Question 1

1. What is time-of-day pricing in EV charging?

Accepted Answer

A tariff that changes with the clock: cheaper per-kWh rates when electricity is abundant and dearer at peak. In India the structure is codified — public charging stations buy electricity at 0.7× the Average Cost of Supply during solar hours (9 AM–4 PM) and 1.3× outside them — so a time-of-day retail tariff simply passes an existing cost signal through to the driver.

Question 2

2. Do drivers actually change when they charge because of price?

Accepted Answer

Yes — when the price difference is real money. An NBER field experiment found an off-peak discount lifted off-peak charging share from 59% to 77%, while an informational nudge with no discount changed nothing. Behaviour also reverted when the discount was removed, so treat time-based rates as a permanent tariff structure, not a promotion.

Question 3

3. How different should prices be across sites in the same network?

Accepted Answer

As different as their cost stacks. In our worked example, the same ₹50,000/month of fixed costs burdens each kWh with ₹23.1 at 5% utilization but only ₹4.6 at 25%. Set each site's price floor from its own rent, demand charges and utilization — a network-average price is wrong at almost every individual site.

Question 4

4. What do India's 2024 guidelines cap for charging service charges?

Accepted Answer

Until 31 March 2028, service-charge ceilings (excluding GST and land cost) are ₹3/kWh (solar hours) and ₹4 (non-solar) for AC charging, and ₹11/₹13 for DC fast charging — and the electricity supplied to public stations is itself capped at the Average Cost of Supply. Note that even the ceilings are time-differentiated: the regulation assumes you price the time axis.

Question 5

5. Can smart pricing backfire?

Accepted Answer

The main failure mode is the "shadow peak": if every driver targets the cheap window, its opening minutes can spike load beyond what the site's connection handles. Mitigate it by staggering session starts with smart charging or dynamic load management rather than weakening the price signal — and review utilization data after every tariff change.

time-of-day pricing

EV Charging Smart Pricing Strategies: Time, Location and Customer Segment