IONITY is a network for high-power-charging electric vehicles to facilitate long-distance travel across all Europe. It's a joint venture founded by the BMW Group, Daimler AG, Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen Group, but other automotive manufacturers are invited to help expand the network. The joint venture is privately funded but has been awarded €39.1 million in EU public funds.
Capable of charging certain cars up to 80 per cent in just 15 minutes
Charging stations have from 2 to 8 CCS plugs each, with 4 plugs per station on average.
Charging stations have slightly different design, depending on country and manufacturer.
Most stations were produced by Tritium and ABB, and some by Porsche itself.
Members
Current members include BMW Group, Daimler, Ford and Volkswagen Group. It was announced on September 9 2019 that Hyundai Motor group would bring Hyundai and Kia brands on board as strategic partners.
Rollout
IONITY rollout table: number of open stations per country per quarter.
2017
The company claimed that a total of 20 stations would open to the public, located on major roads in multiple European countries through partnerships with Tank & Rast, Circle K and OMV. By the end of 2017, no stations were open to the public. IONITY bid for Europ-e funding from the European Union and was awarded £39.1m to help develop its network, across 13 EU Member States: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UK.
2018
First IONITY charging station was opened on 24 April 2018 at Brohltal-Ost on the A61 motorway in Germany's Rhineland-Palatinate. By August 2018, 7 stations were open: 1 in Germany, 1 in Austria, 2 in France, 2 in Switzerland, and 1 in Denmark, with 4-6 chargers on each. 4 more stations are marked as coming soon. By October 2018, 10 stations with 4-6 CCS charger plugs were open, 20 stations are marked as "now building". Charging cost for the rest of 2018 was established as 8 per charging session. In Scandinavia the session fee will be 80 NOK / SEK / DKK. The European Union countries currently remaining without published plans for IONITY chargers include: Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and the UK. By the end of 2018, 47 stations on map are marked open and 45 as now building.
2019
The 100th charging station was open to public in Rygge, Norway on 27 May 2019. On 20 December 2019 200th charging station was completed.
2020
In 2017, IONITY planned to have "implemented and operate about 400 fast charging stations across European major thoroughfares until 2020". In January 2020, IONITY announced that customers with no contract would be charged 0.79 euros per kWh. The network was criticized for the 500% rate increase for those drivers without a subscription plan. German automakers shared discounted rates for Connected Mobility Service Providers network participants. For example, Mercedes-Benz announced a reduced IONITY charging price of 0.29 euros per charged kilowatt hour for Mercedes' me Charge users.
