Rival EV charging networks to share access to their chargers

Two of the major electric vehicle recharging networks in the UK will give their customers access to each others chargers via a new roaming agreement.

Vattenfall, which is building the inCharge network across Northern Europe, and NewMotion, owned by Shell, said their joint effort will create a combined network of 400 chargers for EV drivers in Britain, accessible by a single app or charge card.

The agreement overcomes one of the principal complaints of EV drivers: that they need a wallet full of charge cards and a phone full of apps to access the multiple competing charge point networks. It is a problem which the UK Government has acted to solve by legislating that all new public charge points must accept credit card payments.

Tomas Björnsson, Vice President E-mobility at Vattenfall, said: “The era of electric transport is at a critical juncture and one of the things to make e-mobility fly is the ability of different charging networks and cars to work seamlessly together to make charging easy and efficient for customers. The agreement with NewMotion is among the first of its kind in the UK, and an important step towards offering a hassle-free charging experience for UK drivers.”