EV players debunk electricity reselling myth in Mexico

US electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla has built 33 supercharging stations in Mexico and aims to open three more this year, disproving claims that only federal power utility CFE may charge for electric power in the country.

“There are people who still don’t know that in Mexico [companies] can charge for electricity,” Tesla’s senior policy and business adviser for Latin America, Eugenio Grandio, told the Latam Mobility event in Mexico City on Wednesday.

“What we do not want to do is to create corridors for urban areas; rather, we have focused on connecting large cities over long distances. With a Tesla, you travel between Mexico City and Guadalajara, Monterrey, Acapulco and, in the future, we will connect the southeast. Even the Peninsula … Mérida, Valladolid and Cancún are already connected.” 

The confusion

At the end of August, CFE said it received several requests from electric vehicle manufacturers like Tesla to allow them to install charging hubs in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. However, because energy regulator CRE has not yet issued guidelines and prices for these services, the car companies cannot plan a strategy or close more charging station deals.

The core of the problem seems to be that CFE is the only provider allowed to charge for electricity in Mexico and reselling energy is prohibited. For example, CRE fined renewable energy giant Iberdrola 9.1bn pesos (US$514mn) in May for reselling energy to other companies.  

However, unlike other subsectors, EV charging stations are exempted from this restriction thanks to the electricity industry law that went into effect in 2014.

According to article 46 of the electric power law (LIE), selling electricity to a third party is not considered commercialization when that energy is used within the installations of the final user. Among the installations that fall under this category are charging stations, CRE said in a publication. 

“Yes, the commercialization of energy is allowed when we talk about electric vehicle charging stations, which is different from the issue of solar panels,” Daniel Abraham López, chief commercial officer at EV charging manufacturer and deployer Evergo México, told BNamericas on the sidelines of the event.  

“CRE has a specific publication for investments and sale of energy from charging stations that is allowed. For that you have to meet certain requirements such as registration with it.” 

In May, Evergo announced it will increase its investments in Mexico from US$200mn to US$400mn to install a north-south charging corridor. The 10-year project involves 15,000 charging ports installed in four stages.