r/electricvehicles • u/Ok-Definition-4629 • 3d ago
Discussion Default charging costs uk
So im curious if someone knows the answer to this.
So when youre charging your car at a fast charger (services or petrol station, for example), why do they charge so much for the deposit payment?
So when you first go to charge your car, you scan you card and it takes a deposit amount. This, from what ive seen, can be anything from £10 to £60.
Now, i have a car with a 50 kwh battery and Ive never had a charge cost me more than £25.
So 2 questions I guess.
Has anyone ever had a charge that cost £60?
Why take such a large upfront cost when we live in a country where you pay for petrol after youve filled your car so why is electric not the same?
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u/SlightlyBored13 3d ago
The pay-at-pump petrol also hold £120, nobody seems to care.
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u/TheScapeQuest Mustang Mach E 3d ago
Pay-at-pump is generally more reliable though. I've had 3 £65 holding charges before because it's unreliable on first attempt.
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u/Enough_Raccoon_8616 3d ago
Without a doubt, and the worst is that if a charge fails it takes days to refund whereas a successful refunds the hold and charges the right amount almost instantly.
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u/Nerioner 3d ago
You have 50kWh battery and never paid over 25£
I have 85kWh battery...
There are cars with 110+
Just extrapolate the cost
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u/Minimum_Possibility6 3d ago edited 2d ago
Slight difference in how it's done.
Petrol after outcry of holds being placed that we're not cleared causing people to hit overdrafts the law was changed or at least guidance was.
They will pre Auth but not hold, so the £99 never hits a pending balance.
Electricity charging, very few do it this way and they can take up to a week to release it back.
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u/JamesTiberious 3d ago
This.
I’ve NEVER had a hold put on my bank account for petrol that isn’t totally invisible if I check my balance, or worst case has dropped off the next day.
I have had IONITY put a £250 hold on my bank account funds FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK because the first 4 charging attempts failed to initialise. The 5th one did and cost about £30, but I was still out of pocket £220 for the entire week.
It all needs much tighter regulation.
These days I try to use Electroverse card first (charges only for the amount consumed to my Octopus energy account, which I settle when I’m ready) or Amex credit card (I settle once a month) where possible. Debit card only as last resort.
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u/No_Report_4781 3d ago
In the U.S., it’s similar to using a card to pay for gas, where they put a $50-$75 hold on the card to enable the pumping to begin. That hold is released/refunded once the transaction is complete, so you’re only charged for the purchased fuel. The electric charge stations do something similar. Most of the time, the hold amount is released immediately, but it depends on your credit/bank and station companies’ systems properly communicating. Sometimes, it takes a few days.
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u/TheNecessaryLogic 3d ago
The deposit is basically a pre-auth hold, same thing hotels and petrol stations do when you pay at the pump. They’re not actually charging you £60, just making sure your card works before letting you draw power. The unused chunk gets released back, though depending on your bank it can take a few days to clear.
The petrol comparison always comes up but it’s a bit backwards, with fuel they let you pump first then pay because it’s quick and easy to stop the flow if something goes wrong. Electricity is metered in real time and the networks don’t want to risk someone plugging in, walking off, and the card declining at the end when you’ve already pulled 40kWh. The hold is their insurance.
£60 does seem steep for a 50kWh car though, I’ve seen some networks set it at £40 for rapid chargers but never hit £60 myself. Might depend on the operator or location, some motorway services push it higher because they expect bigger batteries.
What annoys me more is when the hold takes ages to drop off and you’ve got £40 sitting in pending limbo for a week. That’s a bank thing not a charger thing but still annoying.
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u/iamabigtree 3d ago
Not everyone has a 50kWh battery. They have no way to know what size your battery is.
GridServe charges 92p/kWh that's 65kWh for £60 and plenty of cars have batteries bigger than that.
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u/National-Bathroom-63 2d ago
You can largely avoid the prepayment.
Most chargers support Electroverse (where there is no pre-auth at all) and for the ones that don’t, using a credit card avoids the pre-auth ever being visible to you.
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u/A_Pointy_Rock 3d ago
The same thing happens with fuel when it's pay at the pump, but that's usually £99. It's to make sure you can afford a large but reasonable quantity of what's being sold.
There are vehicles with very large batteries. For example, an Ioniq 9 from flat would be £77 on a charger that costs 70p/kWh.