[Long Time Lurker]

I received my Maingau RFID card the other day and I thought it would be useful to do a quick translation of the setup instructions for people who don't speaken deutsch.

Welcome to Simply Charge
It's this simple:
1. Download the "EinfachStromLaden" app and sign in with your details.
2. Go to the menu option "User account" (in the hamburger menu at the top left) and tap on "Add charging card or charging chip"
3. Simply enter your personal charge card number. This is on the back of the card labelled Kartennummer (card number).
4. Go to menu option "Means of payment" and add your preferred payment method.

Hold your charging card against the RFID reader of the charger and start charging!

 

[h8ten]

A question for those in the know for Maingau. Do they charge your registered card in Euros or Sterling? The reason I ask is to find out if I need to get a 'no foreign transaction fee' type card as my current one charges a conversion fee, I noticed on the app that you can also set up a direct debit using your IBAN but again this could result in handling fees.

 

[electricdriver]

A question for those in the know for Maingau. Do they charge your registered card in Euros or Sterling? The reason I ask is to find out if I need to get a 'no foreign transaction fee' type card as my current one charges a conversion fee, I noticed on the app that you can also set up a direct debit using your IBAN but again this could result in handling fees.

Euros - so beware foreign transaction fees.

 

[h8ten]

Euros - so beware foreign transaction fees.

Thanks, I will look out for a 'no foreign transaction fees' card then.

 

[electric_dreams]

Thanks, I will look out for a 'no foreign transaction fees' card then.

Sign up for Revolut, add a virtual card, done!

 

[AndyK]

Thanks, I will look out for a 'no foreign transaction fees' card then.

Or sign up for Curve, where unlike Revolut you don't need to create or top up a separate account - the card does the conversion fee free and simply charges your existing card in your local currency Use Curve to combine your cards into one. Your money, made simple. Get £5 from us the first time you spend | Curve

 

[Long Time Lurker]

Or sign up for Curve, where unlike Revolut you don't need to create or top up a separate account - the card does the conversion fee free and simply charges your existing card in your local currency

I'd never come across Curve before despite using TransferWise and Revolut, looks interesting. Thanks for the info.

 

[firetrax]

Monzo and Starling are fee free as well.

 

[firetrax]

What's the cost of using Maingau?

 

[Bodgerx]

What's the cost of using Maingau?

There is no subscription or standing charge as far as I can see - is that what you mean?

 

[Bodgerx]

Or sign up for Curve, where unlike Revolut you don't need to create or top up a separate account - the card does the conversion fee free and simply charges your existing card in your local currency Use Curve to combine your cards into one. Your money, made simple. Get £5 from us the first time you spend | Curve

Hmmm. This isn't going to get you the same kind of discount as Maingau though...?

The reason for this coming up on here is for the apparent Ionity deal...

 

[firetrax]

There is no subscription or standing charge as far as I can see - is that what you mean?

I was wondering what the per kWh charge was for using say the Ionity chargers?

 

[Ian McVey]

Drive an electric vehicle and have cards coming out of your Whazoo.

Never mind no spare wheel this is offset by the amount of card required.
I hope my phone does not die or I won't be able to do anything 🙃

 

[Bodgerx]

I was wondering what the per kWh charge was for using say the Ionity chargers?

Autostrom-Tarif | MAINGAU Energie

www.maingau-energie.de

 

[h8ten]

Just opened a Curve account and changed the details within the app (thanks to Google translate) and had my first transaction of 90p which I presume is a verification amount. I might not use it very much as they are few and far between up here but sod's law I will be somewhere that this is the only charger that I can reach before I run flat.

 

[cDy]

Drive an electric vehicle and have cards coming out of your Whazoo.

Ah, I see why. If you set the payment type on ZapMap to 'Contactless debit or credit card' you now get a reasonable coverage of rapid chargers for England, and some in Wales (which has relatively few chargers anyway) and Scotland. I see that there are none in Ireland (or towards the north and west of Scotland).

The legislation for England that chargers must support contactless seems to be taking effect and things seem, to me, to be improving quite quickly. I can stick to contactless for most of the longer journeys I make now, especially with a 50 kWh battery.

 

[electric_dreams]

I was wondering what the per kWh charge was for using say the Ionity chargers?

€0.39/kWh (about 35p/kWh at the moment) through Maingau.
Normally 69p/kWh.

 

[Ian McVey]

Ah, I see why. If you set the payment type on ZapMap to 'Contactless debit or credit card' you now get a reasonable coverage of rapid chargers for England, and some in Wales (which has relatively few chargers anyway) and Scotland. I see that there are none in Ireland (or towards the north and west of Scotland).

The legislation for England that chargers must support contactless seems to be taking effect and things seem, to me, to be improving quite quickly. I can stick to contactless for most of the longer journeys I make now, especially with a 50 kWh battery.

In Ireland for rapid chargers there really is only ECars from the semi state owned electricity company or Ionity, however the infrastructure seems fine it got much more availability when they stopped free vend.

 

[Bodgerx]

Just opened a Curve account and changed the details within the app (thanks to Google translate) and had my first transaction of 90p which I presume is a verification amount. I might not use it very much as they are few and far between up here but sod's law I will be somewhere that this is the only charger that I can reach before I run flat.

I'm not seeing a benefit of a Curve card/account regards cheap Ionity prices...am I missing something?

 

[h8ten]

From what I have read, you pay with your Curve card (opt for the Blue one as that has no physical card and is free, and any transactions in a foreign currency will be converted to sterling (fee-free) and then charged to your registered sterling credit/debit card that you have added to your Curve account. It will really depend on the exchange rates used but given the amounts will not be that great I would have thought that it will be the fees, that would make it more expensive to use my traditional credit card.