[slowandpassive]

Hi All,

I've had the car for nearly a year and coming up to 15,000 miles, so pretty comfortable in the UK.

However, we have an up and coming trip to France and I'm trying to get my head round it. We have the BMW RFID card and associated free Ionity Plus and BP Pulse contract, but these finish part way through our trip. Will I still be able to use the RFID card to charge at Ionity chargers after the contract expires? I assume so, just at a higher rate.

I also have a Shell recharge card, but are there any other apps/ RFID cards I should sign-up for? Chargemap is one that keeps popping up in searches.

Any hints, tips or advice for charging in France would be welcome.

Thank you!

[Robust2]

I've just come back from a trip from Belgium to Spain and back, so crossing through France. Charged pretty much everywhere with my BMW charging card, except at a Shell charger where my shell recharge card was a lot cheaper (always worth checking the price between both, but pretty much everywhere else BMW was cheaper).
I did not have any other cards and found no need for more. Chargemaps is a great mobile application though to find chargers and to see others' reviews and if they are operational, but you don't need their card/charging contract.

[brownejp]

Originally Posted by slowandpassive

Hi All,

I've had the car for nearly a year and coming up to 15,000 miles, so pretty comfortable in the UK.

However, we have an up and coming trip to France and I'm trying to get my head round it. We have the BMW RFID card and associated free Ionity Plus and BP Pulse contract, but these finish part way through our trip. Will I still be able to use the RFID card to charge at Ionity chargers after the contract expires? I assume so, just at a higher rate.

I also have a Shell recharge card, but are there any other apps/ RFID cards I should sign-up for? Chargemap is one that keeps popping up in searches.

Any hints, tips or advice for charging in France would be welcome.

Thank you!

As Far as I know the BMW card is month to month so you could keep the subscription for an extra month and then cancel when you get home and move to the pay as you go rate.

[sahajesh]

Also get an Octopus Electroverse card/account too, as others have said it’s good.

For my trip, I exclusively used Ionity and Tesla (those chargers open to all cars, lots of those in France).

[slowandpassive]

Originally Posted by Robust2

I've just come back from a trip from Belgium to Spain and back, so crossing through France. Charged pretty much everywhere with my BMW charging card, except at a Shell charger where my shell recharge card was a lot cheaper (always worth checking the price between both, but pretty much everywhere else BMW was cheaper).
I did not have any other cards and found no need for more. Chargemaps is a great mobile application though to find chargers and to see others' reviews and if they are operational, but you don't need their card/charging contract.

Thanks for the reply. Very useful and reassuring.

[slowandpassive]

Originally Posted by sahajesh

Also get an Octopus Electroverse card/account too, as others have said it’s good.

For my trip, I exclusively used Ionity and Tesla (those chargers open to all cars, lots of those in France).

Did you have to filter your search results based on Ionity, or did the car automatically/ preferentially point you to them? Did you use the car satnav or something else like ABRP?