French supermarkets invest in more electric car charging points

French supermarket chains are installing more charging stations, helping the country switch to electric cars while driving down prices. 

Faced with soaring fuel prices and the inability to compete with TotalEnergies' capped prices, more supermarkets are adding charging stations to their networks to make them more competitive.

Since tensions began in the Middle East, TotalEnergies has capped its prices at €1.99 a litre for petrol and €2.25 a litre for diesel. While this has benefited customers, it has made it harder for other filling stations to compete.

Dominique Schelcher, CEO of supermarket and service station group Coopérative U, acknowledged as much in an interview this week in which he estimated that fuel sales for the company had dropped 10% since the start of the year.

In response, supermarkets including Leclerc, Lidl and Carrefour have turned towards electric chargers. Moreover, their simultaneous expansion has led to them competing with each other on prices.

This is good news for electric vehicle drivers who have seen the price per kWh drastically reduced as more supermarkets seem to have adopted the strategy of treating EV charging as a so-called ‘loss leader’, a product offered at a cut price as a way to attract more customers into the store.  

In terms of prices, Lidl offers rates as low as €0.18 per kWh for Lidl Plus members, while Leclerc offers €0.17 per kWh, making charging at these supermarkets potentially cheaper than charging at home.

Additionally, customers can charge their cars in the time it takes to do their shopping, saving both time and money, while supermarket chains see an increase in their customer base.

Carrefour also offers competitive prices, at €0.23 per kWh for standard charging and €0.49 per kWh for fast charging, with up to 15% of the bill credited to members through their loyalty cards.

"I paid €17 for 32kWh, and I got a €2.69 discount," one customer told TF1.

The retailer already has 4,500 charging points, with 1,500 more set to be added by 2030. 

Leclerc has also said that it plans to expand its network from 3,000 charging points to 10,000 by 2035.

Elsewhere, John Paul Scally, president of Lidl France, noted in an interview with FranceInfo that the supermarket chain already had the largest network of charging points in France, with more than 5,500 charging points in over 1,000 supermarkets.

The competition is not limited to supermarkets, as Burger King also offers charging at €0.45 per kWh, allowing customers to recharge their cars while they eat.