Charging point company, Ecotricity, has announced it will implement a £5 fee for a 20-minute recharge at its 300 stations across the country from 11 July.
“When we began in July 2011, there was a bit of a chicken and egg situation – people were reluctant to buy electric cars because there were no charging facilities being built, but nobody wanted to build those facilities while there were still so few cars on the road,” the company said in an email to its users. “That’s when we jumped in to help kickstart the electric car revolution in Britain.”
“And that’s going pretty well: today there are over 40 models to choose from and 64,000 plug-ins on the road. The Electric Highway itself comprises almost 300 electricity pumps – of the fast charging variety.”
“So the time has come for us to charge – for charging. We’ve taken a lot of feedback from EV drivers in order to arrive at the right pricing model. We’ve decided that a simple flat fee of a fiver for a 20 minute fast charge strikes the right balance,” Ecotricity added in its email.
A new app will replace the current card system, which will be available for Apple and Android devices and will enable users to manage their accounts, pay for charging and check the status of chargers all in one place, Ecotricity said.
Rival network Chargemaster currently charges £7.85 a month to use its 4000-strong Polar network.
