Spark Alliance switches on first development stage

Electra reports that the more than 11,000 charge points of the Spark Alliance partners are now visible and accessible in its app. That applies not only to the Electra app: Ionity states that since July, “around 1,700 charging sites and over 11,000 charge points across Europe are available via the native apps of the four members for all EV drivers”. In other words, Ionity’s app route planner now allows users to select and navigate to both Ionity chargers and those of Spark partners.

However, the partners differ slightly in implementation. Electra says its app already lets users find Spark Alliance partner locations, navigate to them, and start charging sessions directly. Prices, the company notes, are “those of the operator of the respective charging station.”

Ionity, on the other hand, does not yet enable starting or paying for charging sessions at partner sites in this first stage. For example, users can find and navigate to a Fastned charger through the Ionity app, but to charge at the Fastned site, they still need the Fastned app, a roaming provider app or card, or a credit card. In fact, the Ionity app only displays the location of the Fastned site without showing the number of chargers or their availability – it redirects users straight to the partner.

The reverse is similar: the Fastned app now shows other providers’ fast chargers (including live availability data), but users cannot start charging sessions via the Fastned app, not even at Spark Alliance partner sites. While the app displays partner charging stations, it does not visually differentiate them from other operators’ locations.

“This launch marks the starting shot for Europe’s largest HPC network and also the first stage. We will deepen the technical integration step by step over the coming months, aiming to enable a truly seamless charging experience across the entire Spark Alliance network,” says Ionity.

In an interview with electrive, Ionity CEO Jeroen van Tilburg justified the staged rollout before the summer holiday season as a matter of timing. “ We could have decided to make this perfect and wait another year to get where we want to be. But we don’t have that time. The transition is happening now,” he said. “Eventually, we aim to make this process more seamless, so that you’ll be charged directly through your Ionity account when using a Fastned station. And in the longer term, we may be able to offer a favorable tariff for using that station via our app. But it is a step-by-step approach, it starts by making the stations visible as a recommendation.”

The four providers founded the Spark Alliance in April as the “largest and most reliable public charging network.” They do not intend to position Spark as a new mobility service provider but want to build it as a quality label. All four founding members focus solely on charging, with business models entirely dependent on electromobility, and none of them is the charging division of a utility or oil company.

“Our mission is clear: charging should be simple, fast and stress-free. Especially in summer, we want to prove that electromobility works comfortably,” says Alessandro Inderbitzin, General Manager for the DACH region at Electra, regarding the launch of the new integration stage.

Source: Information via e-mail, sparkalliance.com