Which other charging apps should I have?

[psglas]

I'm based in Scotland and have the Chargeplace Scotland card and the Porsche card/app. Until recently most of the local chargers have been covered by the Chargeplace card.

I visited one of the train station car parks near Glasgow this week and noticed there was a BP Pulse charge point. Made me think I should look into which other cards/apps I should have available.

I'm visiting Silverstone soon and may take the car so I should probably enable all the different networks.

Which other apps should I get ? BR Pulse, Shell Re-charge, any others?

Sponsored

 

[jasperp]

I can recommend Chargemap.

 

[W1NGE]

I'm based in Scotland and have the Chargeplace Scotland card and the Porsche card/app. Until recently most of the local chargers have been covered by the Chargeplace card.

I visited one of the train station car parks near Glasgow this week and noticed there was a BP Pulse charge point. Made me think I should look into which other cards/apps I should have available.

I'm visiting Silverstone soon and may take the car so I should probably enable all the different networks.

Which other apps should I get ? BR Pulse, Shell Re-charge, any others?

Not all EVSEs require an RFID card and can be used on a pay as you go basis.

Avoid anything which requires a subscription unless you plan to use frequently - e.g. BP Pulse can be PAYG.

I have ChargePlace Scotland, Porsche (useless to be honest), Shell and PAYG for the rest.

 

[nikc]

I can recommend Chargemap.

How do their prices compare with competitors?

I looked at Chargemap in Switzerland, and it was significantly more expensive than competitors. 40+% more expensive.

I was so surprised by this I wrote to them to double check I hadn't misunderstood something:

Hello,

Your pricing appears to be significantly higher than other companies at the same station, and I'm wondering if I've misunderstood it.

For example, consider the GoFast charger at Zurich Adliswil, https://www.google.com/maps/dir//47.327539,8.530219.

GoFast list the price as CHF 0.49 per kWh, with a per minute fee after the first hour. So does SwissCharge.

The ChargeMap rate shown in the app is EUR 0.616 per kWh, and a EUR 0.095 per minute fee.

I got 53.5 kWh there with SwissCharge yesterday and paid CHF 26.22 (the 32min was free). With ChargeMap I would have paid EUR 32.95 for the charge and EUR 3.04 for the time. About 43% more.

That's such a big difference that I can't believe it's correct, and I must have misunderstood your pricing model. What am I missing?

and got the fairly generic reply:

I inform you that Chargemap does not own the charging stations and that, therefore, the prices indicated on the terminal are not those applied when using your Chargemap Pass.

For the explanation, our tariffs are defined according to those present in our roaming contracts to the extent possible. We also add a small commission to cover part of our operating costs.

> https://blog.chargemap.com/chargemap-is-cutting-its-charging-rates/

This is the reason why, and in accordance with our terms, we invite all our customers to always check the rates on our app before charging their vehicle!

 

[jasperp]

I honestly did not compare prices.

But they have very nice app and website to search for chargers.
What I find annoying of some competitors is that it is hard to know where the charging card actually works.

And it seems to cover a lot of charger networks with one card.

Would you recommend something else ?

 

[TaycanHero]

Prices range from kwh across Shell, BP, Instavolt, POD:

50kwh 32-50p
150kwh 50-70p


50kwh is the slowest you should use.

I've found BP Pulse to be horrendous PAYG.

Many times the app and charge station don't sync. Or any new charge station often isn't on the app map so you can't use it.

Alternatively, the subscription comes with a wireless card. That has worked well for me so far.

Really though these charge stations should only be used on long trips. EV ownership isn't practical unless you can charge at home.

Especially true if your car has cost you £100k+.

 

[Browning]

Who are the Porsche Charging point providers in UK besides Ionity that I can use with the app or card

 

[BigBob]

Who are the Porsche Charging point providers in UK besides Ionity that I can use with the app or card

Good question. Additional question is how long is the porsche charge point subscription free for. I literally just did the myporsche activation stuff, but it seems it is subscription free for 1yr. But https://www.porsche.com/uk/aboutporsche/e-performance/charging-bev/#road~open says free for 3yrs....

Sorry for marginal hijack of your question

 

[Browning]

Good question. Additional question is how long is the porsche charge point subscription free for. I literally just did the myporsche activation stuff, but it seems it is subscription free for 1yr. But https://www.porsche.com/uk/aboutporsche/e-performance/charging-bev/#road~open says free for 3yrs....

Sorry for marginal hijack of your question

I checked with Porsche and it is automatically renewed annually for the 3 yr period so nothing to worry about

 

[W1NGE]

Who are the Porsche Charging point providers in UK besides Ionity that I can use with the app or card

Osprey is one, Thereforce BV another, has-to-be, EV Box and so on. Search the Nav and it should list Porsche associated providers OR just use your nearest EVSE to avoid disappointment.

Note that Porsche dealer EVSEs may not be listed (!!) even though some will accept the card (all should but can be a hit or a miss).

The charging planner app should also target Porsche contracted EVSEs - it should be embedded in the My Porsche App but apparently Porsche screwed this up in UK a few months back and will reappear sometime in April. You can download the separate Porsche Charging Service App.

 

[W1NGE]

I checked with Porsche and it is automatically renewed annually for the 3 yr period so nothing to worry about

Yep 3 years and annual auto renewal but the electric is not free but discounted to 31p /kW on 350kW EVSEs which is decent (if you can find one).

 

[BigBob]

Yep 3 years and annual auto renewal but the electric is not free but discounted to 31p /kW on 350kW EVSEs which is decent (if you can find one).

Thanks. I think i clicked the don't auto-renew tab on the myporsche set up for charging. I generally dislike the idea of free subscriptions that have marginal benefit turning into paid ones once you've forgotten about them! 6 months free mobile phone insurance springs to mind! I has assumed the porsche charging was just a 1 year thing until i read around it.
Not sure how much i'll use charging away from home, but it seems a good deal without subs.

Anyway, I don't seem to be able to amend that so have asked the sales guy to sort it.

 

[Boss Hogg]

I'm based in Glasgow but travel a lot for business (12k miles in 6 months), in addition to Ionity and Osprey that are part of the Porsche card I use:

• Chargeplace Scotland
• Charge Your Car
• BP Pulse
• Shell Recharge
• Genie Point (these are mostly in Morrisons in England, rolling out in Scotland now)
• Instavolt
• Pod-point (app only no card)
• Gridserve (previously Electrocity and common at motorway services, no membership app/card yet but it is coming)

I like to the get the RFID card/fob where available, or at least register with the app in advance, to avoid hassle come charge time. At newer charger points you can normally tap and pay with a bank card however it costs more and there are still old charge points that do not have the bank card function.

Sponsored