Audi EV Charging Service now covers 75% of the UK’s Charge points – but it’s a ROTTEN system

Audi expands its EV charging system in the UK to deliver one-card access to 17,500 charge points, 75% of the charge points in the UK.

Just imagine if you needed to become a ‘member’ at BP, Shell and every other petrol station before you could fill up with fuel at normal prices? And imagine if you not only had to become a member but that you also had to pay a subscription fee every month for the privilege of spending your money to get the fuel? Who’d stand for that?

But that’s the reality for owners of electric cars, having to gather ‘memberships’ just to charge their cars at many providers without paying through the nose – with a few exceptions, like the excellent Gridserve.

So although Audi’s announcement that it’s now extended its e-Tron Charging Service in the UK to include 17,500 charging points – some 75 per cent or so of all chargers – you still have to cough up a membership fee to get access. 

The ‘hook’ for that access is discounted charging rates, but it’s still a nonsense system that needs sorting.

For now, though, drivers of EVs have no choice, and the expanded Audi service offers a little respite, although it all seems very expensive to us.

If you’re using your EV just around town – with no big trips – Audi will flog you their ‘City Tariff’ which costs £4.91 per month and charges you 29p kWh for slow AC charging and 39p kWh for DC charging. Use the Ionity network (part-owned by Audi/VW) to charge and you’ll be paying a ridiculous 70p kWh.

If you do regular long trips, Audi wants you to pay £16.81 per month (and you’re locked-in for a year) for the ‘Transit Tariff’, with the notable ‘advantage’ that you’ll ‘only’ pay 28p kWh at Ionity. There’s also another complicated add-on for BP Pulse at another £7.85 per month.

By comparison – although with little coverage yet – Gridserve, which offers what the Ionity network does (and more) charges a flat 24p kWh with you needing nothing other than a credit or debit card to pay. That’s less than Audi’s ‘City’ and ‘Transit’ tariffs charge for tortoise-level AC charging.

It’s time all this membership nonsense – and ridiculous pricing – was scrapped, and the Gridserve model replicated nationwide.