The alternative EV charging guide 2024

Here’s how to save money charging your electric car at public points

Every PCO driver knows that time is money – and this is especially true when you charge an electric vehicle. You must pay more to charge the car faster and get back onto the road to keep earning money.

And yet it doesn’t have to be this way, because the super quick electric vehicle charge points that are available at Shell Recharge or BP Pulse garages are merely one way to recharge your electric car. 

This article explores the various options available to Uber drivers who want to reduce the cost of EV charging. There is a lot of overlap between these solutions but we have tried hard to keep it simple. 

Sadly, there are almost no free EV charge points now that PodPoint has stopped offering these at supermarkets such as Tesco (see destination networks below). However, there are affordable options.

These are the four categories of network for electric vehicle charge points: 

• Rapid networks
• Combination networks
• Destination networks
• On-street/community networks

1. Rapid networks

These are the charge points that private hire drivers will be familiar with at a petrol station or motorway services. They are popular because they are the fastest option for electric vehicle charging. 

The issue is that you must pay big money for this convenience. Shell Recharge asks an eye-watering 85p/kWh to access its ultra-rapid (150kW+) chargers and BP Pulse costs 69p/kWh although you can save 20% if you also pay £7.85/month for membership. 

For context, the UK Energy Price Guarantee is 34p/kWh from October 2022. This means that Uber drivers must pay roughly double what it would cost them at a domestic electric vehicle charge point to use these more convenient public chargers. If you are lucky enough to have a parking space, it’ll cost you £400-800 to install a 7kW EV charger at home.  

2. Combination networks

One reason PCO drivers stick to the rapid networks is because other options feel too complex. For instance, it’s hard to know where to find your local chargers and paying for them can also be a pain. 

The good news is that combination networks pull together the location and pricing of many services into one map – and often allow you to pay for the electric vehicle charge point through a single app too. This includes big boys and tiny players. Put simply, a combination network is like a box of mixed chocolates. 

Zap-Map (zap-map.com)

The best-known combination network is Zap-Map, which shows 95% of public charging points in its app. You can also pay directly for several networks, such as Osprey or GeniePoint, using the Zap Pay tool in the app. The service is free but you must register and there is a “small transaction fee” for using the Zap Pay tool. To get rid of ads and store more routes in the app you must get a Plus (£4.99/month) or Premium (£7.99/month) plan. 

Bonnet (joinbonnet.com)

Bonnet is another simple way to locate and pay for public charge-points at 1,300 locations in London. The list of partners includes Shell Recharge, ESB, Ionity and GeniePoint – so there is a fair number of ultra-rapid (150kW+) chargers as well as slower speeds. Bonnet members can save up to 15% on the price of each charging point by paying for its new Turbo Boost subscription for £8/month.  

Octopus Electroverse (electroverse.octopus.energy)

Likewise, Octopus Electroverse is a combination network with more than 58,900 charging points across the UK, with partners including Ionity, Osprey, ESB Energy and Fastned. It is free to sign up and get a Electrocard. All the information is in their Electroverse app. You don’t have to be with Octopus Energy to use their service, but Octopus Go and Intelligent Octopus members can receive a 5% and 8% discount off all public charging respectively.

3. Destination networks 

These are the EV charging points located inside – or close to – places you are visiting. This includes the chargers subsidised by shopping centres and expensive options for parking close to, say, a tube station. For example, InstaVolt has rapid (120kW) chargers at many McDonald’s restaurants that cost 75p/kWh.

PodPoint (pod-point.com)

PodPoint has a large network of charging points located at supermarkets such as Tesco or Lidl, as well as  Heathrow Airport. There are still a few free options but very few. For instance, at Tesco the slow (7kW) chargers now cost 28p/kWh and the rapid (50kW) chargers are 50p/kWh. You must use the PodPoint app to access any EV charging point but there is no membership fee. 

Source London (sourcelondon.net)

This network was set-up by TfL but is now operated privately on behalf of the local authorities in London. It has 1,700 charge-points which are mostly slow (7kW) or fast (22kW) at handy locations across the city. The pay-as-you-go price is 65p/kWh but PCO drivers can unlock a private hire membership that lowers this to 46p/kWh plus a £4/month subscription (first year is free). Be warned that you must pay an ‘idle fee’ if your car is parked but not actually charging between 10am and midnight. 

4. On-street/community networks

Many of the on-street chargers you see are already covered by the various networks described above. For example, Shell offers on-street EV charge points via its Ubitricity sub-brand (55p/kWh). 

Here, we have focussed on the community schemes, which are designed to allow people who have no space to install a charger – or cannot afford it – to share with those who do have one and live nearby. This is a smart way for PCO drivers to access home-chargers owned by their neighbours at a fair price. 

Co Charger (co-charger.com)

This is a small community network of 240 hosts spread around London that is growing fast. The price is set by each host and usually between £1.75 and £2 per hour for a standard 7.4kW charger. You can book or pay via the app – and there are no ‘idle fees’ if you stay too long, nor are there any membership fees. If you cannot install a home charger, it’s worth checking the Co Charger map to see if you live near a local host. 

JustCharge (justpark.com)

This is a spin-off from the reputable JustPark service, which allows drivers to book parking from people or businesses who have extra spaces they are not always using. JustCharge says it already has 1,600 charge locations available in the UK and that drivers pay 40p/kWh plus the cost of the actual parking. There are no ‘idle fees’ and you can book and pay either via the JustCharge app or the Zap-Map one. 

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