Motoring organisation ANWB has taken action against excessive nightly rates at electric car charging stations by including an automatic switch-off function on its charge cards.

To prevent owners of electric cars from hogging a charging station, a higher rate, or blocking charge, kicks in once a car is full but according to the organisation that should not be the case at night. “Everyone should be able to charge his car at night without having to get up to avoid extra costs,” the ANWB said.

Many electric car owners depend on public charging stations and wake up to find that they are paying a top-up charge per minute on top of the normal rate.

“We are not against a blocking charge per sé, because there are many more electric cars than public charging stations,” a spokeswoman told the Telegraaf. “But this shouldn’t turn into a regular way for charging station owners to make extra money,” she said.

At some charging stations the higher rate kicks in from the first minute and continues throughout the night. “No one will be waiting in line at four o’clock in the morning, ‘ Sjors de Tije of the association of electric car drivers VER told the paper.

Public charging stations are already more expensive to use than those in private garages. One man who charged his car at a Lidl charging station ended up with a €500 bill because the supermarket had activated a blocking charge of 55 cents per minute after just 40 minutes.

The ANWB found that motorists can be charged the higher rate at one in three public charging stations. To prevent this, the ANWB’s 220,000 charge card holders can opt for a function that stops the car from charging between 11pm and 7am. Outside this time slot motorists should either remove their car from the station or pay the extra charge.