Retail chain Lidl is ending free charging of electric cars at its forty locations. Due to the fact that the price of electricity has risen and also to the owners of electric cars who were charging at stores without going shopping, thus preventing people who, on the contrary, wanted to shop while charging, to take advantage of this benefit.
On the first of August, it was exactly five years since the Lidl retail chain opened the first charging stand for electric cars at its location on Barrandová in Prague. Owners of electric cars could charge them here for free during the time they shopped in the store. Since then, Lidl has built a total of forty such stands in the parking lots of its stores.
But now they are ending free charging, mainly due to the fact that the free electricity was drawn by people who did not buy, thus taking up space for others who would like to buy during the charging cycle.
“During those five years, there was an increase in the number of electric cars and thus an increase in the prices for recharging at public charging stations. This move, of course, led to the fact that electric car drivers began to use our charging stations, which until now were free, even in cases when they did not shop with us. There were often situations where our customers lost the benefit of combining shopping in a store and recharging an electric car, as the charging stations were permanently occupied,” said Tomáš Myler, Lidl’s press spokesman, for Aktuálně.cz.
He also admits that another factor that leads the company to charge for charging is the increase in electricity prices. Lidl did not use any supporting financial subsidy for the construction of charging stands.
The chain tried to set prices favorably. It currently charges CZK 5.90/kWh for slow, so-called AC charging and CZK 6.90 for fast DC charging. “Prices may of course change in the future depending on the price of electricity. However, the customer will always see the current tariff before charging,” informs Myler.
There is a QR code at each charging point, upon reading which the customer will be redirected to the merchant’s website, they must fill in basic information including an e-mail address and pay via the payment gateway. The company wants to integrate the charging function into the customer application over time.
Charging at all forty charging stands is to take place gradually throughout the month of August, so far it has been put into operation at the first few places where Lidl has its store.
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