BP Pulse vs Ionity

[kevgallacher]

I'm finding it difficult to get accurate information on this.
I want to know which service is better.

Currently I have Ionity subscription which costs £149/year (£12.42/month) and gives a rate of 36.66p/kwh
But there is the other option of BP Pulse at £94.20/year (£7.85/month) but what price is unit rate of this subscription, I can't find this information anywhere.

Anyone with the subscription know what the discount is?

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[Wonky_Donkey]

https://www.bppulse.co.uk/help-centre/charging/faq/ev-charging-on-the-go/pricing-and-payment

 

[kevgallacher]

That looks like a subscription with BP directly, so is there is there no special Ford discount?
That is different to Ionity then as they are 56p/kwh if you go directly with them but only 36.66p if you go through Ford Blue Oval Network.

 

[Wonky_Donkey]

That looks like a subscription with BP directly, so is there is there no special Ford discount?
That is different to Ionity then as they are 56p/kwh if you go directly with them but only 36.66p if you go through Ford Blue Oval Network.

I believe the Ford BP rates are the same as the direct BP subscriber rates - or at least they used to be.

I was a BP Pulse subscriber before getting my free Ford BlueOval Trial and I never saw any differences, but due to BP’s appallingly maintained chargers I got out of the habit of using them.

The reason IONITY has additional Ford discounts is because Ford is a part owner of the network.

 

[kevgallacher]

Ok thanks that clears it up, think I’ll just stick with Ionity and not bother with BP pulse then cheers

Ford should put this information on their subscription details to make it clearer

 

[Teslaeata]

Buying 2,500kWh of charge power on the road doing the mileage I do means there is no OR, I have to charge where and when I need, Eyye, Ionity, Shell, BP Pulse, Ionity, Chargeplace Scotland, etc

 

[kevgallacher]

I tend to just use ionity and a couple of Chargeplace Scotland chargers that are still free

 

[Dunc999]

I use BP Pulse quite often in a couple of hotels I stay in and get charged .45 or .359 for the 50KW chargers through Ford network. the .359 price should be for the 22kW, but for some reason sometimes I only get charged that for the 50s. Ionity is better though, but obviously far fewer of them.

 

[kevgallacher]

So it is cheaper through Ford then

 

[kevgallacher]

BP have raised the prices of their rapid chargers again. Yeah i will not be using them at those prices.

 

[Dunc999]

Resurrecting this one as I knew I'd posted on it previosuly and it is sort of related.

As I'm at the end of my first year with the car, it's time to think about renewing and actually having to pay for Ionity and BP Pulse through Ford, which up to now have been at the discounted rate and thought people may be interested to see my progress.

I've done some calcs, and I have spent £473.91 with BP over the year, which would have been £787.14 at their normal rates, so I have saved £313.23, which makes the £7.85 per month subscription (£94 per yr) worthwhile.
Ionity I have spent £51.73 which would have been £128.35, saving £76.62, so making the £145 per yr subscription NOT worthwhile. Plus I've only been to Ionity in the UK 3 times and 5 on a French road trip. I love Ionity, they are so good and quick, but for the amount I use them, for now at least, I'm better off paying just the standard rate.

Does anyone know though, whether without the Ionity subscription it still works with plug and play with the car?

 

[kevgallacher]

I will be keeping my Ionity sub, it’s one of the cheapest tariffs out there at the moment. And as long as you use it a couple of times a month it makes it worth it. They are building new ones all the time and I have one opening in Aberdeen very soon so will most likely use it a lot more frequently

 

[cyberman]

I enjoyed having the half price rate from Ionity during my first year of ownership. Then I got a message in my FordPass app on 24 April 2023 telling me about "BlueOval Charge Network Access Update": see in my list here because, good old FordPass, it won't display the message now (Something is not right)

So, after receiving that I thought I would try BP Pulse at their new installation on the south side of Kettering, just off the A14, on 2 May 2023. Because I could not find this installation on the FordPass map of chargers, and pay that way, I dug out the BlueOval Charge Network RFID card that came with the car from the glovebox. I used that to activate the charger and then charged at an average of 87kW and paid what I calculated to be 36p per kWh. I immediately got a message in FordPass telling me the amount of money I was charged. That looked pretty good to me and sounded something like half price, all with no subscription to manage or pay for. Since then I have been using BP Pulse, about once a month, as my goto DCFC provider because you just can't beat half price. Every time it works out to about 37.5p per kWh. I say "about" because it's difficult to record the exact amount of energy supplied as that figure disappears from the charger screen immediately I stop the charging session. The only way to capture it is to have a second person with a mobile phone grab a photo of it just before stopping the session.

And I seem to get that price of 37.5p per kWh no matter if that charger power is 87kW or 35kW or anywhere in between.

I did see the price increase announcement that @kevgallacher noted above on 7 Aug 2023. However, my continuing use of BP Pulse suggests that someone forgot to update the price charged to Ford BlueOval people, perhaps those using the RFID card (who knows if that is significant) because I continue to calculate around 37.5p per kWh. My most recent charge was at BP Pulse Longton, Stoke on Trent, just 10 days ago: charged at an average speed of 56kW and paid 37.5p per kWh. If you haven't tried that RFID card it might be time to dig it out of the glovebox.

 

[kevgallacher]

Are you saying you get those prices without the subscriptions? Or do you have both Ionity and BP Pulse?

Ionity is 36.6p/kwh
bp Pulse is 69p/kwh on rapid charge

but you need a subscription to each of them

 

[cyberman]

Are you saying you get those prices without the subscriptions? Or do you have both Ionity and BP Pulse?

Ionity is 36.6p/kwh
bp Pulse is 69p/kwh on rapid charge

but you need a subscription to each of them

I do not have a subscription with Ionity and so no longer use it.
I do not have a paid subscription to BP Pulse. Like all of us Mustang Mach E owners I have Ford BlueOval Charge Network membership. BP Pulse is part of the BlueOval Charge Network and the announcement of 24 April 2023 (can anyone actually see that message on their FordPass app and screenshot it into this thread?) said something along the lines of "you will now get member rates on BP Pulse for as long as you own the vehicle".

So, using the BlueOval Charge Network RFID card I continue to get:
BP Pulse at 37.5p/kWh at all DCFC charge rates, including above 50kW

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