EV charging stations - help please

[steve1968]

Looking for help on where to start should I need to charge my Polestar if away from home or workplace .

Can I just turn up at any empty charging bay, plug in, wait and pay by card or should I sign up to Plugsurfing, BP pulse or similar ?

Is there a big cost difference ?

Not new to EV as had E Golf for 3 years but never had to charge away from home or work before, now considering travelling further, don’t expect to have to use very often but anxious about getting stranded.

Any advice appreciated, but please keep it simple as not the most IT savvy person and the talk of Apps etc is a little confusing to me, sure I’ll get used to it !

[raspy]

Polestar website has all the info you need - did they give you a plugsurfing card when you picked up the car?

"Charging point operators may lack coverage in other cities or countries, making encounters with unfamiliar companies more common while travelling.

To make life easier, each Polestar comes with a Plugsurfing card that allows you to use over 375,000 public charging points in the UK and across Europe, regardless of the operator.

Download the app, activate your account, and charge away."

https://www.polestar.com/uk/electric-driving/publi...

[steve1968]

Thanks for the reply , do you use Plugsurfing?
I have activated account but says only 4 charging stations in Derby, 1 of which I visited which is taped off not working.
Will this card work with BP pulse stations ?

[GT6k]

Best practice is to get the Zapmap app or use their website to find chargers. It will tell you if a charger is contactless or that you need a specific app or account. If you are going to do a lot of traveling around outside your range form home you will probably need a collection of apps as there are still lots of unconnected networks of chargers, most don't cost you anything to register. I currently have more than 10 cards and apps but i have only used them 3 times in the last year as most of the time I am within the cars range from home.

[Maracus]

Watts App is good for knowing which charge points are on a trip. Also, Zap Map for locations.

Instavolt are touch and pay and very reliable, as are FastNED, MFG and Ionity. The 15 Tesla sites are worth looking at if you're passing one of those, don't forget to download the app and register your card for payment.

[paradigital]

Also, if you are an Octopus customer, it can be worth getting yourself an Electric Universe (used to be Electric Juice) card/app.