Hive And Zapmap Announce Strategic Partnership With Free Charging Credits

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Eco-tech expert Hive has partnered with the UK’s most popular electric vehicle (EV) public charging service, Zapmap, to make at-home and on-the-road charging more accessible and affordable for drivers across the UK.

The strategic partnership will offer seamless charging experiences, where drivers will be able to confidently charge their EVs at or away from home.

To mark the first phase of the partnership, starting next year, new Hive EV customers will receive £20 of charging credit to use at Zap-Pay enabled EV chargers, at thousands of locations across the UK. Customers will be able to pay digitally or via a charge card, giving EV drivers an easy way to pay and see their charging across different networks. This means Hive customers will benefit from up to a total of 250,000 miles of EV charging^[i] for free.

The offer is part of Hive and Zapmap’s shared mission to make it as simple and stress-free to charge on the road as it is at home. The partnership aims to give customers the freedom to travel and charge wherever they choose, with the ambition of helping over a million customers to go electric in the next three years.

Building on deep customer and market insights, the companies will also work together to provide information and resources to support Hive customers in understanding and navigating public charging – with market-leading location information, detailed charging costs, and straightforward ‘how-to' user guides.  

Longer-term, the partnership is set to explore bringing together the Hive app and Zapmap’s digital platform to offer further exciting customer benefits, including targeted end-to-end solutions for Hive customers to conveniently track their at-home and public charging within the Hive app, have multiple ways to pay for public charging, whether through the Hive app, charge cards or even via their household energy bills.

To launch the new partnership, Hive and Zapmap will be featured at the Everything Electric event in Farnborough from 11th- 13th October on stand C20.

Dan Rosenfield, Managing Director of Hive, commented: “We’re on a mission to help make EV charging simple and affordable. Through our strategic partnership with Zapmap and our investments in the Hive app, we are empowering EV drivers to have complete control over their electric driving experience.

“Electric vehicle uptake is a key part of the UK’s drive to net zero and, for many people, represents the first step on their journey to reducing their carbon footprint. EVs have continued to increase their market share since the start of the year as more drivers reap the benefits of going electric. To support this, we want to give drivers the confidence to charge whenever and wherever they want and save money in the process. This is all part of our ambition to energise a greener, fairer future for all.”

Melanie Shufflebotham, Co-founder and COO of Zapmap added: “Zapmap has been helping drivers charge on the move for over 10 years, and we know how big a part home charging plays in the life of an EV owner. By combining simple home and public charging, we can give EV drivers everything they need to find and pay for charging and help the next generation of EV drivers build confidence charging, wherever they go.

“Hive customers can enjoy the benefits of EVs, stress-free, and we're really excited to continue to expand the service to give them access to the best priced charging, within the simplest experience, across the broadest range of locations.”

Minister for the Future of Roads, Lilian Greenwood said: “Fantastic to see this partnership between Hive and Zapmap to make at-home and public charging even more accessible for drivers. 

“Like Hive and Zapmap, this government is supporting more and more people to make the move to zero emission vehicles. Whether charging at home or in public, we’re dedicated to making charging as easy as possible including with our range of grants.”

The announcement coincides with the one-year anniversary of the launch of FreeCharge, with the business offering 12 months’ free charging with the purchase of every Hive EV charger. Since its introduction, this has seen Hive give away the equivalent of 15 million miles of electric charging to its customers.

SmartCharge is also available to customers through the Hive app, with users benefitting from a 4p/kWh saving on all their EV charging^[ii] which is automatically credited to their energy bill each month. SmartCharge automatically charges an EV when energy is at its cheapest during that charging session.