Passes, badges and cards for electric charging

Which badges to use to access charging stations on the public network

Chargemap, DKV, Freshmile, Izivia, KiWhiPass, NewMotion...

When the we drive electric, the question of recharging arises more frequently than that of refueling with a vehicle with a thermal engine and even on a motorcycle. And as the technology is still quite recent, the public network is much less well supplied than that of service stations, even if we have seen a 100% thermal service station become a 100% electric service station in Paris la Défense.

Today there are just over 50,000 public charging stations with a target of 100,000 stations within 2 years, for around 750,000 electric vehicles (mainly cars). And among these 50,000 terminals, 90% are less than 22 kW. But the pace is accelerating because we have gone from 32,736 charging points open to the public on January 1, 2021 to 53,667 (on December 31, 2021).

To make matters worse, it is also more complicated to connect your electric motorcycle or scooter to a public terminal due to the proliferation of operators. While there are many refueling companies, they all operate with the same guns and payment method. A simple credit card enough to water his mount with precious fuel.

But for electrics, the approach is quite different. Because in addition to the connectors which may be different, all the operators - Belib (Parisian), Fastned, Ionity, MobiSDEC, Tesla, Total Energies... - do not necessarily allow their charging point to be used without subscribing to their service. ..

Indeed, not all charging stations are necessarily equipped with a bank card terminal. As for the question of settling in cash, it is utopian. For some terminals, without a bank terminal, there is sometimes a QR code to be flashed to unlock the recharge and pay for its recharge via a dedicated mobile application. Again, this is not systematic.

What's the point?

It is therefore sometimes necessary to use a subscription card. But there are plenty of top-up operators, each operator offering their own card. Fortunately, rather than subscribing to a subscription dedicated solely to the terminals of a charging operator, there are also charging passes that give access to different networks and thus allow you to drive outside your city or department. These paid passes offered by "mobility operators" work using an RFID chip and allow access to the charging stations of certain networks.

How does it work?

The badge, which uses the classic credit card format, first requires the creation of an account, often via a mobile application. When opening the account, you often give a debit authorization for its future use. In other words, you use the card and you are debited from your credit card directly afterwards. It can then be used to unlock a terminal and start pricing. In some cases, cards must be credited before they can be used. To use a terminal, all you have to do is park your vehicle and swipe your badge over the terminal to unlock charging. When the battery is full, the badge is swiped again to cut off the charge and end the payment.

How much does it cost?

The mobility operators offering these passes are only access intermediaries. As they are not the ones supplying the electricity, they therefore add an additional cost, either fixed or indexed to the price of the load, to be remunerated, in addition to the initial contribution which includes the sending of the pass and a instruction booklet.

Pass, badges and cards for recharge electric

Even if you have a pass, it may therefore be more advantageous not to use it if the terminal allows you to pay directly by card. Whatever happens, you should always compare the pricing of your pass and that of the terminal without a pass to make the right choice.

The cost of charging then depends on each network, the power (3 kW - 7 kW -18 kW - 43 kW - 150 kW - 350 kW) and the charging time; knowing that there is often a financial penalty of a few euros when the vehicle is left charging for more than an hour. And that a non-subscriber will pay more than a network subscriber.

Prices range from a minimum of 15 cents per kWh (EDF) to triple 0.59 cents per kWh (Fastned), but this can rise to several euros. But we now pay more and more at charging time and there, the prices go rather from simple to double from 0.35 per minute and up to 0.80 cents. This is generally advantageous for cars, especially those capable of charging very quickly on a 350 kW terminal, but since no motorcycle is capable of charging at this speed, this advantage disappears.

At pass pass Hauts de France for example, a non-subscriber will pay 2 euros for 10 minutes, against 1.50 euro for 10 minutes for a subscriber. Still at pass pass, there is a ceiling on the amount per month for subscribers, which is advantageous if you consume a lot.

As an example, a recent charge via ChargeMap on the Corri-Door network was billed to me at 1 euro per kWh (exact bill of €13.80 for 14,200 kWh) and another €1.5 per kWh at the Total station de la Défense and at the same station 1 euro for only 307 Wh, i.e. more than 3 euros per kWh.

At least, at home, it's simpler and cheaper, with the kWh rate at 15 euro cents (€0.1558), or even 13 cents during off-peak hours. And we see that via public terminals, it will often be more expensive, even much more expensive, except for the rare free terminals. But they exist.

Cost per minute, per slice, per color...

Depending on the terminals, you pay per minute or per slice or level. The levels can be 10 minutes, 20 minutes or 24 hours and any level started is due. And be careful, a connected vehicle continues to run the counter even if the battery is full, so as not to block a terminal.

Many charging stations offer different "colored" rates, with color representing a different cost. For example, at Alizé, we go from a blue price of €0.70 for 20 minutes to a yellow price of €2 for 24 hours!

In the majority of cases, the load is billed by time and therefore does not depend on the actual power consumed. This is a real disadvantage for the motorcycle, which rarely charges at 50 kW, but rather at 13 kW or less and which will therefore be charged the same price as a car.

The different charging passes

Chargemap - The Chargemap pass offers wide access to the various charging stations since it claims compatibility with more than a hundred networks accessible in whole or in part in France and throughout Europe. ChargeMap claims 915,000 users and access to information from more than 270,000 charging stations via their application. This pass does not require any subscription and only requires a payment of 19.90 euros upon registration. The physical card is then sent to your home along with a small booklet of explanations. However, the commission charges are not clearly expressed, the mobile application simply indicating an overall rate per minute or per kWh. For the record, paying for the card that you receive at home does not allow you to use the mobile application without advertising (you have to pay an additional €14.99 / year to no longer have advertising in the application of the same name).

Izivia - This is the pass offered by EDF and compatible with around sixty networks in France and Europe for nearly 100,000 terminals claimed. Here, Izivia offers several subscription plans that give access to different networks. The basic formula, without subscription, requires 15 euros for registration. There is a formula at 3 € per month and one at 30 euros per month which reduce the registration fee to 10 euros as well as the cost of pricing per minute on the Corri-door network. For all other networks, Izivia adds between 50 cents and 4.5 euros in fixed costs per recharge, with the vast majority of terminals displaying costs of 1 euro.

KiWhiPass - The KiWhiPass includes around 30,000 terminals in France and 70,000 terminals in Europe. Here, the operator offers two formulas, one with and the other without subscription. Without subscription, the KiWhiPass requires 19 euros for registration and adds 70 euro cents of fixed costs to each charge. With the subscription, the registration fees are abolished and the fixed costs reduced by half (35 cents) e, the exchange of an annual cost of 24 euros. This card must be credited. This is a card that is provided by some manufacturers of electric vehicles.

New Motion - Acquired by Shell, the NewMotion pass offers access to a network of more than 200,000 terminals in 35 different countries. This is a card that is provided by some manufacturers of electric vehicles.

Freshmile - Freshmile claims access to nearly 100,000 charging stations in France and Europe. This card works without subscription, after registration at 4.99 euros, with a mobile application. Commission charges are the same on all European networks with 19 cents per kWh, or 1 cent per minute on standard terminals and 22 cents/min on fast terminals.

Alizé - Bouygues Energies & Service, Alizé provides access via a mobile application or a badge to the Bouygues terminal network and a certain number of partner networks. Relatively limited with around 4,000 terminals in France, the network is accessible via a paid subscription, the price of which varies according to the networks subscribed. It is also possible to use it without a subscription for an additional fee. Useful for those who do not leave their region and who already know which network they will use.

There are plenty of other passes and cards, sometimes limited to a city or region, such as the electric PasPass in Hauts-de-France (access to 323 terminals). It is therefore necessary to be well informed so as not to pay too much for your charge... or even manage to benefit from a free terminal (rare but that also exists). But once you're used to juggling and know the tricks, tips, good apps, it becomes easier.

Conclusion

We are clearly in the infancy of electricity and there is still a lack of a general standard to facilitate charging and payment. We will have to wait a few more years for the market to mature, with a good distribution of terminals and a simplification of procedures and payments.

In the meantime, electric users are happy few, who get together, share their (many) tips, their good plans and are a community in their own right with many groups on Facebook and elsewhere, sometimes, on electrics globally or by brand.

Welcome to the world of electrics.