Electric cars: Popular ADAC charging card returns with worse condition

For ADAC members, the club charging card “ADAC E-Charge” with the EnBW cooperation was one of the best places to go for a really good and comprehensive opportunity to charge electricity at a reduced rate at hundreds of thousands of charging points in Europe. The offer was so popular that quite a few people joined the ADAC just for this deal. In the end, around 400,000 people are said to have used the card.

Then in April the bad news came: The cooperation between ADAC and EnBW will end on August 1, 2024. The club immediately made it clear that it would look for an alternative as soon as possible and that a member charging card would continue to exist – just with a different partner.

Electric car can be charged cheaply for around two months, after which it becomes more expensive

This has been found: From August, the ADAC will work with Aral and thereby reduce the prices for members at the oil company’s fast Pulse charging stations. At the start of the cooperation, a kilowatt hour will cost 51 cents, and from October the price will increase to 57 cents. It does not matter whether an alternating current or direct current station is used.

It gets expensive at charging stations from other providers. If it is not an Aral charging point, 75 cents per kilowatt hour is due. There are no monthly basic fees and no blocking fee at Aral Pulse charging points. If other providers charge such a fee, it is 15 cents for alternating current charging stations after 120 minutes and 15 cents for direct current charging stations after 45 minutes.

This will mean an overall price increase from October at the latest. A kilowatt hour as part of the EnBW cooperation costs 51 cents in the old tariff (without paying an additional monthly fee). In the so-called roaming network, i.e. at charging stations that do not belong to EnBW, most providers have so far charged 60 cents without exception – with the exception of stations operated by EWE and Ionity. Here the price per kilowatt hour is 79 cents.

Aral says it currently operates around 2,700 charging points, while EnBW has significantly more. The Aral roaming network is also smaller. This means that not only are prices rising, but the number of charging stations is also decreasing. Depending on where you live, you should check whether an Aral charging station is even within a reasonable range.

Aral app mandatory for ADAC members

Customers who are still interested in the ADAC charging tariff must install the Aral Pulse app and create an account there. As soon as the app is linked to the ADAC account, you benefit from the special conditions. A haptic card is still available, but it must be ordered via the app and only works at Aral charging points.

At the start, charging is possible in Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain and France. In the Netherlands, the charging stations of the parent company BP are available. Small restriction: the charging process can only be started via the app.