There probably is an element of money grabbing but traffic management is needed, as said, the people hogging the free pick up lanes and circling the site to avoid the fees are not lost.
I actually quite like the idea of the remote and free pick up/drop off. If it helps remove some traffic from the CTA then go for it.
As for the money grabbing, with £1bn (scrap that, I mean £750m) being spent on the terminal, the effort to claw back money was going to begin somewhere.