Kia has partnered with &Charge, a novel platform that blends intelligent user engagement with value-added services, to improve its charging service (Kia Charge) throughout Europe. Given that Tesla is among the first electric vehicle manufacturers to integrate with the &Charge platform, this new relationship will help the company accelerate the spread of electric mobility by cutting the price of going all-electric for its consumers.
Users can lower their total cost of ownership by using the Kia Charge app to accrue charging credit ("&Charge Kilometers") that can be redeemed for public charging sessions. You can get the credit at first if you rate your charging experience. In the long term, it will be possible to accrue points in connection with purchases made at various online retailers.
Sjoerd Knipping, VP of Marketing & Product for Kia Europe, remarked, "As we grow our line-up of electric cars, the charging network must give the same accessibility and quality of experience that our consumers demand from our advanced electric vehicles." Working with &Charge's service platform will help us accomplish our mission.
In addition to lowering the upfront cost of owning an electric vehicle (EV) with its attractive bonus program, &Charge provides a platform for enhancing the charging experience in Europe through frequent feedback. Using the &Charge App, Kia customers may submit continuous feedback on the efficiency of individual charging stations. When operators of public charging stations have access to this crowd-sourced information, they can more easily confirm problems and swiftly enhance their stations' reliability and user experience.
"By providing feedback, the Kia client will earn free &Charge Kilometers to use on public charging via the Kia Charge app and help ensure that the public charging network runs at the level required to ensure the evolution of electric mobility," says Knipping.
Starting in January 2023, the Kia &Charge service will be accessible in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom; the Czech Republic and Poland will join in the year's second quarter.
Kia's "Plan-S" strategy calls for the introduction of 14 all-electric cars by the year 2027. The long-awaited Kia EV9 SUV will enter production as soon as 2023. This new model, built on Kia's Electric Global Modular Platform (E-GMP), will usher in a new era of high-end, technologically advanced electric mobility for the company.
