Best electric charging card (2023): which choose 

Public reload terminals for electric cars offer motorists a way to recharge everywhere. If the best electric cars can exceed 500 kilometers of autonomy, most are still limited to a radius of 250 to 350 kilometers and it is necessary to be able to find a refill point on our course, preferably fast and cheap. To do this, the best solution is the charging card.

Which charging card to choose for your electric car ?

To recharge your electric vehicle out of your home, you must supply yourself on public limits. There are many different networks and charging cards to access this service. How to find the most suitable charging card ? My charging card, loadmap, kiwhi pass, ionity, alizé, newmotion, plugsurfing, freshmile, let’s discover the main refill card networks together.

Recharge card	Price	Cost of using
My charging card	9.90 euros when ordering	The price of the recharging varies according to the chosen load point.
ChargeMap Pass	19.90 euros on order	Approximately 10 % of the price of the recharge
Ionity Passport	17.99 euros/month	0.35 euros / minute
Newmotion	–	0.35 euros / recharge
Kiwhi Pass	19 euros for purchase (formula without subscription) 24 euros per year (subscription)	Without subscription: 0.70 euros /recharge

My charging card

• Locate a charge point at the desired location and start navigation to reach it
• Select a charge point according to your needs: type of socket, availability, power, charging price
• Pay directly by direct debit, by bank card or PayPal

Best electric charging card (2023): which choose ?

It is essential to have at least one charging card in your wallet if you drive in an electric vehicle. In 2023, the number of public charging stations in France approaches 100,000, and therefore, their access is not done by a single path. Systems vary from the point of view of their pricing, but also from their access coverage on the network and the type of operators that manages them.

To avoid paying the high price or being purely and simply refusing access, there is no secret: Finding the best electric car charging card involves getting several. It remains to be seen which.

Our comparison of the best electric car charging cards is aimed at all motorists. Indeed, the owners of Tesla are not spared, despite their access to the network of brand supercomposes. Other networks of stations have flowered in France and in Europe, including Fastned, Ionity, Totalenergies, Shell, Vinci Autoroutes or Electra. With the latter, more local parks, on which several recharging card operators have decided to capitalize with attractive prices. Hence the interest of equipping oneself well To have all the cards in hand.

That you are a novice in the world of electromobility; that you move; that you go on a trip, here is what you need to know to Equip the best charging card in 2023. If the quest for the cheapest service station can best save you 5 euros, here, charging stations and different types of cards can save you several tens of euros, and less stress.

Charging and terminal card, how it works ?

Public reload terminals for electric cars offer motorists a way to recharge everywhere. If the best electric cars can exceed 500 kilometers of autonomy, most are still limited to a radius of 250 to 350 kilometers and it is necessary to be able to find a refill point on our course, preferably fast and cheap. To do this, the best solution is the charging card.

Rather than going through a conventional payment method such as the bank card, the electric car charging card Allows you to obtain more attractive prices, Simplicity of use and inter-compatibility in the various networks of stations. It is therefore with her that the customer identifies and regulates (generally by bank direct debit) the payment of his recharge. To equip yourself with these cards, it is possible to go to operators’ shops, but the best solution is still to go through an online order.

Generally, the electric car charging card is sent with a small guide relating to the operator and the electric car recharging in general. Novices are therefore not forgotten and can quickly be clear about the bases that must be known about the functioning of the system. But in our opinion, It is better to form on the subject upstream to choose the best electric car card.

The different types of charging cards

Several types of cards exist. First, their differences concern their field of use. Compatible geographic areas depend on the electric car charging card that you will choose. If some are ideal for national, even international level, Others are satisfied with a Local or regional department. They are not unnecessary. Other cards embrace these two types of categories, but on this point too, that does not mean that they will be more interesting.

Other differentiation criteria are actually important when it is essential to mention the tariff criterion. On this point, there are two major families of cards: Free cards where we only pay the charges we do, and paid cards, which are generally accompanied by additional services such as insurance and covers, preferential rates (and sometimes less hidden costs than on free cards, a point to consider).

Third point of differentiation, which determines both the compatibility of the card and the attached prices concerns the nature of the operator. There are three categories of operators for an electric car charging card: Specialized operators, THE networks operators of charging stations and car manufacturers. If you have a Volkswagen, a Mercedes, a Kia or a Hyundai, there is a good chance that you have with you a charging card from your brand. But that should not save you to look at other cards or even to replace it completely.

The different types of terminals

Just like there are several types of charging cards, there are Several types of charging stations. Less detail to mention on this subject, but it is important to mention the reflexes to know to act as well as possible and as economically as possible when an opportunity arises. Knowing the terms of charging stations is all the more important to be able to choose a charging card. This will then be decisive to be able to choose the best card and pay cheaper.

The charging stations differentiate first in terms of invoicing method. Recharge prices on public terminals can be On kWh only ; So you pay what you take as energy, Minute ; You pay for the time you spent connected, or both; With a very specific and previously displayed mix between the percentage of the price linked to the time spent and that linked to the number of KWH recovered.

The second point of differentiation of the charging stations concerns the power and type of current of the terminal you use. We often talk about superchargers, who deliver up to 350 kW, but there are several other types of terminals on the public network. The terminals that are limited to 50 kW are generally by alternating (AC) when the rapid terminals are in direct current (DC). The models of electric cars restrained less than 100 kW of power may have an interest in confining themselves to recharges on AC terminals at 50 kW sometimes, if they have a little more time and they want to save money.

Why have several cards ?

From this large panel of cards, operators and terminals, the charging network requires equipping several charging cards rather than capitalizing on a single. This allows you to recharge everywhere and not to have a compatibility problem, But also to recharge by taking advantage of the card each time with which the charging station will offer the cheapest price. Some networks like Fastned now accept more than 50 different charging cards, but not all will be billed at the same price. Others like totaling are more strict, hence the importance of always riding with several cards on you.

How to pay cheaper with a charging card ?

Before reviewing each card offer available, let’s see how to pay cheaper the recharges of your electric car. We have already mentioned a little interest in having several cards to put the odds on its side of being able to pay cheaper, let’s now see which ones to choose and why. As a bonus, advice to choose as effectively as possible without effort.

Recharge cards prices

Not all charging cards are free. Some are chargeable at the time of their order, or accessible on subscription. This pricing does not necessarily make them more expensive, because the cost to recharge can be more attractive than on a free card then. here are the most popular charging cards in France in 2023:

• Loadmap Pass card: 19.90 euros
• Rewer Shell Card: Free
• Ionity card: 17.99 euros/month
• Izivia EDF card: 15 euros
• Freshmile card: 4.99 euros
• Fulli card (ex-kiwhipass): 19 euros or 24 euros/year
• Plugsurfing card: 9.95 euros
• My recharge card card: 19 euros
• Q8 card: free
• Totalenergies card: free
• Fastned and Fastned Gold card: free and 11.99 euros/month
• Evbox card: 2.42 euros/month
• EV-Point card: free
• Audi card: from 4.87 euros/month to 17.65 euros/month
• Kia card: free
• BMW card: free or 4.99 euros/month
• Volkswagen card: 9.99 euros then from 0 to 17.99 euros/month

Card use costs:

• ChargeMap Pass card: 10 % of the cost of the load
• Shell Recharge card: 0.35 euros per load
• Ionity card: at no cost
• Izivia EDF card: free of charge
• Freshmile card: variable
• Fulli card (ex-kiwhipass): 0.70 euro or 0.35 euros if subscription
• Plugsurfing: 10 % of the cost of the load
• My charging card: depending on the charging point
• Card Q8: 0.35 euros per load (max: 7 euros per month)
• Totalenergies card: 0.60 euros per load
• Fastned card: free of charge
• Evbox card: 10 % of the cost of the load
• EV-Point card: 0.17 euros per load
• Audi card: occupation costs after 90 or 180 minutes
• KIA card: 0.49 Euro
• BMW card: at no cost
• Volkswagen card: 0.30 euro per load (or free if subscription)

How to choose the right charging card ?

The charging stations offer very different prices depending on the cards used. This can range from simple to triple on the final note. To avoid being fooled, it is better to have several charging cards in order to always have one that will allow you to enjoy the best prices on a charging station. Sometimes these cards at preferential prices will be those that require paying a fixed price or a subscription. Expenses that can ultimately be profitable in a few refills only, thanks to the best prices per kWh.

The most important is therefore be able to make an estimate of the cards which will be the most interesting depending on the stations on which you are most likely to go. To do this, the clever solution is to go through an application for monitoring the price recharges depending on the cards. For example, there is chargemap, A Better Routeplanner (ABRP) or chargeprice. You will be able to inform the stations near you, on your daily journey, or those that you will be likely to use for holidays for example.

This estimate must therefore be able to take into account the subscription combo (or purchase of the card), user fees and electricity prices carried out by the terminals according to your card on the scale according to your card. The ChargeMap Pass card is widely requested by the French as it allows access to many stations, but it is smarter to choose two or three more in its portfolio. The charging cards of manufacturers, such as the Volkswagen or Kia, are very interesting to recharge on the Ionity fast charging stations, but are not profitable which is the other stations.

The best electric charging cards in 2023:

• ChargeMap Pass
• Electric Ulys Pass
• Fulli
• Freshmile
• Izivia

The different charging cards

Among the three families of charging cards, how to choose them ? We classified them with a description for each, from their advantages to their disadvantages.

Specialized operator cards

ChargeMap Pass card

Among the corporate cards born with the arrival of electric recharging, it is impossible to miss the chargemap Pass card. This arrived in June 2017 and greatly contributed to the integration of the payment system to recharge your electric car in France. At the start, ChargeMap launched itself as a referencing community platform and monitoring the charging stations on the territory, and the application in 2023 is still one of the references in the matter to plan its journeys and choose where to recharge.

The ChargeMap Pass card is one of these cards compatible with the greatest number of stations, making it a universal card which even allows you to recharge abroad. In Europe, more than 350,000 charging points are compatible, indicates the site. The card does not ask to go through a monthly or annual subscription; Just pay 19.90 euros when ordering. On the other hand, the costs of use are quite high and it can be preferable to have a second card or even a third with yourself to be able to have the opportunity to pay less for your charge when possible.

ULYS Electric, the mobility specialist

ULYS is known for its TV badge, but the subsidiary of Vinci Autoroutes has also developed an offer for the electric part. Its electrical recharge + badge pack allows you to combine all services around urban mobility for an advantageous rate. The card for electric recharging is available for 14.90 euros for purchase and it will then be necessary to pay 2 euros in costs per month – if you use its service. If you don’t use it, ULYS service is free.

Right now, all special subscribed to the ULYS Electric offer will benefit from 10% of the amount of its electric refills deducted in the form of a discount on its following invoices. This applies to all recharges between May 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023, on terminals that accept ULYS badge in France.

To discover the service, it’s here:

Fulli card (ex-kiwhipass)

The APRR motorway company has been offering a charging card for several years, which has been renamed in Fulli card in January 2023. Since then, it has been the subject with an offer that can also include a telepéage badge of the same name. The Fulli (ex-Kiwhipass) charging card also a card widely distributed in France and which exceeded 200,000 charging points in Europe. It is therefore a little less compatible than the loadmap pass card, but benefits that said that of often interesting pricing, which includes the choice between a card purchased 19 euros for user fees at 70 cents per load, or a card at 24 euros per year and charges billed 35 cents.

Plugsurfing card

A pan -European project named plugsurfing quickly presented itself as one of the giants of the continent on the question of the compatibility of its card with charging points. The one that exceeded 400,000 charging points is today acclaimed and Volvo has made it its new default card delivered to its new electric car customers. The card notably enabled it to make access to the preferential prices of the Ionity terminals to the customers of the Swedish manufacturer. Today, plugsurfing belongs to the Fleetcore company and is based in Berlin. The card costs almost twice as much as the chargemap Pass card, but like it, high user fees can slow users a bit.

Freshmile card

Freshmile is another specialist in electric recharge born in 2010 and which has become a French success. Widely deployed in the country, it is also available on 200,000 charging points across Europe. Unlike the others, it offers its own network of stations in France. This is how with a card and a Freshmile station, the cost of a recharge will depend on the station and the terminal on which we are. The price will include a time factor and not just recovered kilowatts.

Overall, the prices are quite low, but only on the Freshmile terminals with a frehmile card. On the others, in other words “in roaming”, it will cost you more. For 4.99 euros for purchase, the card can be very interesting to have. The limits of the company are particularly at the level of hotels, dealers (notably Renault), but also service stations. Its terminals go up to 150 kW in CCS.Energy supplier cards (preferential network).

Fastned

The Dutch recharging juggernaut, Fastned, is one of the fastest electric charging networks in Europe. With up to 300 km that can be recovered in 15 minutes from compatible cars, it is also ultra accessible with more than 50 compatible charging cards.

Strictly speaking, Fastned does not offer charging cards. On the other hand, it is possible to create an account and subscribe to a Gold Member plan to take advantage of preferential rates. What is good with the Fastned network is its pricing simplicity: two prices are thus offered. The first, for those who have not subscribed to the paying account, is 0.59 euros per kWh when the preferential rate lowers the note to 0.45 euros per kWh. To access this price, you will have to be a regular. Its subscription costs 11.99 euros per month.

Fastned is therefore cheaper than Ionity, but a little more expensive than in Tesla, even for those who do not own a car from the manufacturer. Subscribing to a Fastned subscription is therefore not essential, unless you perform a lot of kilometers each month and you need to access a quick charging network. The Fastned terminals offer up to 300 kW of power and opened 9 stations in France in one year. In the Netherlands, there are more than 130. News is planned in the north of France, in particular.

Shell

On the side of oil companies, Shell turned to electric recharge in France and Europe by offering its own charging card. This is a universal card which is compatible with more than 275,000 recharging points. It is free to buy and does not have a subscription. The only source of shell financing on it is on the side of use costs. They are at the unit cost of 0.35 euros per load, which is equivalent to what the Fulli pass offers as cost (but whose card requires a monthly subscription).

The card is useful on the Shell network, but also on other operators charging stations with which the company has negotiated fixed prices, which are displayed on the application proposed by the Company. Note also that the costs of use on recharges with the Shell card are limited to a ceiling of 7 euros per month in France.

Total

In the same way as Shell, Totalenergies launched to conquer electromobility with a multi-energy card allowing to pass at a fixed rate of 0.35 euros per kWh on its terminals. Since their arrival, and last year, many customers explained that they have encountered compatibility problems of their card with the terminals of other operators, however listed as compatible on the total application.

To remember therefore that the card is particularly interesting to have on the terminals of the company, and that because it is free, it would be a shame not to take advantage of it. The company is quite strict elsewhere. Compared to the Fastned network, we are far from having around fifty compatible charging cards to make the payment at Total.

Izivia

Let’s miss the electricity supplier with the Izivia card of EDF. Its card is compatible with more than 250 charging points in France and Europe, and does not pay use of use. To acquire it, you have to pay 15 euros at the start. There is no subscription. Its interest is mainly on the side of the rapid terminals of EDF, which are largely located in the cities; in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Nantes and Nancy in particular. You will therefore understand that it is one of those which can also be interesting to equip themselves, but above all for those who see an interest in frequently use the proprietary marks of the network, in urban centers.

Manufacturer cards

Volkswagen card

Some car manufacturers offer a charging card and among them, Volkswagen. Audi and Porsche, by being part of the same group, also offer their card, but these are not the same as that of Volkswagen. Her charge is not in charge and launched in 2020, when the ID3 arrived. Its three variations offer more or less preferential prices, especially on the ionity terminals. As a reminder, the car manufacturers’ cards are especially useful for accessing this network of superchargers, but are not really so if you do not have the opportunity to use them.

The first Volkswagen card does not have a subscription, the second costs 7.49 euros per month and the third 17.49 euros per month. On public terminals outside ionity, only the free card adds user fees, around 0.30 euro. However, it costs all three a payment of 9.99 euros at the time of the order, it is the price of the Volkswagen charging card after which it requires paying the subscription or the costs of using the terminals. The commitment of cards with paid subscription is 12 months. Naturally, the card without subscription can be abandoned at any time.

Kia card

In Kia, also a member of the Ionity consortium, the strategy is almost the same as at Volkswagen. Two pricing plans are available on the Kiacharge card, in particular on the Ionity network, but only to those who will choose to subscribe to a subscription at 5 euros per month to obtain the Kiacharge Plus card. The card without Subscription Kiacharge charges 0.49 euro of use costs after each recharge and can also charge roaming costs of around 5 %. The card with Kiacharge Plus subscription offers 15 % lower prices. The two cards are without obligation.

Hyundai card

Kia’s cousin has a slightly larger offer with three different myhyundai load cards. The first Flex plan is without subscription, the Smart plan costs 3.95 euros per month and the Easy plan costs 6.99 euros per month. All are without commitment and offer more or less preferential prices, even if we note that they are the same on the ionity terminals.

You’re here

It is essential to talk about Tesla on the issue of charging cards for electric cars delivered by a manufacturer. Indeed, while being the first car manufacturer in terms of number of charging stations in its name, it is also the only one that does not offer a card itself. Tesla customers will be directly debited on their account, and customers of other manufacturers will have to create an account in order to be connected in turn. From the account, you must then enter your RIB and voila.

No preferential rate is offered on the other hand. Tesla customers will in turn have to equip themselves with alternative cards if they wish to use terminals from different operators.

Local maps

We have talked about many cards above. Most mentioned are so -called universal cards, which can be accepted on a very large radius and in many operators. Now, some operators prefer to focus on a more precise region, like the Eborn card for the south-east of France, from Allier to Var, via Ardèche, Savoie and Alps high Provence. For the north of France, we can note the presence of the Pass Pass card. For the West, notably Brittany, there is the western card load. In Paris, there is always Belib ’, the network of 2,300 charging stations in the capital also accessible via a charging card (with 4 different formulas).

Foreign cards

Some are also relating to a country abroad such as Belgium and Switzerland, and should not be seen as cards on which pass its turn: sometimes, their prices can be more interesting, like the Q8 card , or the EVPASS card. These cards can be used in France and everywhere in Europe. On the German side, there is also the Maingau card, particularly attractive.

Conclusion: which charging badge to choose ?

At a time when France is preparing to reach 100,000 charging stations, there are no less than 100,000 users registered at ChargeMap and His chargemap Pass card. The most popular charging cards in France to date has been able to combine the two needs of electric car drivers on the issue of recharge: find where the limits are and being able to pay with a subscription without a subscription. It is far from the cheapest, but is one of those most compatible everywhere, and which will not put you in the.

Others like the card ULYS (which is currently offering 10% reduction on recharges), Fulli, Freshmile or Plugsurfing are also among the most popular and most interesting to have. This shows that specialized operators do not have to lower their heads in the face of others such as network operators (EDF with Izivia, or Totalenergies and Shell). For those who seek to be able to recharge along the highways on a trip, it is better to keep its manufacturer’s charging card (For better Ionity prices) or go to subscribe to a Fastned subscription. Tesla is not away that said: with its accessible prices, drivers of other brands may still have an interest in going to recharge on one of the superchargers.

Otherwise, it is interesting to look at Regional or local maps, Near home. They can offer very good prices, often better than prices on universal cards that embrace a larger number of charging stations. In France we are lucky: the network is rather important and each region has made efforts to offer its version of the charging card, sometimes with its own terminals. Nor should you hesitate to search outside the borders to find the best possible charging card according to your needs, in Belgium, Switzerland or Germany.

One thing is certain: with so many solutions, a market concentration is very likely. Customers will select and only the most competitive cards will remain. But we still distinguish even today a great plurality in the strategic choices of network operators or specialized operators. Prices differ, terminals tend to fall back on their own map, and universal compatibility is far from being acted. Let us remember again then: to have all the cards in hand at the wheel of your electric car, remember to build up a good game, without hesitation to take one or two Jokers.