Octopus Energy’s electric vehicle (EV) roaming service Electroverse has opened up Plug & Charge technology to customers with compatible cars, in a bid to make the EV charging experience even easier.
Plug & Charge means drivers plug their car into a public charge point and walk away. The vehicle syncs with the charge point through the customer’s Electroverse account and begins charging automatically. There’s no need for a card, app or website, and the charging process and billing are all handled automatically by Octopus.
While Plug & Charge tech has been the norm for Tesla drivers using Tesla chargers (as the car, charger and app are all created and managed by Tesla), non-Tesla EV drivers previously haven’t had easy access to it.
Electroverse’s tech has enabled Plug & Charge to work for EV drivers with Volkwagen’s iD cars and Cupra Born cars, on IONITY’s ultra-rapid chargers across Europe. Major brands – including BMW, Audi, Skoda, Mercedes and Ford – have announced intentions to support the technology, as well as lots of different charging networks.
Matt Davies, Director of Octopus Electroverse: “This Plug & Charge milestone shows how technology delivers better electric vehicle charging. It provides a roadmap for the future of seamless public charging – and we’ve got big plans to roll it out further. We’re making it easier for car manufacturers and charging networks to support Plug & Charge and create a simpler experience for EV drivers.”
EV driver and Electroverse customer Ryan Howells, added: “This new feature has made charging my car a breeze. It’s definitely the way forward. As soon as I plugged in my car and looked back at the charge point, it already started charging. It’s like a Tesla supercharger. I can’t wait to see it on even more networks now.”
This breakthrough comes as Electroverse surpasses 400,000 charge points globally from over 460 charge point brands.
Other Octopus Electroverse features include an interactive global map showing 750,000+ chargers and their availability, a route-planner to ease ‘range anxiety’, and full in-car support through Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and in-car app stores.
EV drivers wanting to try this out themselves can follow this link to sign up to Electroverse, and the app can be downloaded on Apple and Android.