Ionity is taking advantage of the opening of its hundredth French station to announce important news: the abandonment of billing by the minute for the more traditional one, by kWh.
The charging operator Ionity, which today has more than 1,700 terminals spread over 416 stations in Europe, has just inaugurated its hundredth fast charging station in France. Located in the parking lot of the Novotel in St-Witz (95), near Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport, this new infrastructure was also an opportunity to announce a major change in pricing.
Rates: from the minute to the kWh consumed
Until now, the Ionity network stood out in France for its per-minute pricing. A simpler solution to implement but not necessarily fairer, since it favored the most modern and expensive vehicles, which benefited from very fast charging thanks to 800V technology, in particular: Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron GT, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, etc. Older cars or certain basic variants with restricted charging power were thus penalized, with longer and therefore more expensive charges. Ionity seems to have changed its mind since the pricing will change to kWh consumed from July 1st.
This summer, French terminals will indeed be updated with certified DC meters, a mandatory standard for per-minute pricing. Thereby, you will have to pay €0.39 on the 50 kW terminals and €0.69 on the 350 kW terminals, excluding subscription. Preferential rates will be valid thanks to the agreements concluded with certain partners such as BMW, Volkswagen, Ford, Hyundai-Kia or Mercedes.
Tensions to come on the stations?
Thanks to this change, all vehicle owners will be in the same boat, with an equivalent charging cost depending on the kWh consumed. Good news, but with a limitation: the temptation to spend more time on the terminal to go up to 100%. Indeed, recharging from 80 to 100% is generally slower than that from 0 to 80% and should be reserved for long distances. With a charging cost per minute, drivers were quickly encouraged to leave the station to avoid prohibitive costs.
But this new pricing could be a game-changer, and push motorists to charge to the maximum, sometimes monopolizing a terminal more than reason. There would therefore be less rotation on the terminals, which are sometimes few or defective. What create some tension on the resorts during major departures on vacation? As a reminder, Ionity does not charge vehicles that park on the terminal after the end of charging, unlike Tesla or Belib’.
Photo : Ionity.