Maxwell Philp, Director of Public Relations | Plugsurfing & Corpay

Public EV charging prices are about much more than electricity. They reflect the full cost of building and running a reliable charging network – and that involves infrastructure, operations, service layers, and policy stability.

Charging Point Operators (CPOs) set the base price for public charging, covering installation, rent, grid fees, maintenance, and energy costs. On top of this, e-Mobility Service Providers (eMSPs) – like Plugsurfing – add costs for customer access, payment processing, platform development, and customer support services.

At Plugsurfing, we process pricing data from over 500 CPOs across Europe. Rates vary by location, charging speed, and sometimes even time of day. Some are fixed, some are dynamic. Our role is to make this complexity manageable for drivers, OEM partners, and fleet managers alike so that they can stay in control.

One common misconception is that charging prices should fall as electricity prices drop. But many of the costs behind public charging – from customer support to hardware upkeep – are fixed. And while some operators buy energy on the spot market, many rely on longer-term contracts to avoid price shocks. Grid tariffs, too, tend to rise as networks expand.

There’s another layer to this: policy stability. Clear, long-term regulation gives investors confidence. When policies shift unpredictably, capital becomes more expensive, projects slow down, and charging costs rise. Stable rules help keep borrowing costs low, expand infrastructure faster, and ultimately give drivers better value.

If we want EV charging to be affordable and future-proof, we need to understand the full cost stack – and build a policy environment that supports long-term investment. Prices may not always follow the energy market, but with the right foundation, they can stay predictable and fair.

For Charge Point Operators like GreenWay, the utilisation of a charging station is the most important metric. For EV drivers, this translates into a number of key factors: the convenience and ease of access to the location, the reliability of the network, whether the charger delivers the advertised power, the availability of nearby amenities, and, though not actually a top priority, the price.  

(A recent survey of GreenWay customers ranked these factors in order of importance:

• 24/7 availability

• Free parking

• Guaranteed connector power

• Power of the charging station

• Distance from major roads

• Number of charging stations at one location

• Possibility of payment by card*

• Proximity to services (shops, restaurant, toilet)

• Ergonomics of the charging station (cable length, width of parking spaces)

• Charging station amenities (e.g., roofing, monitoring, lighting, trash bins)

• Aesthetics and cleanliness of the station and the location surroundings

* In Croatia, the ability to pay by card is the second most important factor, as these chargers are highly used by customers of other EMPs during the holiday season.)

Responsible operators of EV charging equipment take a number of steps to ensure the reliability and uptime of their network.

It begins in the procurement phase. At GreenWay, we carry out thorough due diligence and compatibility testing across a wide range of products to determine which are of sufficiently high quality, compatible with our software, reasonably priced, and supported by reliable after-sales service. Products are tested before being added to our network, and only then do we place an order.

When installing charging stations, we follow the manufacturer’s specifications to ensure optimal performance, safety, and warranty coverage. This is especially important for public fast-charging hardware, which is often located outdoors, exposed to the elements, and used frequently by a wide range of people.

Maintenance schedules are set according to manufacturer specifications – different chargers require different inspection intervals – but each charger is physically inspected at least once per year. Remote monitoring via our charge point management system enables us to detect and address many issues as they arise. We also encourage users to report any problems with the hardware or location, so we can resolve them as quickly as possible. In parallel, we ensure that our stations are easily discoverable via navigation apps and roaming platforms because visibility is essential to both user confidence and charger utilisation.

Firmware updates provided by the hardware manufacturer are included in our standard contracts, ensuring cybersecurity, up-to-date compatibility with the latest EVs, and ongoing interoperability.

Uptime – the percentage of time a charger is operational and available to the public – is one of our key performance indicators. In addition to the preventive measures mentioned above, we maintain a dedicated service and maintenance team. This team, or a contracted local partner in areas where we don’t have nearby staff, is ready to respond to issues requiring on-site intervention within 24 hours.

Of course, even if the charger and energy infrastructure are functioning properly, customer-side issues may still arise, from confusion about how to start a session, to connectivity or payment problems. Under no circumstances do we want an EV driver to be stranded or left without support. That’s why we provide 24/7 customer assistance, in both the local language and English, through our Customer Help Centre. Our team is trained to guide users through the charging process and resolve a wide variety of issues. More complex cases can be escalated when needed.

While costly, these efforts are essential to building and operating a public EV charging network that customers can rely on.

At GreenWay, we’re proud of our 98.4% uptime rate, our 97.8% connectivity rate, and our over 90% customer satisfaction rate.

Many people think that charging at a station simply means purchasing energy so that if the price of electricity goes down, the price of charging should automatically follow. This doesn’t happen because it’s much more complex than that. Charging a car at a public charger is not the same as charging at home or at a workplace, for starters. In addition, charging operators are not just "energy resellers" who simply pass on the electricity price to EV drivers.

Charge Point Operators face significant investments in designing, building, installing, and maintaining charging stations to provide a reliable and seamless charging experience. All these costs must be factored into the price of the service offered to the consumer.  

One cost is the cost of the charger itself, which is higher for Direct Current (DC) fast chargers that are usually placed at public locations. Then, CPOs invest in maintenance, customer service, software updates, and payment systems to keep stations running smoothly and securely.   

The price of charging depends also on the energy contract: some CPOs use spot market opportunities to save money, but this can lead to price spikes. To avoid this, many operators prefer long-term contracts for stable and predictable rates. Long-term agreements help CPOs avoid the price spikes of the spot market, but in turn it means that charging prices won't drop immediately when energy prices fall. 

The CPO pays also for grid tariffs due to the connection of the charging station. Grid tariffs often stay the same but can also increase when the grid is upgraded to meet EV demand.  

These infrastructure and operational costs remain even as the price of electricity decreases; that is why public charging prices can remain relatively stable even when energy prices are lower.  

Expanding electric vehicle charging infrastructure is no small feat. Charge Point Operators are making significant investments to build and operate charging stations across Europe, ensuring the infrastructure is ready as more people make the switch to electric mobility.

At this stage of the market, many charging stations are still operating with relatively low utilisation rates. That’s because, although EV adoption is growing, the number of vehicles on the road is still catching up. To keep expanding ahead of demand, CPOs need to maintain a pricing model that ensures long-term financial sustainability. Over time, as more EVs hit the road and usage increases, economies of scale will help bring costs down.

This is where policy predictability becomes essential. A clear, stable regulatory roadmap — backed by consistent and credible political commitments — gives companies and their investors the confidence to make large, long-term investments. It helps unlock the capital needed to grow the network at the pace the transition requires.

On the other hand, policy uncertainty comes at a cost. When governments send mixed signals through shifting targets, unclear timelines, or inconsistent support, it undermines market confidence. Investors become more cautious, financing becomes more expensive, and ultimately, the cost of building and operating charging stations rises.

In short: to keep EV charging affordable and accelerate the clean mobility transition, we need consistent, long-term policy signals — not uncertainty.