KIA owners offered discounted Ionity Charging

Kia electric vehicle owners can now add an Ionity charging network ‘bolt-on’ to their existing Kia Charge service. This can pay for itself ‘in a single charge’ according to the manufacturer, and Kia Charge gives members access to 17,000 UK charging points using a single account.

The Ionity bolt-on costs £11.25 per month and reduces the cost of rapid charging on the Ionity network from £0.70 per kWh by more than half to £0.25 per kWh, while also negating the £0.49 session fee. The cost of recharging a 64kWh Kia e-Niro or Soul EV from 10 to 80% would therefore fall from £31.85 to just £11.20.

When the Kia EV6 launches later in 2021, its 800-volt architecture will allow it to charge from 10 to 80 per cent in just 18 minutes using Ionity’s ultra-fast chargers. So far, there are 400 Ionity high-power charging stations across 24 European countries, facilitating ‘low-cost rapid charging on cross-continental drives’. Kia Charge already provides access to BP Pulse, Pod Point, Source London, Instavolt, Shell NewMotion, Osprey, Chargy and ESB charging networks, allowing owners to access each via a single platform, without having to sign up for multiple accounts. Members can being recharging using their Kia Charge smartphone app or an RFID card, and pay for itemised top-ups monthly. ‘Easy’ and ‘Plus’ tariffs are available, aimed at light and heavy users of the public charging network, respectively. Easy has no monthly fee and charges per kWh, while for a £2.99 monthly tariff, Plus users received a 15 per cent discount from most charging networks along with no session fees.