Kia EV9 owner receives CAD 22,308 charging bill due to error

A Kia EV9 owner in Canada received an erroneous bill totaling CAD 22,308 for a single electric vehicle charging session. The invoice, issued by the charging company Hypercharge, recorded only 4.91 kWh of actual energy delivered, which would typically cost only a few dollars.

The massive charge resulted from a time-based billing error. The system recorded the session as lasting from May 17, 2025, until August 25, 2026—a duration of over 15 months. This discrepancy suggests that a charging terminal went offline and failed to communicate the end of the session to the server, causing the billing clock to continue running as if the vehicle were still connected.

Technical analysis indicates the error stems from a communication failure between the hardware and software. Because the billing was calculated per hour rather than per kWh, the system generated an astronomical total based on the perceived duration of the session.