Volvo Cars and Polestar have secured discounted charging rates for drivers of their electric cars at Ionity charging points throughout Europe.

From July 1, drivers will pay a reduced rate of 30p/kWh at any Ionity charging point. The usual cost is 69p/kWh in the UK.

The offer applies to new and existing customers when they use their Plugsurfing card, which is supplied with the vehicle, or the Plugsurfing app.

The Plugsurfing agreement in place with both manufacturers already enables increased public charging convenience by providing access to over 200,000 public charging points in Europe with one platform for authentication and payment, regardless of the charging point operator.

Polestar is offering the reduced pricing offer to all existing customers, plus those who order their cars before the end of the year.

Volvo is capping the discount to a 12 month period, but says it applies to all existing Volvo EV drivers, plus any new customers.

“We are excited to offer our customers one of the most competitive prices for charging at Ionity, one of Europe’s largest public fast-charging networks,” said Olivier Loedel, head of Electrification Ecosystem at Volvo Cars. “This collaboration is a first step in our global ambition to help our customers of Recharge cars travel quickly at a much lower charging cost, wherever they are.”

Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO, added: “This is a prime example of how collaboration in the ever-growing free market of public charging infrastructure can be used to benefit our customers, much like our recent partnership with ChargePoint in North America.

“Not being limited to our own exclusive charging network means we can benefit from the expansion and evolution of infrastructure as the industry grows and as the shift to electric mobility gathers momentum. We remain committed to finding more solutions like this for our customers.”