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What the charging price war in South Africa means
Source: Rubicon
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South African EV charging company Rubicon has raised the price for customers of its main competitor GridCars who use its charging stations by 15%. Customers have been paying R5.88 ($0.34) and R7 ($0.4) per unit to use Rubicon’s AC and DC chargers respectively. If you use GridCars’ app to locate and pay for charging, you may need to switch to Rubicon’s.
Rubicon and GridCars are competitors as they are both Charge Point Operators (CPO) and E-Mobility Service Providers (EMSP). A CPO operates the physical charging station while an EMSP buys power in bulk from a CPO and resells to customers through its app and payment systems.
As hardware becomes more standardised and "tap-to-pay" becomes common, pure-play EMSPs face a significant threat from CPOs selling directly to drivers. Rubicon’s price increase sends a signal that to survive, companies may need to do both.
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