KiaCharge service gets IONITY bolt-on for discounted charging

Kia has announced that its KiaCharge service is now available with a bolt-on that enables users to charge at IONITY stations for a discounted rate. 

The bolt-on for KiaCharge users costs an extra £11.25 a month, but reduces the price of electricity at a UK IONITY charger from 70p per kWh to 25p, and removes the 49p session fee.

The firm says that for KiaCharge account holders with the bolt-on, the £11.25 monthly fee can be recouped in just one charging session. For example, a 10-80 per cent recharge of a 64kWh Kia e-Niro drops from £31.85 to £11.20. 

The IONITY network of 350kW DC rapid chargers is growing across Europe, with over 400 high-power charging stations now open. However, only 14 of these sites are located in the UK currently, with a total of 60 CCS chargers between them. 

KiaCharge grants Kia electric car and PHEV owners access to 17,000 public charging stations throughout the UK, all of which are managed and billed from a single account held with Kia.

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Instead of holding a dedicated account for each charging service, KiaCharge drivers sign up to one monthly payment and receive an itemised monthly invoice, which details the cost of each charging session. The service is accessed via a smartphone app or an RFID card, which is scanned at the charging station before each top-up.

Kia also has plans to expand its network of charging partners to include several regional services throughout 2021. The KiaCharge service should make it easier to drive one of the brand’s EVs across Europe, with buyers granted easy access to more than 178,000 charging points across the continent.

Payment plans are separated into two options: Easy and Plus. Easy requires a one-off payment of £1.99 to sign up, and customers receive an RFID tag. There’s no monthly fee, but most charging stations require a 49p session fee before charging begins. Drivers then pay per kWh of electricity used.

The Plus tariff is aimed at drivers who regularly charge their vehicles at public charging points. The payment plan is set at £2.99 per month and drivers don’t need to pay an upfront cost for sign-up or the session fee at each charging station. As an added benefit, some charging points also offer a 15 per cent discount per kWh as part of the scheme. 

A BP Pulse bolt-on costs an extra £7.85 per month and provides users with up to a 40 per cent discount compared with the standard rate. 

The KiaCharge smartphone app allows users to search for charging points by location, availability and charging type. Drivers can also select their preferred provider, with the app also providing assistance when it comes to planning trips by highlighting the best charging stations along an intended route and at a user’s final destination.

Will you be signing up for Kia’s charging service? Let us know in the comments section below...