Octopus Electric Universe app/card and public charge points

[rincewind]

Hi all,

I've just had the Octopus Electric Universe card pop through my door - access to 300,000+ public chargers with a 'tap'. Anyone had any experience with this?

 

[NewbieT]

Good aggregator. 5% discount. RFID works well. Billed on the electric bill.

What’s not to like? Sure it would be better if they did Plug & Charge!

 

[Dilly]

I’ve been sent one. Might get to use it sometime.

 

[DeejUK]

I'm not an Octopus customer, but signed up for Electric Universe (or Electric Juice as it was then) for a cross-European summer road trip.

I've only used it once, in Denmark, where everything worked first time as expected. Seems to be a good card to have on standby.

 

[browellm]

8% discount for those on Intelligent Octopus.

 

[Mr H]

We used ours in Nuremberg in the summer, at a free charger

 

[MovingSouth]

I've used mine widely across the UK and France. Site works well and charging has always been straightforward. A good complement to credit cards, a Newmotion (Shell Recharge) card and superchargers.

 

[Garry TheBiz]

Pretty much what everyone else has said already. I use mine both in the UK and The Netherlands & Germany

 

[DaveNN]

The thread has reminded me that I have an account.
Card now in the wallet, just in case

 

[Js1977]

Just to voice the original post and mainly for those that get billed through the house bill. How is the usage visible on your bill?..Does it give an itemised billing with the card number etc?... Reason for asking I have 4 of these cards (each with peoples names) but the Mrs does not want to give it to the "kids" with fear we cant track usage (who used them)

 

[fsman]

this is my Go-To card if I am not using a supercharger.
Fantastic coverage across UK and seems to be matching Shell Recharge in UK/EU too.
You may also find it cheaper than Shell Recharge.

For me I have the following cards/Apps.

Cards
Octopus - my first choice.
Shell Recharge
In practice I think Octopus / Shell have simplier networks, but you can find one cheaper than the other. Also, when I was in france, one charger didn't accept Octopus, but did accept Shell - so I'd get both.

Charge Apps (in addition to the above)
Pod-Point - a must have
Charge Place Scotland (if you ever visit Scotland, you NEED this).

 

[SteveJol]

Got one too, came with £10 fee credit

 

[Utumno]

Just to voice the original post and mainly for those that get billed through the house bill. How is the usage visible on your bill?..Does it give an itemised billing with the card number etc?... Reason for asking I have 4 of these cards (each with peoples names) but the Mrs does not want to give it to the "kids" with fear we cant track usage (who used them)

The Electroverse card number is referenced on each charge session in the app. If you have 4 cards on one account, tracking is then a doddle.

 

[Cardo]

It will be nice when we can not worry about having a multitude of accounts and cards in order to not only achieve the cheapest price, but be able to charge at all.

I have the apps for all the charge networks, in addition to the Electroverse card (Octopus Juice, when I got it?) and Shell Recharge card, and then there’s Bonnet on top of all that. On the rare occasion I need to charge at a non-SuC rapid, I check through all the apps to find the cheapest price, as it’s not always obvious. Electroverse is relatively cheap on some networks, but quite pricey on others. Same for Shell.

One day things might be simple!

 

[Utumno]

It will be nice when we can not worry about having a multitude of accounts and cards in order to not only achieve the cheapest price, but be able to charge at all.

I have the apps for all the charge networks, in addition to the Electroverse card (Octopus Juice, when I got it?) and Shell Recharge card, and then there’s Bonnet on top of all that. On the rare occasion I need to charge at a non-SuC rapid, I check through all the apps to find the cheapest price, as it’s not always obvious. Electroverse is relatively cheap on some networks, but quite pricey on others. Same for Shell.

One day things might be simple!

This is a very overblown problem, as all the major networks take contactless.

As far as “cheapness” goes, I suspect that when you were driving an ICE, you never used to shop around at all for the cheapest price possible when filling up away from home. Rather, you filled up anywhere except at an MSA.

That said, if there was an app that you could simply enter your memberships and subscriptions and it ranked those memberships and subscriptions cheapest first for chargers in your immediate vicinity, that would be genuinely useful.

None of the charging networks want you to do that though

 

[Mr H]

Der Ladetarifrechner für dein Elektroauto

Der Ladetarifrechner für dein Elektroauto. Ladedauer eingeben, Ladestation auswählen und den günstigsten Tarif finden.

www.chargeprice.app

works in blighty too

for example, one near me, price difference is startling

 

[Cardo]

This is a very overblown problem, as all the major networks take contactless.

As far as “cheapness” goes, I suspect that when you were driving an ICE, you never used to shop around at all for the cheapest price possible when filling up away from home. Rather, you filled up anywhere except at an MSA.

That said, if there was an app that you could simply enter your memberships and subscriptions and it ranked those memberships and subscriptions cheapest first for chargers in your immediate vicinity, that would be genuinely useful.

None of the charging networks want you to do that though

I hope you’re not a gambling man. As with many other people, I would time my petrol filling to when I went shopping, as Tesco/Sainsbury’s is far cheaper than the brand fuel stations. When away from home, I would also aim for supermarket fuel stations.

It’s not massively unreasonable to save a bit of money for the sake of checking a handful of apps. It’s not the end of the world, but I’m pretty certain I’m not the only person who does this.

 

[Js1977]

This is a very overblown problem, as all the major networks take contactless.

As far as “cheapness” goes, I suspect that when you were driving an ICE, you never used to shop around at all for the cheapest price possible when filling up away from home. Rather, you filled up anywhere except at an MSA.

That said, if there was an app that you could simply enter your memberships and subscriptions and it ranked those memberships and subscriptions cheapest first for chargers in your immediate vicinity, that would be genuinely useful.

None of the charging networks want you to do that though

I hope you’re not a gambling man. As with many other people, I would time my petrol filling to when I went shopping, as Tesco/Sainsbury’s is far cheaper than the brand fuel stations. When away from home, I would also aim for supermarket fuel stations.

It’s not massively unreasonable to save a bit of money for the sake of checking a handful of apps. It’s not the end of the world, but I’m pretty certain I’m not the only person who does this.

Both fair comments imho. Personally, at present time, if I was far from home, II would just aim at the nearest reliable charger (yet something else to be aware of unlike petrol stations) to get charged. Ofcourse, it's probably easier for me to say since I dont do that many trips that need charging away from home so its swings and roundabouts as far as im concerned. I can see it being a bit of an issue for those that have to use public charging every on a regular basis hence why for most people the tesla supercharger network was a good buying point (including mine even though in two years have only used it twice)

 

[Utumno]

Der Ladetarifrechner für dein Elektroauto

Der Ladetarifrechner für dein Elektroauto. Ladedauer eingeben, Ladestation auswählen und den günstigsten Tarif finden.

www.chargeprice.app

works in blighty too

for example, one near me, price difference is startling

View attachment 891033

I did look at this, but it insists on giving me the price of a charge rather than the price per kWh. I understand why it does that (charging speed prediction and the like) but it wouldn’t be my preferred visualisation simply to find the “cheapest” option in a locality.

It also doesn’t appear to add VAT on in the rates in the UK either. And many provider rates rates are just incorrect anyway, or just plain missing. So Chargeprice got deleted.

“Works in Blighty” seems a bit of a stretch, from my experience

 

[atuk]

I am just on a roadtrip to Scotland from London and try to use the Electric Universe card only as I have some charging credit from when I got the car.

I can say that it works well and is very easy (used on Shell Recharge, Osprey and Ionity so far - all just like a contactless card. The are slower though, I never got more than 150kw even on 350kw Ionity chargers at low battery.

Having said that, it's a faff when you have to plan yourself where you stop, etc. With the SuC the car does it all for you, and it's even easier with just plugging in ... you stop where it tells you to, then continue.

Overall, Supercharger wins any time for me, by a mile. But this is a solid second place and a good alternative.