The official gazette announced the Ministry of Electricity and renewable energy’s decision to approve rates for the charging of electric vehicles (EVs) across the country on Thursday, making the home charging of electric passenger cars the same fixed price as for residential electricity consumption, with rates varying according to consumption bracket.
Prices for the residential consumption of electricity are divided into seven tiers, with each tier being priced differently according to a fixed rate.
The cost of charging an electric vehicle at home in a single charge can be found by multiplying the number of Kilowatt-hours (KW/h) used to charge the battery by the cost per KW/h.
The price of a KW of electricity in the first tier of consumption ranging between zero to 50 KW/h is LE0.48. The second segment from 51 to 100 KW/h costs LE0.58 per KW/h, while consumers in the third tier, consuming 101 to 200 KW/h, pay LE0.77 per KW/h.
Consumers falling in the fourth and fifth levels with consumption of 201 to 350 KW/h and 351 to 650 KW/h, respectively, pay LE1.06 and LE1.28 per KW/h, depending on their level of consumption.
Those in the sixth tier with consumption of 651 to 1,000 KW/h are charged LE1.28 per KW/h of electricity usage, while consumers of more than 1,000 KW/h, falling in the seventh and final tier, pay LE1.45 per KW/h.
To calculate the cost of charging an electric car, consumers need to know how their vehicles use electricity. This is measured by calculating how much an electric vehicle consumes from a single charge per 100 km. An electric car uses around 20 KW/h to travel 100 km on average, and most cars require about 50 KW/h to fully recharge.
However, since the majority of consumers cannot recharge their electric cars at home, they resort to commercial passenger car refueling or charging stations instead. Tariffs at the latter differ according to the capabilities offered at these stations.
For charging tariffs in stations with alternating current up to a capacity of 22 KW/h, the vehicle-charging tariff is LE1.69 per KW/h. In stations with alternating current up to a capacity of 23 KW/h, the charging tariff is LE1.89 per KW/h. For capacities up to 50 KW/h, the fee for charging is LE3.75 per KW/h.
“Charging a car battery at home takes about seven hours, while it can take about 18 minutes at stations,” said Khaled Saad, secretary-general of the Egyptian Automobile Manufacturers Association.
He added that there should be one power station for every 1,000 cars, and at present there are between 1,500 and 2,000 EVs in Egypt. The government is planning to provide electricity charging stations in the different governorates, he said.
“The country is working on preparing the infrastructure for electric cars, in line with the global move towards electric vehicles,” Saad said.
By 2040, he added, there will be no petrol-driven cars, something many countries are aiming to achieve by 2035 in an effort to slow the effects of climate change caused by harmful emissions.
Electric cars are environmentally friendly, as they do not produce harmful emissions like vehicles powered by internal combustion engines, and they are less costly to run. An electric car can travel around 300 km on a single charge of about LE50, compared to more than LE200 for a petrol-powered car travelling the same distance.
Saad said that Egypt has a surplus of electricity, which could help to expand the market for electric cars.
Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker said in a statement that the ministry was working on meeting the need for charging stations. The national electricity network has a daily reserve of around 15,000 Megawatts, he said, allowing a large portion of this to meet the growing need for charging electric cars.
Some 3,000 charging stations are planned in a partnership between the Ministry of Electricity and private-sector companies, with 1,000 to be established in the first phase starting next year in conjunction with the first phase of production of the new Nasr E70 electric car.
The first locally produced electric car, this is being developed by Al-Nasr Automotive and a Chinese company. The terms of the joint venture are due to be announced soon, with the first phase of production to start later this year.
Current negotiations involve agreeing on the proportion of local components in the car, aimed at more than 60 per cent, and the final price of the car.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 17 February, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
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