UK Public Charging Point Card - What Are The Options?

Hello All,

I want to order a public charging point card ahead of taking delivery of our PHEV. Is there only one company that has a monopoly on these in the UK, or are there a choice of providers? So far I've come across one that charges you £20 annually, then monthly based on usage or if your balance reaches £30, whichever comes first.

Hopefully one of you with more knowledge than me will be able to advise?

Thank you in anticipation.

David

I am also waiting for delivery so no practical info from me but I've found the following :

- Ecotricity has a network of rapid chargers on motorway service stops. They are currently free until sometime in 2015
- Chargemaster has a large network of chargepoints but charges £7+ per half hour for a rapid charge apart from those at a shopping location where it is normally free. Still requires a prepaid card with £20
- Source London has 1000+ charge points
- ZeroCarbonWorld has charge points in hotels, cafe and restaurants. Usually free and don't require registration but might be polite to use the hospitality on offer.

Check the open charge map to find what options are available where you are heading to. You can also add charging points you might come across not registered.

Thanks very much; I'll look into those

Has anyone ogt a podpoint card also? Seem to be a few locations in Glasgow and may be handy but is this different to Chargemaster? £12 member fee before you get a card to keen to check it out first.

I've been thinking about this, but having checked the maps it looks like there are no charge points near any of my common destinations. I do drive into London from time to time and could do the entire journey there and back on electricity if I could get a charge while I was there, but I don't fancy leaving the car on the street all day and the nearest off-road charging point is quite a long walk from the office.

I can't see much point in supermarket charging points unless they are absolutely free - in otherwords no need for an access card that has cost money - in the half an hour or so that I'll be there, the car is not going to take in enough charge to be worth the effort.

I ended up going with the one I found initially as they have a good network of free points round here. Probably because they are Newcastle based.

Card came today and we can use straight away...have got an Ampera as a temp lease vehicle until the PHEV arrives

Hi phevfred
If you're in Glasgow,you'll need a CYC card. Now £20 per annum (used to be £10 for lifetime until recently!). But you get free parking and charging in most multi-storeys and some on-street parking sites, at least for now.....

David1972- you are lucky as I saw there are loads of chargers your way. Hardly any in North Yorkshire.
We charged at an ecotricity point yesterday, our first public charge. It was free - I have a card. I had to ring them though as it was not that obvious, particularly in pouring rain!

You plug in and it says "welcome", and "charge your car" on screen, then you have to press the button next to the tiny, not very obvious bracket on the screen next to "charge your car" and swipe your card.
It didn't fully charge - it said 22 miles, presume that is 80 percent. But was great for pose value, the services were heaving and we got the space right next to the entrance with loads of people looking
Cheers
H

Hypermiler said:

David1972- you are lucky as I saw there are loads of chargers your way. Hardly any in North Yorkshire.
We charged at an ecotricity point yesterday, our first public charge. It was free - I have a card. I had to ring them though as it was not that obvious, particularly in pouring rain!

You plug in and it says "welcome", and "charge your car" on screen, then you have to press the button next to the tiny, not very obvious bracket on the screen next to "charge your car" and swipe your card.
It didn't fully charge - it said 22 miles, presume that is 80 percent. But was great for pose value, the services were heaving and we got the space right next to the entrance with loads of people looking
Cheers
H

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Good effort hypermiler....that's one thing I'm really looking forward to; accessing those spaces right at the front of car parks

I have my Ecotricity card and am dying to use it. I'm tempted to drive to the nearest one, which is about 40 miles away (I think), just to use one ....

As the public points are so far apart, I am reluctant to pay annual or monthly subscriptions.
I may end up never using them.

I have registered for Polar Instant, which in theory allows access w/o subscription as PAYG and in some cases w/o swipe or RFID card., using their app.

But I am confused about chargemaster and polar, the former owns the latter but seems to market separately.

I'm not in favour of a monopoly, but it would be nice to have a clearer supplier structure.

And wouldn't the profit margin on a £3-£5 electric charge be higher for Shell and BP etc than a £80 tank of fuel ?
They should be investing in the network, as they seem to see a return on investing in yucky coffee and fat pastries.
Just IMHO

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PHEV GX4HS arrived Aug-14

Here is our car taking advantage of the free rapid charging at Blyth services on the A1 thanks to Ecotricity last week (note there is an AC and a DC side to the charger - we used the DC which worked so presume that is what you need to use!). We did the same on the way home, and also at the Green Britain Centre in Norfolk (which is a normal 3 hour charger where you need your own type 1 to type 2 cable).

H

Hypermiler said:

Here is our car taking advantage of the free rapid charging at Blyth services on the A1 thanks to Ecotricity last week (note there is an AC and a DC side to the charger - we used the DC which worked so presume that is what you need to use!). We did the same on the way home, and also at the Green Britain Centre in Norfolk (which is a normal 3 hour charger where you need your own type 1 to type 2 cable).

H

Click to expand...

Very