Ecotricity are now charging, for charging your hybrid or electric car.
Published Date: 11th Jul 2016
The only company to provide electric charging points along their electric super highway are now going to charge £5 per 20 minute fast charge cycle.
Ecotricity currently has around 300 electricity pumps across Britain covering the entire motorway network and beyond.
So after 5 years of providing electric charging for free they’re moving to a pay per charge model, so they can continue to improve and expand the network further across the country.
They’ve used a lot of data and feedback from current Electric Vehicle owners to come to a fair and balanced £5 fee for a 20 minute fast charge, rolling out now from the 11th of July and completed across the country by the 5th of August 2016
A new Ecotricity smart phone app has been released to help with locating and make paying for the usage easier. The app will also tell you if you’re vehicle is compatible and if the desired station is offline or online and whether it’s in use at the moment. More features include locate the nearest 10 electric pumps, Stopping and charging of your vehicle via the app and seeing how much charge is left.
The current medium and slower A/C chargers will remain free for all of those with a registered Ecotricity swipe card.
The electric super highway providers do not recommend paying for charging hybrid vehicles as these tend to charge much slower than full electric vehicles. A 20 minute charge on a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV will only charge the battery to 50% from flat. This will be enough for around 15 miles alone on battery power and the same mileage on petrol will only cost about £2 in fuel.
However there is currently a way round the charge for charging. If you switch your home or business energy supplier to Ecotricity, you get free fast charging and a £40 pound discount off your bill for having an electric vehicle.