Early this morning, ChargEV (who provide electric vehicle charging stations throughout Malaysia) updated their Terms and Conditions and brought their annual membership fee up to RM240 beginning the 23rd of July 2018 regardless of activation date. So, yes, even if you just activated your card yesterday, come 23/7/2018, you will have to cough up RM240 to continue using the service.
That entitles members to unlimited free use of their 240+ chargers across the country.
Does it add up to good value for money? Well, according to their estimates, these are the costs of charging typical PHEVs, EVs, and Teslas:
So, to break even, you would have to fully charge your PHEV 54 times a year, your EV 22 times a year or your Tesla 7 times a year at one of the ChargEV stations. That seems reasonable.
However, some users have expressed a little disappointment. Given how sparse the stations are (240+ stations, most of which are in the Klang Valley and Penang), we understand the frustration. The relatively low cost of electricity in Malaysia also doesn’t help ChargEV’s case. Though it should be noted that they’re charging for the service rather than the electricity itself.
Overall, the move to charge RM240 a year doesn’t seem too unfair, but ChargEV could have definitely conveyed the message with a little more tact. What’s more, their initial goal of 25,000 chargers by 2020 is not even 1% complete. If this whole membership fee move was done because the government has cut their funding, perhaps GreenTech Malaysia should consider selling their assets to a private body that can carry out their goals more efficiently.
After all, if they truly believe in their objectives shouldn’t they get out of the way of having those objectives completed in a timely fashion?
i wonder who are paying for the electricity cost for all those so called free charging stations under ChargEV