Public Charging, do I need to sign up with different providers?

[jetbox]

Hi,

With me ( and a number of others) due to take U.K. deliveries in the coming month, I need to think about how to use the public charging networks. Being new to EV I think I have a lot to learn. Do you get a card from Porsche to allow access to charging networks or do I need to sign up for some of the charging network comeanie? I have read that some work with an app and others you need to buy an rfid device to allow access?

any help appreciated!

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[Gogs]

Hi,

With me ( and a number of others) due to take U.K. deliveries in the coming month, I need to think about how to use the public charging networks. Being new to EV I think I have a lot to learn. Do you get a card from Porsche to allow access to charging networks or do I need to sign up for some of the charging network comeanie? I have read that some work with an app and others you need to buy an rfid device to allow access?

any help appreciated!

In Scotland, sign up at Charge Scotland. Costs £20 a year a you get feee charging at all Charge Scotland points.

 

[daveo4EV]

I don’t know how it is in the UK - but in the US - yes - I’ve signed up with most of the major charging networks, download the apps, setup the account, and get billing informaoitn setup - last thing you want at a charger is spending 10-20 min getting a new account setup with crap cell coverage or wifi and the website not working

have the accounts setup and ready to go - and when you use public charging things will be much smoother

I’d love to hear about any experiences outside the US.

 

[plumandreal]

Hi,

With me ( and a number of others) due to take U.K. deliveries in the coming month, I need to think about how to use the public charging networks. Being new to EV I think I have a lot to learn. Do you get a card from Porsche to allow access to charging networks or do I need to sign up for some of the charging network comeanie? I have read that some work with an app and others you need to buy an rfid device to allow access?

any help appreciated!

I cant comment on how Porsche work as I too am still waiting n my Taycan.

However I have been driving electric for 4 years and up North the predominant brand at Motorway services is Electric Highway. The only other chargers I have used are Charge Your Car (they appear at places like the Trafford Centre). Both of those brands are a simple to use Pay-As-You-Go via a mobile app. And in some places (like the Trafford Centre) they dont even charge to use.

Instavolt are installing a lot up here too, so no doubt I need their app too.

However... In 4 years of EV driving I have only used public charging 30-40 times. Its very rare I do more than the cars range within a single day. I suspect my 4S will rarely see a public charge point (Unless its free!!!)

 

[jetbox]

thanks all, very useful info. I have signed up for charge your car and willlook at the others mentioned too.

 

[SteveMc]

thanks all, very useful info. I have signed up for charge your car and willlook at the others mentioned too.

The public charging network in the UK is fairly fragmented and in my experience quite unreliable.

Polar (also known as BP Chargemaster) have the biggest nationwide network and are rolling out mostly 50kwh chargers of late. RFID card, and monthly membership fee, charging free (on some low power ones), but mostly 12p/kwh.

Pod Point (just been bought by EDF) are also nationwide, use by phone app, no membership fee charging free to 15p/kwh

Ecotricity have something of a monopoly on the motorways under the Electric Highway brand, and are mostly 50kwh. Works via phone app, costs a whopping 30p/kwh, and you are limited to 45 minute charge.

Those are the three big networks. Ionity have a handful of 350kwh stuff being built (69p/kwh) Shell are rolling out 50 and 150kwh chargers on forecourts (39p/kwh ), but the best thing to do is download the Zap-Map phone app and see which providers are around you - it also has a good route planner part for journeys, and you can filter out slow chargers. The PorscheConnect app tries to do a similar job, but nowhere near as effectively.

 

[TAYC4N]

As one of the first owners of a UK car I found this out after ownership as even the dealer did not know!

Within the Porsche connect store you need to sign up to the “Porsche Charging Service”. This gives us discounted charging rates for all UK suppliers. Ionity for eg is only 3p per KW compared to the usual tariff of 69p per Kw. The full tariff chart is on the connect store I will see if i can find it a bit later.

You will be sent an RFID card in the post which you need to add your card details to. Touch a charger and begin charging and you get charged to this card.

Hope this helps

 

[SteveMc]

As one of the first owners of a UK car I found this out after ownership as even the dealer did not know!

Within the Porsche connect store you need to sign up to the “Porsche Charging Service”. This gives us discounted charging rates for all UK suppliers. Ionity for eg is only 3p per KW compared to the usual tariff of 69p per Kw. The full tariff chart is on the connect store I will see if i can find it a bit later.

You will be sent an RFID card in the post which you need to add your card details to. Touch a charger and begin charging and you get charged to this card.

Hope this helps

The discounted rate is 31p/kwh for Ionity....now go and try and find some Ionity chargers (there are 6 live in the whole of the UK!)

 

[Gogs]

As one of the first owners of a UK car I found this out after ownership as even the dealer did not know!

Within the Porsche connect store you need to sign up to the “Porsche Charging Service”. This gives us discounted charging rates for all UK suppliers. Ionity for eg is only 3p per KW compared to the usual tariff of 69p per Kw. The full tariff chart is on the connect store I will see if i can find it a bit later.

You will be sent an RFID card in the post which you need to add your card details to. Touch a charger and begin charging and you get charged to this card.

Hope this helps

You mentioned all uk suppliers... is that correct. Brilliant if it’s all current suppliers.

 

[Scandinavian]

As one of the first owners of a UK car I found this out after ownership as even the dealer did not know!

Within the Porsche connect store you need to sign up to the “Porsche Charging Service”. This gives us discounted charging rates for all UK suppliers. Ionity for eg is only 3p per KW compared to the usual tariff of 69p per Kw. The full tariff chart is on the connect store I will see if i can find it a bit later.

You will be sent an RFID card in the post which you need to add your card details to. Touch a charger and begin charging and you get charged to this card.

Hope this helps

I agree this is the best way to arrange some charging, but Ionity is not so common in the UK as yet. You can also start the charging and log in with your Porsche Connect app. You just scan the code on the charger and voila!

Secondly you can, at least here in EU, have the same card or Porsche app utilise a lot of other charging networks. They do not cover all of them but have quite a good agreement with many of them. And they are also at ”favourable” rates? Not sure how they compare with direct subscription rates though. Something to check and compare.

 

[Gogs]

Just read this on the net. https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/202...onity-taycan-delivery-start-europe-19824.html

 

[SteveMc]

The Porsche discount is only applicable to Ionity as far as I can tell, very happy to be proved wrong.

The Connect app does seem to be able to be used for other networks - for example near me some ESB and also Newmotion chargers show up.

As for pricing, the ESB charger shows in the connect app at 31p/kwh:

But via the ESB app it's cheaper at 29p!

 

[Dogs_Tess_Tickle]

As one of the first owners of a UK car I found this out after ownership as even the dealer did not know!

Within the Porsche connect store you need to sign up to the “Porsche Charging Service”. This gives us discounted charging rates for all UK suppliers. Ionity for eg is only 3p per KW compared to the usual tariff of 69p per Kw. The full tariff chart is on the connect store I will see if i can find it a bit later.

You will be sent an RFID card in the post which you need to add your card details to. Touch a charger and begin charging and you get charged to this card.

Hope this helps

This is great info, @TAYC4N, thanks.

I take it, with your expreience, for those of us tapping our fingers on the table waiting for our Taycans to be loaded onto a ship, it would be best for us to register with the Porsche Charging Service once our car is inbound from Emden to take advantage of the 12 months "Free" offer?

 

[Dogs_Tess_Tickle]

The Porsche discount is only applicable to Ionity as far as I can tell, very happy to be proved wrong.

The Connect app does seem to be able to be used for other networks - for example near me some ESB and also Newmotion chargers show up.

As for pricing, the ESB charger shows in the connect app at 31p/kwh:

But via the ESB app it's cheaper at 29p!

Yes, you are correct SteveMc. As Porsche EV owners we get Ionity preferential rates ;o)

 

[TAYC4N]

I don't know if it applies to all I have not looked in to it but Ionity was highlighted for sure as being cheaper. Works for me as a few down the road in Beaconsfield Services will be live in a month or so

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