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What choice have you made?

  • Signed up to Polar Economy Plus (£12/month)

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Chargemaster Pricing: What choice have you made?

14K views 141 replies 40 participants last post by  h8ten 
#1 ·
I would love to hear what other EV owners have done in response to Chargemaster's new pricing / app / website.
 
#6 ·
Too expensive to justify any regular use. Also not a fan of giving them money on the off chance that I need to use it. If/when I can pay as and when I use it, like with petrol stations, I will use when needed.
 
#13 ·
Slightly modified habits to avoid Chargemaster (considering the monopoly they have around here, you might think that's tricky, but no) because the charges are too high in all cases, and having to register and pay £20 in advance for a so-called PAYG service that might not even work when I really need it in an emergency is out of the question.
 
#15 ·
Hello bought c zero over a year ago, card given by Citroen SSE card still activates Chargemaster chargepionts Waitrose, Nissan etc subscribed card from Chargemaster doesn't understandably introduction of charges means new card non functional but why the old card still continues to work? Sorry if old question.

Also found web site that allows user to input departure destination milage location of all charge points with maps throughout Europe info from EDF .
 
#20 ·
That was my conclusion too, for my Ampera. My commute isn't long enough to need to charge for the home journey, so I only need to charge occasionally after longer journeys - 2 or 3 times a month perhaps. So there's no point in having a subscription.

Polar Instant pricing worked out at £5-£6 for a charge, vs £4.40 for petrol. Why would I bother plugging in?

(And that's ignoring the killer that they're billing you for time plugged in, not time actually charging)
 
#26 ·
I got free polar access with my home charge unit last year, used it just once and that was only to try out my type-1 to type-2 cable so dont think I will need it for the next year of my lease, after that its either a model-s or I3 REX so wont be needing it then for sure, too pricey, iced spaces, equipment unreliable.
 
#27 ·
At there price it's a rip off and they know it. Almost 8700 miles now and only really charge at Newport pagnell services 22 kW charger or IKEA rapid but I like the 22kw more I charge at Renault to. I don't mine paying but there prices are mad and when I charged up I never really needed to, I feel the CM posted are a waste of money as there always iced
 
#28 · (Edited)
I've downloaded the App, but am hesitant to add £20 that I may never use. Via the Matt / Chargemaster Twitter exchange; if only £3 is needed to activate a charge, why make the minimum top-up £20?

I'm about to do a 600 mile roundtrip to North Wales in the LEAF; I've found lots of Zero Carbon World 32A Commando points that I can use at 32A. I only need to use a couple; one is at a hotel where they have a 2 course lunch for £15 sounds much more useful than paying Chargemaster £20 for topping up their Polar Instant App and buying an expensive coffee in Little Chef Builth Wales waiting for an hours Charge.

The second charge will be at Drover Cycles in Hay-On-Wye. I simply called them, explained I needed an hours 32A charge and could they help and they were delighted to help out.

Why do we need to top up by £20? It's stupid. I can buy millions of items on ebay for 99p using PayPal.... why not use a simple Pay As You Go approach, either using touchless payment with a normal credit card (McDonalds Drive Thru method) or if via an App that can leverage all the simplicity and protection of PayPal instant payment. ADOPTION should be first Chargemaster profit will then flow. Focussing on profit and killing adoption seems counter-productive.
 
#30 · (Edited)
Why do we need to top up by £20? It's stupid. I can buy millions of items on ebay for 99p using PayPal.... why not use a simple Pay As You Go approach, Focussing on profit and killing adoption seems counter-productive.
Plan A Public listing failed..... on to plan B(MW).
Because BMW electric drivers have to pay £20 up front maybe? And that doesn't even amount to a top up!!!!!o_O:rolleyes:
From The I3 blurb ChargeNow "pay as you go" (i.e. pay up front and see terms and conditions as you don't go) requires a £20 annual fee;

Chargemaster Plc is the largest provider of public charging stations across the UK and further charging points are always being added to the network. Charging points in the ChargeNow network are automatically displayed on the BMW ConnectedDrive services in the specially developed BMW Navigation System making the sites quick and easy to find. Availability for use information is displayed where this is known as is other information such as cost of charging, rate of charge and type of socket.
All ChargeNow charging stations can also be viewed online and on the BMW i Remote App. New charging stations are added to the BMW Navigation System, BMW i Remote App and Website automatically as soon as they become available.


For an annual fee of £20 and pay-as-you-go billing, payment is simple and cashless via the ChargeNow card. The costs are simply billed to your card that you register with us on a monthly basis. You will also receive a detailed itemised statement once a month. In addition many of the sites are currently free to use once you have the ChargeNow card. To sign up for ChargeNow click here .

Oh and the ambiguous Grammar :rolleyes:??? why do you have to register your card on a monthly basis?
 
#34 ·
I don't really see how comparing apples to oranges helps to be honest, totally different scenarios. For example it's not practical or beneficial for a phone user to keep a call "open" (although they automatically shut off, I believe) but it's very practical in many cases to leave a car plugged in while you eat, shop, work, enjoy a movie etc.

No idea on CYC, they don't have the kind of monopoly that Chargemaster/Polar have had handed to them in most of England so no experience of them as yet.
 
#35 · (Edited)
I don't really see how comparing apples to oranges helps to be honest, totally different scenarios. For example it's not practical or beneficial for a phone user to keep a call "open" (although they automatically shut off, I believe) but it's very practical in many cases to leave a car plugged in while you eat, shop, work, enjoy a movie etc.
There are lots of uses for open 'calls', but then I don't really believe in the concept of a 'call' anymore either. It's a billing artefact which we all accept because of history.

No idea on CYC, they don't have the kind of monopoly that Chargemaster/Polar have had handed to them in most of England so no experience of them as yet.
1,500 charging points in CYCs network, mostly OLEV I believe. How big is Polar?

Chargemaster, CYC and PodPoint are in a battle to own the back-end charging point network. Each has monopolies in various regions right now.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/mergers_ea02/2013/Chargemaster.pdf makes for fascinating reading.

Also interesting to note that IBM intend to enter the market.
 
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