Ionity — 350 kW HPC on Europe's motorway network

Ionity is the joint-venture HPC network founded by BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Volkswagen Group, Hyundai and Kia to build out 350 kW charging on Europe's motorway corridors. Since launch in 2017 it has grown to over 600 stations across most of Europe, with the strongest coverage on the cross-border spine routes between Germany, France, Italy, the Benelux, Austria and Switzerland.

The pricing model is unusual for European HPC: a published high pay-as-you-go rate, plus a monthly subscription (Ionity Passport, €5.99/month) that drops the per-kWh price by roughly 50%. The economics make Ionity Passport the right primary for any driver doing more than ~250 kWh/month at Ionity sites; for occasional users the pay-as-you-go rate is competitive with other premium networks but not the cheapest option.

Where Ionity operates

Ionity covers the cross-border motorway corridors across Europe. In Germany every major Autobahn has multiple Ionity sites, often co-located with Tesla, EnBW and Aral pulse. In France the autoroute aire de service network has near-complete Ionity coverage. The Italian autostrade, the Spanish AP-1/AP-7, the Austrian A1/A2/A10, and the Swiss A1/A2/A13 all have Ionity sites at the major intersections.

Sites are uniformly 4–8 dispensers each, all 350 kW peak (with vehicles capped to whatever they can accept — typically 150–250 kW for current production cars). Layout is standardised across the network: a recognisable canopy, dispensers facing inward, no payment terminal on the dispenser itself (payment is in-app or via roaming card).

The Ionity Passport subscription

Ionity Passport is a monthly subscription that drops the per-kWh price by roughly 50% at Ionity sites. The exact prices vary by country but the structure is the same: a relatively high pay-as-you-go rate that nobody wants to pay regularly, plus a cheap-per-kWh subscription tariff that pays back quickly above a usage threshold.

For a driver doing 250 kWh/month or more at Ionity, the subscription is unambiguously the right choice. For occasional long-distance drivers, Ionity Passport for one month covering a trip is also a sensible play — the subscription can be cancelled anytime, so you can subscribe for the month you're driving across Europe and unsubscribe afterwards.

Roaming and the carmaker cards

Ionity supports roaming via the founding-carmaker EMSP cards (BMW Charging, Mercedes me Charge, Ford BlueOval, Volkswagen Charging / We Charge, Hyundai Charging Service, Kia Charge). Roaming rates via those carmaker cards are often comparable to the Ionity Passport tariff — sometimes better, depending on the carmaker's negotiated rate and the subscription tier you're on.

Roaming via third-party EMSPs (Plugsurfing, Chargemap, Maingau, EnBW mobility+) also works at Ionity but usually at the higher Ionity pay-as-you-go rate plus a small roaming markup. For non-carmaker-card users, the Ionity app + Passport subscription remains the cheapest direct route.

Ionity vs. Tesla, EnBW, Fastned

Ionity vs. Tesla Supercharger is usually a coverage question rather than a price one — both are competitive on per-kWh price with their respective subscriptions, and most spine routes have both. Where one operator has stalls and the other doesn't is the deciding factor.

Ionity vs. EnBW mobility+ matters in Germany and Austria: EnBW's direct app price is usually cheaper at EnBW sites, and the EnBW roaming rate at Ionity is competitive without needing the Passport subscription. For German residents doing most of their charging within Germany, EnBW mobility+ is often the better single primary.

Ionity vs. Fastned: Fastned's Gold subscription brings the per-kWh price into a similar range as Ionity Passport. Coverage differs — Fastned is denser in the Netherlands, Belgium, and parts of Germany; Ionity is denser on the cross-border motorway spine. Many long-distance drivers carry both.