news is compiled from shangguan news, china national radio, xinhua news agency, and public information
