Audi has announced that its new electric vehicle (EV) charging will start on January 1, 2023. It will be available in 27 countries, including the UK, and will be expanded over the course of the year.
The service will offer access to approximately 400,000 charging points across the continent, operated by more than 800 different charge point operators including roughly 1,900 high-performance chargers from IONITY.
This service will help support Audi electric car drivers and will be expanded, especially since the German carmaker announced that every new Audi that is developed will be fully electric from 2026.
For its new charging offering, Audi is cooperating with Volkswagen Group Charging GmbH and its Elli brand. The Audi e-tron Charging Service, which was launched four years ago after the introduction of Audi’s first fully electric model, will be replaced. New customers as well as drivers of current Audi models will switch to the new service with a choice of three different tariffs; basic, plus and pro.
Audi says that customers will be able to charge at competitive rates from day one and for those who purchase a fully electric vehicle, Audi will take care of the base fee for the pro tariff for the first year.
Pro Tariff
The pro tariff is aimed primarily at electric vehicle drivers who frequently have to charge on the road. In the UK, the monthly base fee is £12.95, but drivers are offered a lower price of £0.35 per kilowatt hour at AC charging points and £0.43 at fast DC charging points. Recharging on the IONITY is even more attractive with the pro tariff costing only £0.31 per kilowatt hour.
Plus and Base Tariffs
For drivers who only need to charge on the road occasionally, the plus tariff is available, with a monthly fee of £6.95. This option offers economical prices at AC and DC charging stations. The basic tariff has no base fee but kilowatt prices are higher and is designed for those who mostly charge at home.
When charging abroad, the country-specific prices apply – this gives drivers of electric vehicles full transparency about the charging costs they can expect even before they travel outside of the UK.
Convenient Contract Management and BillingThe location of compatible charging points on the Audi charging service is integrated into the vehicle’s MMI (Multi Media Interface) and in the myAudi app. This can be used to send a pre-planned route to the car. Additionally, the charging stations can be unlocked and the charging process started via the provided RFID card or with the app.
The “Plug & Charge” function, which is even more convenient and available on Q4 e-tron and Q8 e-tron models mid-2023, is currently already available at IONITY and will be offered at more providers in the future. This is the gold standard when it comes to ease of charging.
After activating the functionality from inside the vehicle once, the car and the charging station communicate via an encrypted connection, which allows the charging process to start automatically as soon as the connector is plugged into the vehicle.
Billing is done via the means of payment that has been saved in the myAudi app, such as a credit card. “Plug & Charge” will be available in the new Audi charging network shortly after the market launch.
Within the myAudi app customers can manage the complete Audi contract and even switch to a different tariff if necessary. The app also indicates the prices of the selected charging station and clearly summarises all charging processes.
