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Polar/BPChargemaster another price rise

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Currently
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4th Dec
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New BP Chargemaster 150kW charger tariff:
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See the benefits of big oil taking over charge networks! Gotta keep those shareholders happy... 20p/unit markup for using contactless just seems so wrong, it doesn't add that much to their costs to take payment that way.
 
150kW chargers *FREE* for 2 weeks from 4 Dec!

There does seem to be a trend towards the 40p ish mark for high power chargers. Either there’s not enough competition or operating costs are higher than common perception. If Sunak does pay for infrastructure and we have a few more BEVs to use them might prices come down- I don’t think so. The market is saying this is the cost to build, maintain, operate and renew and make some profit.

Just look at Ecotricity. Unviable without grants. Machines that never worked. That’s not a business.
 
I read that as any new ones installed from 4th December were free for 2 weeks, not that all 51 of their existing 150kW chargers were free for 2 weeks

the chancellor’s money will be for grid connections rather than chargers I think.

fundamentally the problem is/will be that we pay upfront for EVs, and expect fuel/running costs to be cheap. This is the opposite to ICE, and means companies which provide the in-life services are going to find it hard to make a profit.
 
Our 150kW chargers are changing

This is the email I've received today:





Over the last year, we have been expanding our network of 150kW chargers at bp fuel stations. There are now over 50 of our 150kW chargers operational across the country and our 51st unit made us the UK’s largest public ultra-fast charging network.

Since we started installing our 150kW charging network, our customers have charged with some of the cheapest tariffs in the market, and we intend to continue this going forward. We are constantly reviewing our tariffs in line with our expansion plan, and need to ensure we can continue to invest in our network and cover the increasing demand for high-powered charging.

From the 4th December, we are changing the tariff on our 150kW chargers. Polar Plus subscribers will pay 27p per kWh to use our 150kW chargers, which is still the lowest cost* for nationwide high-powered public charging. Full details of the new tariffs (per kWh) can be seen in the table below.




NB: If image does not display, 150kW kWh tariffs are as follows; 27p/kWh for Polar Plus, 42p/kWh for Polar Instant and 47p/kWh for Contactless

We want to help our customers experience high-powered charging at bp forecourts. That's why, effective from 4th December, every new 150kW charger installed on the Polar network will be on free vend for the first two weeks - no authentication needed, just click start and stop charge on the screen.

Please also note, there will also be a routine system outage on the bp Chargemaster app between 22:00-00:00 on Tuesday 2nd December. To access the Polar network during these hours, please use a Polar Plus RFID access card or our live map guest payment service, or your contactless bank card on rapid and ultra-fast charge points. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Thank you for continuing to be a part of bp Chargemaster and the Polar network.

Kind regards,
bp Chargemaster

*based on at least 99 kWh of charge per month
 
I guess the big Fuel companies need to do something before their market disappears Most (I accept not all) people will charge their EV at home most of the time. This greatly reduces the number of 'fuel stations' needed in the future. With a much smaller market for them to address, I can see it turning into a costly per kWh charge for all, as they try to replace the revenue whilst their traditional fuel market declines.

In much the same way that most people avoid filling up their ICE at expensive motorway service stations, I see a future where the expensive rapid chargers are seen as the ones to avoid at all costs (or high per kWh costs!)
 
Chargemaster is the reason I sold my BMW i3 and bought a Tesla. I did not use them often enough to make a subscription worthwhile, and the Polar Instant app is appallingly bad. Even the contactless payment is flaky. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I will not be rushing to try out one of their high power chargers.
 
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Chargemaster is the reason I sold my BMW i3 and bought a Tesla. I did not use them often enough to make a subscription worthwhile, and the Polar Instant app is appallingly bad. Even the contactless payment is flaky. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I will not be rushing to try out one of their high power chargers.
There is a new Polar Instant App which is much better.
 
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BP Polar...levelling up the UK? Don’t think so.

Just realised this mostly doesn’t anyone living in the North. I may be wrong but looking at Zap-Map there aren’t any Polar chargers faster than 50kW above Peterborough. That’s pretty shocking. We do have electricity up North.

Come on BP. 150kW on the A55 at Anglesey or Conwy and I’ll let you off.
 
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So do they charge the top price for all sessions on an 'ultra-fast charger" potentially capable of 150kW no matter what the actual power delivered, or only for the power delivered at a rate >50kW ?

If its the entire session on "ultra-fast" chargers then its quite possibly better to just use 50kW posts.
 
So do they charge the top price for all sessions on an 'ultra-fast charger" potentially capable of 150kW no matter what the actual power delivered, or only for the power delivered at a rate >50kW ?

If its the entire session on "ultra-fast" chargers then its quite possibly better to just use 50kW posts.
The entire session. The price is for the capability, irrespective of the car's ability to accept it. Or even, as my local charger is proving, for a 150kW charger which is not working properly and is capped at 30kW.
 
I didn't feel like having a rant about subscriptions so went on youtube to watch funny cat videos. As per usual, it didn't take long to go off topic but 5 minutes unto this video, I think its in keeping with this threads and saves me a few paragraphs...