Published6 June 2022, 08:00
How to pay for the charging of your electrified vehicle, whether in Luxembourg or abroad?
In Luxembourg, the Chargy terminals do the trick, but beyond the borders, it gets more complicated…
In the jungle of electrified cars, not everything has been cleared yet, far from it. Alongside the questions raised by charging stations (private fixed and mobile, public), remains the thorny problem of payment cards.
“The complexity associated with these payment cards for recharging causes some confusion among consumers,” says Denis Hubert, mobility engineer-technician with the Automobile Club of Luxembourg (ACL). And this is even more the case when traveling abroad, “given the number of card providers and the diversity of the network of terminals”.
In Luxembourg, the Chargy and SuperChargy terminals are accessible to all holders of a national card. But “if your electricity supplier does not offer such a card, it is possible to order an Enodrive card, which has the advantage of also being valid abroad”, explains Denis Hubert. Two types of offers exist, either in the form of a debit card, without additional costs, or in a subscription system, “formula which will be favored by the big rollers”. It is also possible to pay directly via a bank terminal, or a QR Code to be scanned on an Internet interface.
Several recharge cards on your person to leave
Abroad, on the other hand, traveling by electric car often takes on the appearance of an adventure in unknown territory. For Denis Hubert, the key word is “plan”! “You should mark out your route from charging point to charging point”.
Here, the recharge cards are legion. The best known in Europe, besides Enodrive, are Newmotion, Plugsurfing or Chargemap. “The availability of terminals varies according to the density of the network, more or less important according to the regions and the countries”, relates the engineer of the ACL. “Added to this are the different operating modes of the cards and the variation in the charging power of the terminals. Not to mention that charging costs can quickly soar at fast terminals”.
This is why Denis Hubert distills the following advice: “It is better to leave with several top-up cards on you and several apps”. In this regard, the mobility specialist mentions the ABPR app, “via which you indicate your departure and arrival points, as well as any desired stops, and the app will calculate all the stopping points according to the location. terminals that suit your profile”.
(Jean-Francois Collin)