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.