• long running

Free 7kWh Daily Electric Vehicle Charging Plan for All Customers @ Jolt (App Required)

1250

I've only recently upgraded to an EV and whilst I charge every 3rd day at home, I started looking and trying out fast chargers in my area.

Turns out that Jolt provide account holders 7kWh of charge per day free of charge.

  • Creating an account is simple and there are no joining fees. Choose the 7 kWh Free subscription plan during signup.
  • Miss it during signup? Click Account > Membership> Upgrade and choose your subscription plan

Nice little place to do a quick top up.


Terms and Conditions
https://support.joltcharge.com/hc/en-au/articles/16605135373….

  • JOLT offers 7 kWh free daily for all customers! Your energy allowance resets at midnight.

After you’ve consumed 7 kWh for the calendar day, you will be charged the per kWh rate. You can find the per kWh rate in your app, just click on a map pin to see the rate for the charger you want to use.

Please be aware that there is a minimum fee of $0.50 for any paid charging session.

To clarify, in NZ there is a minimum fee of $0.50NZD and in Australia there is a minimum fee of $0.50AUD

Whether you are in Australia or New Zealand we have membership option(s) with their own benefits and charging rates. You can find these in the app by navigating to Account > Membership (under your name at the top of the screen) > Upgrade/Explore Memberships

Q: Why am I not getting my free 7 kWh?
Everyone has the ability to get 7 kWh free – daily!

Users are asked to choose their subscription plan during signup– just click 7 kWh Free

Miss it during signup? No worries!

Click Account > Membership> Upgrade and choose your subscription plan

Related Stores

JOLT
JOLT

Comments

  • +2

    anyone know the economics of an arrangement like this?

    is it just expected to be for a limited promotional period for exposure or is it subsidised or what?

    • +9

      It's been going since at least December 2023. The idea being you stay and charge more than the free amount due to laziness or upgrade your plan with them if you have convenient location(s) for you.

      • +1

        that's a pretty serious loss-leader

        • +11

          It's only 7kWh. I pay around $2.10 for that on my home electricity.

          • +5

            @donga100: On OVO, I pay $0 for that between 11am-2pm and 56c between 12am-6am. Their peak rates aren't the best - obviously - but they're not terrible either.

            • +11

              @dazweeja: True ozbargainers get paid to charge their EVs between 11am to 2pm on the OVO plan. Payment via NL arrangements and the ATO.

              • -2

                @Obs: True ozbargainers realise that all your savings get eroded though peak power pricing and instead use single rate standard tariffs all other times on Powershop.

                • @mudguts: Since joining OVO, I've triple my usage using almost 1000kwh a month and actually pay less per month than before I got my EV. Works well if you can shift your high usage to the free and offpeak periods.

            • @dazweeja:

              and 56c between 12am-6am

              8 cents per kWh is good

            • @dazweeja: Keep checking the current rates on the OVO website and sign on again there. Mine kept creeping up. Currently got it down after price hike to 37c peak. Should be 8c overnight on EV plan.

            • +1

              @dazweeja: Youre better off on a tarriff that is the same rate 24/7. You pay through the nose peak times on ovo. Do your sums before signing

              • +1

                @kallico: I've been with them for more than a year. House with 2 adults. My EV, hot water, dishwasher and anything else I can I charge/use during free hours or off-peak. I've also referred two people and have solar panels. I pay $13 a month but I'm more than $400 in credit with them.

              • @kallico: All just go on a single tariff all times outside the free EV charging window like a sane person

              • @kallico: I'm saving around $20 a day on Ovo. EV charging, pool pump, hot water. and heating a big old house for 6 people all now occur overnight (midnight to 6am at 8c kwh) and then kick in again at 11am for the free power. Washing machine, dryer and dishwasher also run overnight. Cooking, TV, and computers are all that run on peak rates.

            • +1

              @dazweeja: No EV car but read with interest. Is there a timer one can purchase that would charge from home at the free times ?

              • +1

                @JakDac: Usually you would use the scheduling function on the car or EVSE itself (or in the app for the car/EVSE).

                Regular household timers I believe are usually not rated to carry that much throughout as a continuous load, and likely to burn out, so not advised to use those. (If you need a timer, you would probably want to find a heavy duty one with a higher rating.)

                I would just make sure that either the car or EVSE you are purchasing has scheduling functionality. Easier than worrying about a timer burning out!

              • @JakDac: I don't know about other cars but my Tesla has charging schedules you can set up. Mine is during my free hours and the off-peak hours. So I can plug the car in at any time and it will start charging at 11am and stop at 2pm and start at midnight and stop at 6am. I get 30% charge (23kW / ~140km) each free session and WFH two days a week. I generally unplug sometime in the afternoon so most weeks I don't pay anything to charge my car. On conservative estimates, each free session is about $20 savings in comparable petrol costs.

        • +11

          that's a pretty serious loss-leader

          What makes you say this?

          Did you know that wholesale electricity prices are actually often negative during the day, so they potentially might even be making money by taking the excess supply out of the grid

          • @p1 ama: you’re probably right.

            there’s a lot to consider

        • +5

          They do this in NZ as well. And probably in Europe.

          These chargers are 25kw (the slowest of the 'fast' chargers) meaning far lower cost for cable laying and connection. And they often get free/low cost use of the land as they pitch it as being a driver of customer traffic for local shops, plus they sell ads too on their big screens, and in their app.

          In NZ if you subscribe to their paid membership tiers you can reserve a charger in advance, useful as they get often get camped out by Uber drivers and other EV owners with too much time on their hands. And if they wonder off the vehicle and did not unplug, they'll have to pay for whatever they use after the free 7kw, or a penalty fee.

          Obviously for a multinational company they'll likely hedge their electricity costs, because these chargers get camped out so often. Some have multiple phones just for that purpose.

          • +1

            @safrane: Multiple phones/accounts is dodgy AF and annoying. I gave up using JOLT for that reason. And for those uber SPL drivers that just reserve it. I charge at home now and don't bother for the 7kWh, unless I happen to go by and it's free, and I CBF waiting 15-20 min.

            • +1

              @FerreroRocher: You wouldn't believe the lengths some people go to for free stuff. This is just a basic workaround albeit it inconveniences other users.

              Back in the very early days of EVs when I was in NZ, one had to watch out for ex-JDM Nissan Leaf grey imports having premature battery degradation with unusually high fast charge counts, because one of the big enticements which Nissan gave to kick start Leaf sales in Japan was free public fast charging, and some ingenious Japanese owners abused the hell out of it by charging at public fast chargers for free, and then unload the charge back into their homes via some janky homebrew V2H/V2L, as electricity was becoming an expensive commodity in Japan after the nuclear shutdowns with Fukushima.

        • that's a pretty serious loss-leader

          Show your working.

          The maximum it will cost them is about $2 per charge which is about the cheapest marketing/advertising campaign you could ask for.

          • @1st-Amendment: less cheap if your bays are always full of multi account users

            there are a lot of things i'd not considered when this deal was first posted, among them the advertising income and the fact this's a corporate business playing the long game (and leveraging the myriad spoils of such perspective)

    • +6

      It's been going a while, basically watch an ad when you start and you're good to go. Gotta watch if you go over because they'll charge you the whole kW even if it's only 0.01kW over the free limit.

      • they still have outlays (including infrastructure)

    • +4

      They usually have massive digital advertisements.

    • -3

      Been going for a while, I used to have 4 free accounts to cycle through my local charger. But now Ikea trucks just push in with their paid plans

      • +1

        ikea trucks are evs?

        • +5

          Some of the smaller delivery trucks are EV

          • @Caped Baldy: Which brand is it? I know it’s been hard to make ev trucks

            • @TimApple: Some vans like a Merc and I've seen modified hino trucks

            • @TimApple:

              I know it’s been hard to make ev trucks

              Not hard, just expensive and slow.

              The energy density of batteries is terrible compared to diesel if you need load and distance.

              • @1st-Amendment: Batteries are coming down in prices and electric motor have instant torque. You are contrdicting two factual points.

                • @ChickenAdobo:

                  You are contrdicting two factual points.

                  Only if you don't understand what energy density is, which you quite obviously don't.

                  Explain to me why it is that there are no electric freight ships? If 'Batteries are coming down in prices and electric motor have instant torque', where are all the electric ships?

                  Batteries can not compete with diesel for energy density, that is why 99.99% of freight vehicles are diesel (or Avgas).

                  • @1st-Amendment: I wont think your argument will hold much weight once solid state batteries come to the market. And oh the density of today batteries are good enough for trucks and public buses. So diesel are going the wayward.

                    • @ChickenAdobo:

                      once solid state batteries come to the market.

                      Wake me up when this happens… Apparently we'll all have flying cars by 1990 as well…

                      And oh the density of today batteries are good enough for trucks and public buses

                      That must be why almost none of them are EVs… The few that do are taxpayer funded because it always easier to waste other people's money…

                      • +1

                        @1st-Amendment: Great to ignore what really happening around the world with truck ev slowly replacing the short and medium logistic and public buses becoming ev.

                        And your solid state batteries notion you got probably 2 years to harp that diesel density bs.

                        • @ChickenAdobo:

                          Great to ignore what really happening around the world

                          I've been all around the world, maybe you should get off your screen and get outside sometime. Let me know what the ratio of diesel to electric trucks and buses is near you and let's see who is closer to reality.

                          For bonus points head down to the wharf and airport and let me know how many electric ships and planes you see.

                          you got probably 2 years

                          So you agree that it's expensive and slow to create a viable EV heavy transport solution, just like I originally said. Well played…

                          diesel density bs

                          It's called physics. Energy density of diesel is currently 15x that of an LFP battery.
                          Even in BYD's wildest dream they are hoping to double the density of their technology, maybe, within a few years, maybe, meaning that even in dream world it will still be about 8x less dense, meaning hauling heavy things long distances will be slower and more expensive, exactly like I said.

                          But I'm sure you heard different on the Internet so it must be true lol…

                          • +1

                            @1st-Amendment: One thing that diesel lose is efficiency and power to weight ratio. Anyway you do you with your diesel cars while the Australia is beginning the S curve momentum toward early majority for electric cars. Diesel will soon be forgotten and belong to the museum. You will be yesterday news.

                            • @ChickenAdobo:

                              Anyway you do you with your diesel cars

                              The subject was the cost and expediency of electric freight vehicles not cars…
                              I own an EV because they work well for short inner city type usage. They don't work well for hauling heavy loads over long distances due to the energy density issue which is a scientific hard limit. It is why there are almost zero of these anywhere in the world. But you ignore the physics and keep believing the hype. Wake me up know when you can fly overseas on an EV plane…

    • +6

      Lots of Jolt chargers are built into advertisement boards, so it is a backdoor to installing ad boards in places councils would normally say no to!

    • +1

      I applied for a job at Jolt a while ago, and I remember asking about this model.

      From what they said they make their money off of both government fundings (as they upgrade existing council power boxes) aswell as advertising on their stations.

      But the margins are thin…very thin

      So I partially expected this deal to only exist whilst they grow

  • This is great and I’ve done this a few times but can charge at home easily enough.

    I still want to try starting a bit after 11:30pm and getting 14kW in two sessions, but I’m too tired haha. Anyone done this?

    • better off just going when it's convenient

    • -3

      I had 4 free accounts I used to cycle through. I'd grab lunch when WFH and just eat in car. It's too busy now though, paid plans can reserve the charger after your session

      • +1

        you win for sure

      • +8

        Wow save $9 and be stuck in your car for 4 hours.

        Some smart people among us I see!

        • +2

          Not quite 4 hours. It would be 1hr 20mins at 20kW charging speeds.

        • 25kw/h rate is less than an hour

          I see you're one of the smart ones?

          • @krisspy: my guess was for AC charging @7kW.

            i'm one of the people not being selfish and exploiting 'free' charging and ignoring the fact they are shared ressources for EV drivers that actually need them.

            Get a clue and move out of the spot as people like you ruin it for the rest and make EV uptake hard

            I imagine if people were less polite as I am they'd write on plugshare, 'some loser plugging in every 20minutes to exploit free charging and blocking the spot'

            • +1

              @eddyah: Mate it's not a free public service, if someone actually needs a charger for an emergency, they wouldn't be hedging their bets on a "free" charger like this to be available.

              Get a clue if you think people "abusing" free chargers is making ev uptake hard. Because the first thing people think about when buying an ev is "gee I'm not buying one because I can't charge for free"

              JOLT is here to make money, they want their spots to be used 24/7 so people pay to have the ability to reserve the spot over free users.

              The chargers I go to is full of complaints about the Ikea trucks always hogging the chargers. I guess you can go have a rant about them abusing the system for commercial use.

              • @krisspy: I'd hazard a guess and say Jolt want as many people as possible to use their service so they can advertise to them as well. Hence the clause about the use of multiple accounts in their fair use policy.

                Not that I know how it is enforced.

              • @krisspy: They make money with the ads. At "full rates" from charging it'd be like $13.75 an hour (55c per kWh @25kW or double with the newer 50kW chargers).

              • @krisspy: bahahaha you're the dude admitting to using 4 accounts to cycle through to get their 'free' electricity.

                you have zero grounds to stand on for an argument.

    • This would literally be worth adorns $4 mind you.

  • +3

    Nothing in WA :(

    • +1

      Synergy 8.6c / kWh plan is good & convenient for those working from home. Also have battery, so their peak prices don’t affect us.

      https://www.synergy.net.au/Your-home/Energy-plans/Electric-V…?

      • Im waiitng for bidirectional chargings for v2x. Reporting to cost between 2k to 6k depending on the type and excluding installation.

  • No chargers in NT, TAS, or WA.

  • +4

    Also CBA offers free 2 months with Jolt Plus which offers reservation options and more free charging up to 10kwh.

    • Do you know where I can get this offer? It isn’t on my CBa Yello (unless that’s the wrong place to look)

  • -5

    Upgraded… lol.

    • +11

      Well, I got the car dirt cheap and in 3 months of ownership, I've saved around $1200 in not needing petrol. I get free charging at work and with top ups at home I guesstimate I've spent ~$12 in 3 months

      • Which car and how cheap is cheap?

      • Funny, I worked out recently that the 30000km I've driven in my EV would have been $1200 in electricity.

        • That would have cost me $4500 in diesel in my last car.

    • -1

      Go away and sniff some araldite instead

  • Our Jolt is DC only (early EV adopter with AC charging only). Not sure if all Jolts are like this.

    • Jolt is DC 25kW mostly. Some rare 50s.

  • None

  • So if I go at 10.59pm and start charging and stop at 11.59, and restart at 12.01am and finish at 1.01am. Assuming it's a 7kw charger

    I can get 14kw for free with 1 trip. Time to buy an ev

    • +6

      Most of their chargers are around 25kw/h so it takes about 16mins to hit the free limit

      • +6

        OZB meetup around mid night?! Lets gooooo

    • +2

      Start later, say 15-20 mins before, as the charger will use that 7kW in a few minutes, then stay there for early start at 12:01 and then another 15-20 mins or so and there you go ,… or, if you can, just charge at home through the day off solar (mostly) like we do. We don't drive much (once or twice a week at most, and trips less then 50km ) so we just use my supplied charger and time it over 2 days (wfh).

      even at that hour of the night (off peak) 7kW would cost me $1.06 at home

    • +3

      Get a second device. Mind you, 14kW may be good enough for 100km of range.

      Depends if it's worth your time. Most of them are 20kW charging speeds so you'll spend about 20mins to get your 7kW. They are beginning to roll out faster DC chargers (50kW) though.

      • kWh for energy people. kW for power.

        The people with two phones or the guy with 4 phones, come on! I get that it's free per number/account but really? I guess for some it's worth the hassle and inconvenience to others/themselves.

        • Thanks. I keep getting them mixed up.

          There's some selfish people out there hogging chargers particularly in shopping centres.

          Admittedly, I've done it too on occasion but when there's no one waiting.

  • I've only recently upgraded to an EV

    Is it a Honda?
    https://youtu.be/uhxtWsOg7rY?si=tAN2Rxo8B7zPzhwD

  • Would you be able to charge your portable power station with this? I have a 4kw battery in my car :)

    • +2

      It did say Jolt was DC only (I am in Tas and no Jolt AFAIK) so it will use a CCS-2 plug,

      You'd need to charge your car and use V2L to charge your portable power station :) of course if your car has V2L you possibly don't need a portable powerbank as your car is a mobile powerbank :)

      • Can you plug a V2L adaptor in to the charging station?

        • +2

          V2L is via AC, so no.

  • +1

    I've been using this for months. Sadly at my local charger there is some inconsiderate idiot cycling through free charges and holding up the rest of us wanting to charge (there is only one spot and only one charger can be used at a time).

    Jolt app estimates ETA for chargers (but not obvious if people are about to cycle accounts and hog the charger), but most of the EV community also check in via Plugshare app

    • +8
    • +3

      Most likely a paid account, if you have 2 accounts that you can end and start on the other immediately there's slim chance he can push in that small window.

      Paid plans can reserve the spot, as soon as you end a session you won't be able to activate it on your other account

      • do paid accounts get the first 7kwh free too or is it a sub model?

        • +1

          Paid ones get 10kWh incl the first 7 free so really it's paying for the additional 3kWh and ability to reserve.

      • -1

        If you use two accounts to start stop, do you need to unplug after you stop with one account and plug in again to start with second account?

        And does second account phone need to be present?

        • Yes unplug after new session

          You don't need another phone, there are default/3rd party apps that allow you to launch apps under different logins

    • -1

      Plugshare gets less and less relevant as more people get EVs. I uninstalled the app ages ago.

      The Jolt chargers are OK if they are free, I am nearby and have some time to kill waiting but people cycling accounts really don't value their time very highly. I certainly wouldn't pay for this service - 25kW DC is just too slow.

  • I signed up ages ago but deleted the app because there are no jolt chargers near us (or anywhere near where we go)

  • Thx. Signed up. Didn't know it was free

  • I have to say, people hogging chargers, sittiing in their car or similar, really bugs me a lot. Amazing what people will do for a few bucks. I sew people at a charger near me, sitting in the shopping centre car park well beyond the 3 hour car park limit and not spending a cent in any shops.

    It is this selfish behaviour that means its a matter of time before they all disappear.

    Anyway - rant over lol

  • +1

    This would completely charge my electric motorcycle from 0 to 100% for free. Nice option to have in the back pocket.

    • what's the bike?

      • +1

        Fonzmoto Arthur 6 Performance

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