Ionity charging stations: how to use the fastest chargers in the UK!
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- #rapidcharging #ionity #electriccars
If you have an electric car and happen to be out and about on the UK’s bigger roads, you may well have noticed Ionity charging stations. Thanks to their distinctive purple LED halos and big white cabinets, Ionity charging stations are usually found in larger motorway services around the country. There are currently 18 live UK locations, including Alnwick, Baldock, Beaconsfield, Cambridge, Chippenham, Cullompton, Gretna Green, Leeds Skelton Lake, Maidstone and Milton Keynes, as well as Channel Gateway, Cobham, Cringleford, Peterborough, Perth and Polmadie.
Ionity is actually a joint venture between a load of car manufacturers: BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Mercedes, and VW Group - including Audi and Porsche - that is aiming to provide big power charging across Europe. Although any car make can use them.
If you’re new to Ionity, you’ll notice something a bit different. Unlike almost all other rapid chargers, Ionity units don’t accept contactless payment. There are currently five ways to pay: An RFID card from a manufacturer, through the app, through the QR code on the station, or through Shell Recharge or Octopus Electric Juice.
As far as power outputs Ionity has chargers capable of supplying a max of 350kw. If you’re lucky enough to have a car with an 800volt charging system like a Kia EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Porsche Taycan or Audi GT - you could see 10-80% in under 20 minutes. But any vehicle can use them - they just won’t make the best use of the power going in, and will be limited to your car’s maximum charging speed. It’s good to know what that is, by the way, so you can try and make sure you always use the appropriate charger.
Join Tom as he steers us through a charging session with an Ionity charger. Learn how to connect, make a payment and discover how long it will take to charge your car. Are you a fan of Ionity’s charging stations? Let us know in the comments below.
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Would be nice if charging places had a covered forecourt like petrol stations have for when the weather is inclement.
In the Netherlands fastnet is building them covered. Also high speed chargers. (I nearly never use them because I'm in my homeland ...and due to the distances I only charge at home....but I do recommend them also if you're ever in the Netherlands....I tested them and they are working as good as ionity. (My charge cars is the old "the new motion" card...10 years old already. And now it's called shell recharge. Fastnet also belongs to shell.
If it's raining or cold, sit in your car........
@@reiniernn9071FastNed does NOT belong to Shell
A covered forecourt . Hmmm. A good place for some solar panels !
Yep had to charge at night last night and not only was there no cover in the rain it was poorly lit. Charger itself was brilliant though, fast and easy to use.
All the ways to pay EXCEPT the one most people want!! - the contactless card. The complications involved in charging puts many many people off getting an EV. I can’t believe it’s so difficult - I shall avoid them if at all possible.
It's really not that hard these days. We're relatively new ev owners (a used ev) we have no home charging.
All we did was sus out which chargers we had locally, worked out which of those worked most reliably and was most convenient. Then we worked out the best payment method. Despite what most people will tell you our most reliable and cheapest charger is a BP Pulse so we got the app and a card, were given free charging for a month then heavily discounted charging for the following five months.
For travelling further afield there are cards like the Octopus Electric Universe which can be used at multiple brands of chargers. Again we worked out which chargers were on the routes we're likely to travel and found the Octopus to be sufficient for our needs.
There's another called Bonnet and various others that do similar with maybe a slightly different set of charger companies and there are often start up discounts too with ongoing offers.
So it's not as expensive once you've done your research. I had ZapMap installed for two years before we bought our EV, it was fascinating watching all the new chargers popping up and covering the map. I've now got ABRP and WattsUp installed for guidance on longer trips which I haven't used yet but one day might be well enough to undertake.
I found that very encouraging, along with devouring every ev and electric sustainability channel on RUclips it gave us the confidence to take the plunge. Wouldn't go back after a winter of getting out of the shower and engaging climate control to go out to a warm defrosted car there's no turning back for us! 👍
If they've been installed in the last year or so, they must have contactless payment facility by law.
This really winds me up!!!! Why do you need an app or even a phone to charge your car. How many people buy petrol with an app??????????
At one point in the future a driver may be able to pull up plug in and use contact less card to pay. No smart phone or lots of different app downloads or 4/5G required on the users end. Just like a vending machine or trip to the shop.
Or universal plug and go, just like Tesla, don't even need a contactless card.
Buy a Tesla. Park, plug in, charge then go. No need to even process a payment.
I've never had a problem with Ionity chargers, i find them the absolute best when on long journeys! I drove from surrey all the way to Strasbourg in my iD3 and without Ionity i can imagine it wouldn't be as simple. The can only think of one 'problem' i've ever had with an Ionity charger and that's one time i had to wiggle the plug slightly once it was plugged into my car before the charger was happy. Literally that's the only 'problem' i've ever had, if you can even call it that?
I really hope they keep building these at Motorway services, and the Gridserve chargers. Only thing with Gridserve is if it's one of their older chargers that they took over from the people they bought out, it can get a bit iffy then. Still yet to visit one of the electric forecourts by gridserve tho. That'll be a little taste of the future!
Can anyone explain why manufacturers would rather this compared to contactless payment?The only advantage I can see is it gives them valuable data about yourself which can be resold.
I don't see why these things can't identify you from the car when you plug it in and automatically charged your preregistered card.
I've used the Tesla superchargers and that's totally automatic. Park up, plug in the connector, done. No apps. No faff. Especially useful when it's raining, you're only out in the rain for about 5 seconds.
Just been to Alps and back from Devon in Toyota BZ4X and used Ionity wherever possible. Always reliable and smooth fast charging. Already my favourite chargers.
I’m still relatively new to EV life, but have used the Ionity at Polmadie in Glasgow a couple of time with no issues. I have a Skoda Powerpass account with Plug and Charge which works absolutely fine with my Enyaq Coupe !
Love Ionity, never had an issue with charging other than having to wait occasionaly for a vacant charging spot. Need many more like them.
My favourite chargers (M65) Blackburn services. 6x350kw units. A lot of people are commenting on the high price, most of the manufacturers listed pay only 28p kWh. I’m not one of those so use a third party app and pay 31p kWh with a monthly subscription.
Many don't realise the cost of using a number of public charge networks can be reduced by subscribing Gary......
Worth noting that Ionity chargers are CCS only. Less of an issue as CHAdeMO becomes less common.
Well there is only 24,000 Nissan Leaf and another 70,000 Mitsubishi Outlander phev on UK roads so I am sure they will be fine with no Chademo charges!
@@gregb1599 If it becomes an issue, there are adaptors out there......
I imagine the majority of current chargers and all new chargers will be CCS, CHAdeMO is a dead standard, even nissan have given up on it (Aryia is CCS)
I got the BMW charge card - 1st year free with the iX3 - which gives a fantastic 26p/kWh at Ionity
Is this rate for after the 1st year free of charging?
And it yes, for long will ionity honor the great rate per kwh you have got?
@@yurikislytsia8596 sorry I meant they give u the Ionity membership free for 1 year (otherwise it's £11.30/month). This then entitles you to 26p/kwh. Likewise BP pulse is £7.85/month but the discounts per kWh are not that great.
Why don’t they just use contactless, it would make it much less complicated.
Used many of them in Europe last year on our trip to southern Germany. Didn’t have an issue with one, we used the Bonnet app to activate them.
Ionity cobham - had to move my car 3 times! First charger out of order, second read my RFID but wouldn’t connect to my car, third wouldn’t read my RFID card but did connect to my car using the app 🤷♀️ also the metal posts aren’t situated very well as I couldn’t open my rear passenger door on drivers side as this is where my charging port is located and the post was right next to it, had to let my passengers out before I could hook up 🙄
Used quite a few times in our XC40 both at Baldock and Peterborough. However...
Very often suffered very low speeds such as 30 or 35kW, despite having a 150kW capable car. Phoning gets you to a European call centre. Nothing much seems to change, issues frustratingly common, repairs super rare!
In Europe the IONITY network is absolutely perfect and worked a treat on my recent trip to Switzerland.
However the IONITY at Cullompton were horrendous the other week only running at 35kwh with my battery at 20% on a cupra born 58kw!
They said they had issues and that was all the help they gave me annoyingly!
Also you forgot to mention that if you buy a boost membership (£2/month) through the bonnet app you get 10% off the IONITY price!
Fast, reliable, usually available, but very expensive, and not many around the UK yet.
I do not mind the cost too much as I only use them when on long journeys, I am prepared to pay for speed ,reliability, and availability. I have an EV6 and the charging speed is amazing, regularly over 200 Kw, only just time to get a coffee .
Yesterday at Pit Stop near Chippenham..all chargers in use at 11am....we need loads more
I wish there were more rapid chargers in Ireland. There are a handful of Ionity chargers but there is a massive opportunity to expand them, especially up and down the main motorways. If they don't do it, then someone else will.
I have used them a few times when desperate….massively overpriced I guess they think they have you over a barrel when on the motorways.
There are some ways to mitigate the cost like a subscription etc but they really pile on the £££££s when you are a ‘guest’ user….so saying then more chargers the merrier, unless you have a Nissan Leaf or a pre-2019 Renault Zoe then you are totally stuffed as these are CCS only
Really wish they’d install more! Milton Keynes has only 4 and there’s a constant queue, Stafford had planning for 18 but only has 6, one of which has been broken for over 6 months now
The Stafford one is now fixed… saw the engineer doing it last Tuesday 😅
@@Nate_Etron good news! Although I’d put money on another one being broken by next week!
@@BHBeckenbauer lol… two are offline today! 😂
@@Nate_Etron frustrating but seems to be normal! I’ve given up tbh and tend to use Rugby services when driving across the country
My preferred provider as my 800 volt battery can charge at 275kw. However my 2 nearest chargers (Peterborough and Cambridge) are nearly always fully occupied. I blame the discounted rates which attract too many users
Car makers need to start putting fast charging ability in the cars at no extra cost, my MG4 has hit 143kw on an ionity charger for quite a long time. Issue I feel is when cars like Peugeot e208 can only do 50kw, this holds up chargers. I understand it costs more for the car to have the ability to take it in but it would help with the whole “they take hours to charge” argument. Also if MG can afford to fit it then I’m sure others can too.
Nice video. I always wondered what it would be like charging at Ionity. But with my Leaf that was never an option. Tomorrow I’ll be picking up my second hand E-Golf. Then I know how it works at ionity, although I’ll still prefer FastNed. Because it’s cheaper and they have the rain cover.
Never found an IONITY charger in a convenient location. Why would I use charger that won’t accept contactless. Also if their power comes from solar and wind why do they have to charge so much. .. oh because the cost is based on the gas market cost! We’re all being fleeced.
You didn’t mention the third colour of the charger light, one you’re sure to see often. Red means the charger is broken. Again. You can consider the reliability whilst you’re waiting for all those Audis and Porches with huge batteries to charge up to 100% ignoring the queue.
My experience with Ionity is limited, but I have found that they are very busy, and when they are, the charging rate for everyone is capped to 75kW. I assume it’s to do with the limited power infrastructure and depleted onsite batteries.
With regard to the video description above, I can't think of any obvious reason why Ionity charging stations usually being found in larger motorway services around the country should be thanks to their distinctive purple LED halos and big white cabinets! Also, Octopus Electric Juice has been known for some months now as "Electric Universe" or "Electroverse". (Tom does say "Electroverse" in the video.)
First problem at Cambridge services: charger wouldn't start. It said 'press staff's but there was none visible!! Bright sunny day - nothing visible. Abandoned. Moved to no 6. Nothing first attempt. Makes contact but display a washout in sunshine. Disconnected car, replugged and waited to go. Card finally accepted. Phoned help line but !!!! useless. Finally charge d ok.
Speed was 50kwh but advertised as 300kw. Although my car capacity is 150kwh
At what point in the process do you plug the car in ? Can you select the charger press start charge then plug in? Or does the plug need to be in before pressing start? Reason I ask is that on a petrol pump you pay and it say start fuelling at this point I grab the pump and put it in the car. Is it the same with EV at the prompt start charging do you plug in or does it need to be plugged in before to do some checks? I know this sounds noddy but new EV drivers can be put off by the differences.
On my long travels I will go to an ionity if available.But still on the continent.
First...There are always MORE than one charger.
Second..Even if all others are occupied I still get maximum charging speed (225KW ,with an ioniq 5..car often faster charged than I have gone to toilet and taking a cup of coffee)
Third : They work on my charge card. No difficult apps needed (internet problems when using apps are possible due to lack of 4G as I noticed with a charger from Orlen...only possible to start with an app )
Charged my tesla in France.
Pre-heated the battery but only got 70kwh 😮
Ionity pay as you go price is expensive
Have visited lots of Ionity locations. Seldom find one with any chargers that are not fully occupied and therefore need to wait..
I write here 'cause I want this comment to be seen: Is the 2023 Model Y (Giga Berlin) better than previous Shangai versions regarding ride comfort? Is there an updated suspension? Is it still so firm?
Love ioniq5! Thx for the video👍
There are none in London - very disappointing!!
No CC contactless, what!!
You don't mention Polestar through the plugsufing RFID or App get a very good price for a charge at IONITY chargers.
It’s great to have fast charging but the price has to come down. Ionity are ripping off UK customers compared to Europeans.
Could do with more info. of how to pay, just saying by the app is too light. Plugging the cable is the easy bit...
£45 per charge? I paid £90 for two short chargers £9 worth of electric @85p kwh. Was refunded later. It was a bad experiance, they dont have any roof so was impossible to use a phone in the rain, their card would not work but a credit car would. Octopus electric vans keep blocking chargers for 3 hours or more. I dont like the pay in advance on the app as I paid twice. They should have some weather protection and solar panels. If you dont have £90 in your account they may not work for you.
Us EV drivers hate ICEd chargers, but now this ones MANNd 😂
My 21 mach e wont plug & charge always have to use RFID card
Charging prices and the variation across providers is scandalous!
How about a video on the cars that present the best value for money?
Wish they came to the US
They are the same thing as Electriy America in the US, same car manufacturers’ consortium.
From last December can't join ionity Passport for cheaper price 😢
The fact that everything is designed so that you don't pay with cash says it all
You say all cars can use them. Have you tried using one to charge a Nissan leaf? Difficult as they only have CCS connectors. Also beware of the QR codes, scammers have been known to replace them with false ones.
There is not enough stations and those are always busy,I am glad I have got Tesla
"Co-Financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union"???🤭 Ssh! don't tell them that GB has left! @ 2:43
Is this an ad or ‘paid for promotion’ btw? 😊
Doesn’t work with our mx30 🙄
You bought for the cool doors didn't you?🤔🙄
Actually, they're just as pricey, but by comparison to other chargers, not by as much....😢
Deapite having a 150kw capable car - at 31% battery and no other chargers in use at the same place...max speed of 67kw. No reaosn why and Ionity don't seem interested in eother fixing it, imoroving or explaining it. It was 20 degrees as well so no low temp issues....not particularly impressive
It's the car that has limitations, not the charger. The higher the state of charge is, the slower it will get, beyond 80% it's best to stop.
The reason why there so fast is that there so expensive to use, there are very few people using them. I for one wouldn’t spend the 97p per kilowatt hour just to have a fast charge, sorry.
Utter idiocy that you cannot just use a credit card!
18 locations in the UK is pathetic, considering the car manufacturers behind the company. Compare this to Tesla.
you have to start somewhere?
Tesla have 40k chargers!
They’re too expensive though. Ripping everyone off.
Subscribing usually reduces the cost. Sometimes by up to 50%, depending on the charge network.....
You still fail to pronounce the Hyundai the right way 😂😅
This is Hyundai’s fault though! All of thr Hyundai adverts 20 years ago pronounced their own name exactly the same way he pronounces it in this video. Nowadays, all the Hyundai adverts bollock british people for pronouncing their name wrong! 😂
These RFID cards should be available for FREE from any local store or station already, cash top up. NONE of this "App" Crap Smartphone rubbish. Smartphones are for zombified idiots who walk around talking to themselves.
Stop showing that crappy EU flag.
What would you like to show? The flag of backward facing, shithole prison island?