Ionity lowers prices for subscription charging model

Ionity has adjusted the conditions of its subscription model Ionity Passport for the summer travel season. The monthly rate will be cheaper, but the costs per kilowatt hour will increase. However, there is no change to the familiar 0,79 euros/kWh for ad-hoc charging.

Ionity introduced the Passport subscription in October 2021. For new Passport contracts from 6 June onwards, the minimum contract term of twelve months will no longer apply. The Ionity Passport can be cancelled at any time with one month’s notice – and should therefore also pay off for individual months with long journeys, such as for holidays. The monthly fee drops from the previous 17,99 euros to 11,99 euros.

But: Until now, customers could significantly reduce the charging price in exchange for the 17,99 euros – to 35 cents per kilowatt hour. According to the new pricing model, the conditions per charged kilowatt hour of electricity are “always 20 cents below the currently valid Ionity Direct tariff”. For example, anyone charging with the Ionity Passport in Germany will pay 0,59 euros/kWh instead of the ad hoc price of 0,79 euros/kWh. Deviations from this price may occur in some European countries due to the respective local currency, country-specific VAT rates or local peculiarities, says Ionity.

The Passport subscription should be easy to book via Ionity’s own smartphone app. The operator calculates that, compared to the ‘Ionity Direct’ tariff (i.e. the 0,79 euros/kWh), the subscription is already worthwhile from 60 kWh per month. This corresponds to “about two charging processes or a distance of 300 kilometres (km) with an electric car at an average consumption of 20 kWh/100km”.

Justifying the new pricing model, the statement said that Ionity Passport takes into account “the changing market and customer requirements”. The VW charging subsidiary Elli also emphasised the new flexibility when it increased its prices in June, as the minimum contract period there was also reduced from twelve to one month.

Ionity says it currently operates more than 480 charging parks with over 2,300 HPC charging points in 24 countries. Each charging point offers up to 350 kW. Power sharing, in which the maximum power rating is divided between two or more charging points, does not exist at Ionity.

ionity.eu (PDF)