Arlington increases EV charging costs

Drivers might get a shock the next time they head to an electric vehicle charging station in Arlington.

The Arlington County Board just approved a major increase in charging costs at dozens of public charging locations, and the price jump starts very soon.

The price increase is expected to add about $5 to a full charging session in Arlington.

Here’s a closer look at the numbers: Right now, the base fee costs $17.46 per kilowatt-hour to charge at public slow chargers. It’s about to jump to 30 cents per kilowatt-hour. That’s a 72% increase starting Nov. 1.

“Yeah, that is a major jump for sure. Getting close to the gas,” said EV owner Elijah Colson.

He said even with this big surge in cost, it’s still easier to fill his car with electricity and not gas once a week.

“At the end of the day when I come normally, about nine, 10 bucks. So, I mean, if they’re raising it, it beats gas and spending 40 bucks,” Colson said.

Arlington leaders said not only has the cost to install these electric charging stations gone up, but so too has the cost of electricity itself.

Data centers and power grid demand and upgrades are being blamed for a lot of rising electricity costs.

“The bigger question is, why did it go up that much for everybody?” said Shihyag, an EV owner. “I would assume, I mean, the news is saying the data centers.”

This is all happening as the Arlington County Board says demand for EV chargers is growing in the county.

Right now, there are 51 public EV charging locations in the county.