Motoring20.06.2025

Electric vehicle owners warned about charging rates of up to R11.76 per kWh

Electric vehicle (EV) drivers in South Africa should avoid several public charging stations, as their prices are around three times higher than residential electricity rates.

One of the much-touted benefits of driving an EV over a petrol or diesel car is a reduction in running costs. However, whether you achieve savings will depend on where you charge.

When it comes to fuel prices in South Africa, motorists have limited opportunities for savings. The retail petrol price is regulated, with only a few cents difference between inland and coastal stations.

While retail diesel prices can vary, the maximum difference will typically be around R2 per litre for stations within the same vicinity.

In contrast, the prices of energy used to fill EV battery packs can be over 100% greater when using a public station instead of charging at home.

At current residential electricity prices, the cost of one kilometre of range works out to around a third to half the cost of using petrol to cover the same distance.

In the 2024/2025 financial year, the cost of one kWh of electricity for residential prepaid customers in South Africa’s biggest metro — Johannesburg — starts at R2.72 for the first 350 kWh of consumption.

For the next 150 kWh consumption, the rate increases to R3.12. For consumption over 500 kWh, the rate is R3.55 per kWh.

While energy charges can vary greatly from municipality to municipality, these tariffs are generally much cheaper than public EV charging tariffs.

Unless the station and electricity costs are paid by the property owner, public EV charging point operators (CPOs) must charge significantly higher tariffs to recoup the cost of a charger and eventually make a profit.

In June 2025, the most common tariffs at fast DC charging stations in South Africa are R7.35 at GridCars and Chargify stations, and R7.00 at Rubicon chargers.

Slower public AC charging stations still provide much faster speeds than what is generally available at homes, but are slightly more affordable at R5.88 per kWh.

Most expensive public EV charging station

GridCars operates South Africa’s biggest public charging network.

MyBroadband scanned the GridCars online charging station map, which includes nearly all of the public EV chargers, to see whether there were any standout locations in terms of costs.

The most expensive public EV charging station on the GridCars network was a DC station at BMW Menlyn.

EV drivers who top up there will pay R11.76 per kWh — almost four times the residential tariff in some municipalities.

The site also appears to be among the first on GridCars’ network with a Restricted Access notice, meaning it is limited to only “authorised users” like guests, employees, or members.

Many BMW dealers still have slower AC chargers that are free to use. To date, the dealerships have generally allowed owners of other EVs to use these stations as well.

However, GridCars is in the process of upgrading BMW’s chargers and if other dealers follow Menlyn’s course, the free charging benefit may become a thing of the past.

GridCars also operates the second-most-expensive DC charging station and the most expensive AC charging location in the country.

Located at the Balwin Properties headquarters in Johannesburg, users of this station will pay R9.52 per kWh when using either the DC or AC chargers.

The third most expensive tariff is at Zero Carbon Charge’s first off-grid EV charging station next to the N12 between Wolmaransstad and Klerksdorp. At this station, charging costs R9.15 per kWh.

Some EV drivers may forgive this high charge as the energy is produced entirely from a solar power system, whereas other chargers still rely on Eskom power that comes primarily from coal.

In addition, the station is located in a remote area along a long-distance route, whereas the two more expensive GridCars stations are in cities, where many EV drivers would be able to charge at home.

The fourth most expensive tariff applies to several DC charging stations rolled out by Rubicon in partnership with the African Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC).

These have DC chargers with speeds ranging from 60 kW to 150 kW, with the fastest being at Dan’s Country Lodge in Mthatha.

A kWh of energy at these stations costs R8.24. However, this only applies if a customer uses GridCars’ wallet for payments. When using the Rubicon app, the tariff drops to the same regular R7.00 tariff.

The only other sites with energy charges above the more general rates are the BMW Bryanston and BMW Midrand Auto dealerships, which charge R8.12 per kWh.

The table below provides a summary of public EV charging station prices in South Africa, ranked from most expensive to cheapest.

LocationProvinceOperatorPrice per kWh
BMW MenlynGautengGridCarsR11.76
Balwin Properties HQGautengGridCarsR9.24
Charge WolmaransstadFree StateZero Carbon ChargeR9.15
– Dan’s Country Lodge
– Engen Zaayman’s Garage, Willowmore
– Limakatso Boutique Hotel
– Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
– Nguni Country Lodge
– Queens Casino and Hotel
– Rhodes University
– Royal St. Andrews Hotel
– Silaka Nature Reserve
– Tsitsikhaya Lodge and Spa
Eastern CapeRubiconR8.24 (for GridCars customers)

R7.00 (via Rubicon app)
– BMW Bryanston
– BMW Midrand Auto
GautengGridCarsR8.12
All Chargify and most GridCars DC charging stationsNationalChargify GridCarsR7.35
All other Rubicon DC charging stationsNationalRubiconR7.00
Most other AC charging stationsNationalChargify
Gridcars
Rubicon
R5.88
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