Tesla Superchargers too expensive: save with the Elli charge pass

The kWh prices at the Tesla Supercharger stations in Europe have become less and less competitive over the recent years. I travel abroad almost exclusively for business with my Tesla Model 3 LR AWD, and over the years I have seen Tesla’s kWh prices in general only increase. Tesla has of course heavily invested in their charging network, and that investment is huge, so I have a little understanding for it. In addition, the kWh purchase prices for Tesla have also risen sharply with the current “energy crisis”. But still, I see the advantage Tesla had slowly evaporating.

If I take as an example the kWh prices in Germany, then you paid €0.33 for 1 kWh to Tesla in July 2019. Looking at the prices now, they currently vary in Germany somewhere between €0.55 and €0.58 per kWh depending on location and time. We are thus approaching a doubling of the price for the same kWh. Plus, Tesla has — and is increasingly — opening their Supercharger network to non-Tesla’s. That’s something I very much welcome, but with the current price structure the advantage of driving a Tesla compared to a non-Tesla starts to fade.

With the aforementioned let me say dissatisfaction, I received the news 2 months ago that Volkswagen was also going to open up their Elli charging service for drivers of non-Volkswagen group EVs, with Germany as the market where this service would be introduced first. By doing this, Volkswagen wants to contribute to accelerating the electrification of passenger cars. Elli is marketing 3 rates with fixed prices for 12 months (which is also the contract duration), whereby as a non-Volkswagen group EV driver you pay €3 per month more for your subscription than owners of a Volkswagen group electric car:

• Drive Free; €0 per maand; AC laden = €0.55/kWh; DC laden = €0.76/kWh; IONITY = €0.79/kWh
• Drive City; €5.99 per maand; AC laden = €0.39/kWh; DC laden = €0.49/kWh; IONITY = €0.79/kWh
• Drive Highway; €12.99 per maand; AC laden = €0.37/kWh; DC laden = €0.47/kWh; IONITY = €0.35/kWh

If, like me, you often travel abroad with your Tesla and then charge a lot abroad, the Drive Highway tariff model might very well be also interesting for you. In Drive Highway, the IONITY price in almost all of Europe os €0.35/kWh which is very competitive, but also the fixed AC charging price of €0.37 across the EU is interesting because I almost always try to charge AC at my destination abroad because it is cheaper, because this impacts the battery less, and because the charging losses are low(est). I have calculated for the Elli subscription following my normal travel behavior in 1 year, and with the combination Tesla Supercharger + ANWB charging pass for AC charging, I arrive at almost €2500 charging costs, and when I would use the Elli Drive Highway tariff the net savings (so after deduction of 12x €12.99 subscription costs) would be almost €600! The payback period for 12 months subscription costs is 3 months in my case, so that if reduced travel is hitting in again somewhere during this year due to Corona problems, I will at least be able to earn back the annual subscription. And looking to the current problems with energy prices, you can be pretty sure that that won’t be over in about 3 months either, so it’s actually a no-brainer for me to order this charge card. And that’s what I just did today.

A number of points are important to consider if you are also interested in the Elli charge card:

• you enter into a contract for 12 months, and you can change to a more expensive rate model for subscription costs for free, but not to a cheaper variant
• the charging prices may differ per country, both upwards and downwards. The current prices per country / provider / charging system can be found HERE
• Elli is only available in Germany at the moment, so you can only install the app if you use the German App-store / Playstore. If you are using an Android phone you can install the Elli app by searching for the APK and installing it. Since I also have a home in Germany, I was able to request the charge card because you need an home address in Germany. You can have the charge card delivered to a foreign address; on request you can specify a different delivery address.
• if you do not have the option to install the app and/or order the charge card using a German postal address, you will have to wait until Elli becomes available in your country. I checked it for the Netherlands and Elli points to the 3rd quarter of this year.
• in Germany it is normal to have to pay so-called block fees (€0.xx / minute) if you charge for a long time, and that is something we are not used to in the Netherlands. With AC charging at Elli, block fees will be applied after 180 minutes, except between 21:00 and 09:00 when no block fees applies. For DC charging, a block fee is calculated after 90 minutes. This is something to keep in mind if you often charge AC for 3+ hours!
• Ionity supports what they call Plug & Charge and which we are already spoiled with when using the Tesla Supercharger network; you plug your Tesla into a Supercharger, and the Supercharger recognizes your car, starts charging nearly instantly whereby the supplied electrical energy is automatically debited from your linked credit card. Unfortunately, your Tesla is not recognized / supported at Ionity for Plug & Charge, so you have to start charging with the Elli app or with the Elli charge card.

And, are you also a frequent traveler with your Tesla in the EU and is this an interesting option for you? I ordered the charge card today, and when I check the app, I should already be able to charge at charging stations that can be activated via the app. The charge card should be delivered to my home within 2 weeks, but I hope to try out my Elli subscription first with the app in Germany next week. To be continued…