Chevy Bolt Driver Gets $418 EV Charging Bill at Hyundai Dealership

A Chevrolet Bolt driver in Michigan was charged $418 after using an EV charger at a Hyundai dealership that appeared as a publicly available station in the EVgo app.

Stanley Kpenkann of Clinton Township was driving a rental Bolt home after dropping a friend off at the airport when the vehicle’s battery became critically low. With about 20 minutes of estimated driving range remaining, he used EVgo to find the nearest charging station.

The app directed him to a Hyundai dealership on Hall Road in Macomb Township. Kpenkann plugged in and charged for 44 minutes.

The resulting bill was $418.

“I was flabbergasted; never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be saddled with a bill of 418 dollars for a charging session,” Kpenkann told WXYZ.

Kpenkann initially believed the charge was a billing mistake. EVgo subsequently confirmed that the charge was valid.

Why the charging session cost $418

The dealership’s charger was listed with an unusually high pricing structure: $5 per kilowatt-hour plus another $5 per minute.

The dealership said the charger was intended primarily for its own customers and vehicles, and that the high price was deliberately set to discourage outside drivers from using it, according to GM Authority.

The problem for Kpenkann was that the charger was still presented as an available charging location through EVgo.

“Roaming is enabled at the Hyundai dealership in Macomb, and drivers can charge at that site through their EVgo account; however, all pricing is set by the dealership as the station owner,” an EVgo spokesperson said.

That meant the charging network did not determine the unusually high rate. The dealership controlled the pricing while EVgo provided access to the station through its app.

Kpenkann questioned why the charger was available to EVgo users if the dealership did not want outside drivers using it.

EVgo issues a $405 refund

Following a report by Detroit ABC affiliate WXYZ, EVgo issued Kpenkann a $405 goodwill refund.

The company said the remaining $13.27 represented what the charging session would have cost under his subscription plan.

The resolution left Kpenkann questioning why the issue required outside intervention.

A warning for EV drivers

The incident illustrates a potential problem with relying on charging apps while traveling: a station’s appearance in an app does not necessarily mean its pricing will resemble that of a typical public fast charger.

In this case, the Hyundai dealership’s charger was accessible through EVgo because roaming was enabled, but the dealership remained responsible for setting the charging price.

For EV drivers, checking the rate displayed for a station before starting a charging session can therefore be important, particularly when the charger is located at a dealership or another privately operated business.

As public charging networks continue to expand, the incident also highlights the importance of clearly distinguishing between chargers intended for general public use and those that are technically accessible through a charging network but carry pricing designed to discourage outside use.

EV.com tracks the evolving EV collector space and performance electric vehicles hitting the market. Explore our listings to find the best EVs in your area available today.