Bonnet charging App

[PremierscfcEV]

I've just watched on the fully charged channel



Does anyone have any experience with it yet?

 

[Gomev]

I still have that on my yet to watch list.
Can anyone share the basics if they have watched it ?

 

[Archev]

I still have that on my yet to watch list.
Can anyone share the basics if they have watched it ?

No, but it certainly sounds like an interesting idea.

 

[5teep]

Good idea but soon to be pointless. When (if) contactless is set up on all chargers as is the law now the only card you'll need is your bank card.

 

[jamesie]

Good idea but soon to be pointless. When (if) contactless is set up on all chargers as is the law now the only card you'll need is your bank card.

Agree with this.

The point about having real time charger information is a good one. That would be most helpful.

 

[PremierscfcEV]

The App ties in to all of the UK with some mainland Europe fast charger operators and they tie into the charging device hardware so they can give you truly upto date status ie working/in use etc.
They have a standard price per Kwh and they have payg/£15/£30/£50 each with Kwh Included in each subscription level, payg is currently £0.35.
All of the charger stations are controlled via there app including the payment/tally of used kwh
Unfortunately I don't have an EV yet but I will definitely consider using this app.

 

[Cocijo]

I think contactless is the way to go - getting a charge should be no different from buying petrol. I’m always a little suspicious of these schemes - it usually builds in more cost and that has to be paid for - by the customer.

 

[jared]

Their payg rate of 35p is cheaper than the 40p that Osprey is charging directly but more than 30p electocity are charging so having a single app is much needed but not necessarily cheaper.

 

[jared]

Also from the comments on the video on YT:

Viewers can get their first monthly refill pack, worth up to £50, for free by downloading the Bonnet app and using this voucher code: FULLYCHARGED.

 

[Gomev]

Just signed up, seems easy enough. Not too many rapids around here able to use but may be useful on a trip.
It says unused credit rolled over, I wonder if that applies if you cancel the monthly refills after the first month. If so it would be worth taking the free £50 refill and then cancelling. My mileage is too low to need a monthly amount.

 

[PremierscfcEV]

Just signed up, seems easy enough. Not too many rapids around here able to use but may be useful on a trip.
It says unused credit rolled over, I wonder if that applies if you cancel the monthly refills after the first month. If so it would be worth taking the free £50 refill and then cancelling. My mileage is too low to need a monthly amount.

I'll be really interested how you get on using this and if it is really as good as it says.

 

[Gomev]

To answer my own question having read the FAQs, if you cancel a refill you have the rest of your month to use it up.

If you select a refill but use more in a month you still get the refill rate.
PAYG is 35p/kWh and is charged after you refill to the credit/debit card you have nominated.
50kWh refill is is £15/month and then any extra is 30p/kWh.
120kWh refill is is £35/month and then any extra is 29p/kWh.
200kWh refill is is £50/month and then any extra is 25p/kWh.

May be very useful for those that travel distances regularly or for myself perhaps if going on a long journey, purchase a month and just use it for that.

 

[Jaygee]

It’s a great idea but it does not show the motorway grids even or the instavolt charger nearby. So might be limited for now.

 

[Gomev]

It’s a great idea but it does not show the motorway grids even or the instavolt charger nearby. So might be limited for now.

Agreed, only common UK chargers seem to be Osprey, and Shell Recharge.

 

[Gomev]

There are a couple of Ospreys around here, so may take up the 50kWh free month and cancel. I've yet to put this car on a rapid (only 2 weeks old) so always worth testing it works and is all OK before I need to use a rapid.

 

[JohnInFrance]

Google have been touting far more EV integration into their maps products for a while now, although unless you have Google maps supported natively by your car manufacturer it's still very sketchy, difficult and time-consuming and doesn't give properly useful information like charger availability/status etc.

But .... Google have never been ones to be behind the curve too long and if they struggle with this will just buy a rival and integrate it anyhow. Thus, as this becomes more of a reality and charge points accept contactless payments the whole requirement to have multiple apps, RFIDs etc. will hopefully become a thing of the past.

 

[BarryH]

I registered for PAYG but then found that most of the providers anywhere near me were AC 22kW which is on 7kW for a single-phase car, like UK MGs. The Rapid Networks are Shell (for which I have a keyring fob in any case) and Osprey so won't be taking out even the £15 subscription until more networks are on board. Fully Charge I think misrepresented the maturity of the Bonnet - Charging Network relationship. I'm just about as impressed as I was with the theatric performance by Robert Llewellyn's attempt to plug in the charger and replace the bungs on his review of the Gen 1 ZS EV nearly 2 years ago when he suggested it was necessary to kneel in front of the car to do this simple operation. He also made out that the rubber bungs wouldn't fit when this supposedly veteran EV owner replace the rubber bungs in the wrong order when all but a very few premium EVs were using the identical 2-bung system to cover the CCS socket when not charging.

 

[jamesie]

I was surprised that Fully Charged promoted this start up given their knowledge of what is already available and their crusade to make charging easier. This just involves a third party that shouldn't be needed. Contactless should be the way to go, imo.

 

[BarryH]

I will always take this option as it can be so much cheaper and the pennies add up.

As it happens, I checked prices my local BP Pulse Rapid chargers today. There are different prices for different speeds of chargers but I'll restrict this to the Rapid chargers up to 100 kW since we are not really able to benefit from the Ultra Chargers. These have 3 levels of charging and in order of increasing price they go from BP Pulse Membership to BP Pulse PAYG via App to Contactless/Guess being the most expensive.

You can make your own judgement as to whether you use BP Pulse enough (or any other scheme) to warrant paying a membership subscription, but the BP Pulse prices are 32p Membership, 38p PAYG and 40p Contactless for Rapid Charging up to 100 kW. There is clearly an advantage to BP of having a membership scheme and closer relationship with their customers and if you have paid for a membership and can get lower price you are going to seek them out, but the price difference for contactless PAYG and App payment is I guess more about their additional transaction cost and not really enough to make to change which charger to use but rather the payment method.

 

[JohnInFrance]

....... but the price difference for contactless PAYG and App payment is I guess more about their additional transaction cost and not really enough to make to change which charger to use but rather the payment method.

Urm, no. I think it's more to do with if you are paying by an app then BP have your details as part of the signup process and that is marketing gold, thus they incentivise you to use the app rather than contactless payments - my day job is implementing payment systems for a huge petrochem (that is not BP) and the processing costs are the same whether by card or app if they are processed by BP.
The only time the app would be advantageous to BP over contactless payment is if it was leveraging Apple/Google Pay, this way the transaction part is handed off to A/G to process and BP do not need to meet any of the PCI (Payment Card Industry) requirements as they have contracted out the card processing. As I don't have the app, I can't comment on whether that is the case.