Festive shopping just got a whole lot greener and easier for electric car drivers thanks to a new partnership between Octopus Energy’s Electroverse platform and Sainsbury’s Smart Charge.
Drivers can now access over 560 Smart Charge ultra-rapid electric vehicle (EV) chargers at 68 Sainsbury’s UK stores nationwide at just a tap of their Octopus Electroverse card.
These chargers can power up an EV in under 30 minutes, charging batteries to the brim in the time it takes to pick up groceries.
As an added bonus, between 16 December and 10 January, every £1 spent on charging earns drivers 5 Nectar points*, unlocking savings on customers’ festive shopping.
Smart Charge powered by Sainsbury’s launched at the start of this year, with 100% of its sites having fully accessible bays and a reliable service with +99% uptime.
It joins over 1,000 charging brands for drivers to use in over 40 countries on Octopus Electroverse, giving drivers access to more than 920,000 chargers around Europe.
Octopus Electroverse’s pioneering ‘one card, one app’ model drastically simplifies public charging, eliminating the faff of downloading multiple apps. The disruptor is now Europe’s largest consumer charging platform.
This comes as a record number of nearly 90,000 public EV chargers are installed in the UK**. Research also shows four in five EV drivers have had a good experience with public charging in the UK***.
Matt Davies, Director of Octopus Electroverse, said: “It’s fantastic to welcome Sainsbury’s Smart Charge chargers to Electroverse. Their rapidly increasing number of ultra-rapid supermarket chargers helps fit electric car charging perfectly into daily routines. Drivers also get extra Nectar points when powering up with Electroverse over the next few weeks – just in time for the festive season.”
Patrick Dunne, Director of Property, Procurement and EV ventures at Sainsbury’s said: “Smart Charge continues to go from strength to strength and we’re delighted that Octopus Electroverse has chosen to collaborate with us, giving all its customers direct access to our 24/7, convenient and reliable ultra-rapid charging hubs. This partnership represents another critical step in our ambition to make EV charging simple and accessible to all – it couldn’t come at a better time for us as Sainsbury’s gears up to create a Big Christmas for all, with something to satisfy every customer’s taste and budget.”
Drivers interested can sign up to Octopus Electroverse online or via the app (Apple and Android), and their card will arrive in the post. Plug in at Smart Charge stations right away using the Electroverse card, with app charging coming in the New Year.
