Vantaa renter faces higher parking fee after switching to electric car

A Vantaa resident will pay EUR 20 more each month for a parking space with electric-car charging after switching from a petrol car, Yle reports. Tevan Tomingas says the extra charge is frustrating and could discourage people from moving to electric cars.

At his rental apartment building, a space for a petrol or diesel car costs EUR 80 a month. A space with a charging point costs EUR 100.

Tomingas says charging at the building costs 24 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with 21 cents at a nearby shop. He expects to do most of his charging at home, and says the price cannot be separately negotiated by tenants. Even so, he estimates that running an electric car costs about half as much as running a petrol car.

Lumo Kodit, his landlord and Finland’s largest private rental housing provider, says the higher fee covers the installation, maintenance and management of charging equipment. Its business director, Janne Ojalehto, says charging costs should be paid by the customers who use the service. Prices vary between properties, but electric-car spaces are generally more expensive than standard spaces.

Other housing providers use different pricing models. Helsinki City Housing charges the same monthly rent for standard and electric-car spaces, with electricity billed separately according to use. Sato generally charges the same rent for parking spaces but bills separately for the charging point and electricity; renting a charging point usually costs EUR 10 a month. M2-Kodit, run by the Y Foundation, sets prices by property and charges an additional EUR 10 a month for a charging point, plus 18 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity.

Tomingas says a higher parking fee is a poor incentive to switch to an electric car and contribute to reducing transport emissions. The government is seeking to cut emissions from transport, including through a scrappage bonus to encourage drivers to change cars.