More than 2,500 rapid chargers (50kW+) are now available via Kia Charge, as of April 2022. Kia Charge – an exclusive service designed to simplify public EV charging – now gives Kia owners access to more DC connectors in the UK than almost any other brand.
DC charging is crucial to allowing electric vehicle owners to recharge quickly while en route to a destination. Since April 2021, Kia Charge has seen its number of available DC rapid chargers grow by 33 per cent in the UK, from 1,951 connectors to 2,591 – more than any single ‘super charger’ network in the UK. These include DC chargers of 50kW or more, as well as high-power charging stations that can recharge at up to 350kW.
The UK Government recently announced a target of 300,000 public chargers to be available across the UK by 2030. As the UK’s public charging infrastructure grows exponentially, Kia Charge continues to offer Kia drivers the best access to the widest range of chargers from a single account.
Furthermore, Kia compensates all charging activity via Kia Charge with 100 per cent renewable wind power. Kia purchases the equivalent number of megawatt-hours (mWh) used by customers from renewable sources, via Guarantee of Origin certificates, effectively flooding the grid with zero-emissions power and increasing visibility for green electricity demand on the market.
21,000 connectors in the UK via Kia Charge
The Kia Charge service provides easy access to chargers across all parts of the UK, Northern Ireland and Europe from a single account. In total, Kia Charge opens access to 21,123 connectors across the UK – equivalent to approximately 70% of the national public infrastructure – and more than 300,000 across 29 European countries.
In the UK, the service encompasses 23 charge point operators, including bp pulse, Instavolt, Pod Point, Osprey and Shell Recharge. The service also offers access to the IONITY high-powered charging network. A single account gives access to all networks via a smartphone app (Android or iOS) or RFID card, with straightforward monthly invoicing.
Choice of subscriptions and key network bolt-ons
Kia Charge offers a choice of subscriptions to suit most user profiles:
- ‘Easy’ users pay:
- £1.99 one-time activation fee and no monthly subscription
- 49p session fee per charge (excluding charging within the Pod Point and bp pulse networks), plus the cost of electricity
- ‘Plus’ users pay:
- £2.99 monthly subscription fee and the cost of electricity used
- No one-time activation costs or session fees in the UK
- Offers a 15% discount on the base charging tariff on all UK networks (except bp pulse, Pod Point or IONITY) e.g. at Osprey, charg.gy, Instavolt, Source London, Shell Recharge, and others
Two bolt-on packages are also available:
- IONITY Power costs £11.25 a month and reduces the IONITY charging tariff from 69p per kWh to just 25p per kWh in the UK, or €0.29 in most other European countries (paying for itself within a single 10-to-80 per cent charge)
- The bp pulse bolt-on costs £7.85 per month and offers the same price to users as the popular bp pulse subscription available directly from bp
Kia EVs and DC fast-charging
The Kia EV6 is one of the very few electric vehicles on sale today featuring a powerful 800V charging system, which enables drivers to charge their car from 10-to-80 per cent in just 18 minutes at stations offering 240 kW charging or higher (e.g. IONITY). The all-new Niro – due on sale in the UK later in the summer – will recharge from 10-to-80 per cent in just 43 minutes from stations offering 75 kW or more.
Globally, Kia plans to offer a line-up of 14 EVs by 2027. After EV6 and the all-new Niro, the next EV due from the brand is the Kia EV9, launching in the UK in 2023 with the same 800V rapid-charging technology as the EV6.
