Sainsbury's Smart Charge
UK · Supermarket ultra-rapid hubs and some slower destination chargers
Published prices
See these published rapid rates in the true-cost comparison (arithmetic on the figures above, not advice).
Payment methods
Contactless payment is stated. The page highlights simple contactless payments and says no subscription or apps are required. The page says the app is not required.
Membership or app deals. No subscription is required. The page describes Nectar Prices as a discounted price per kWh at selected sites, but it does not state that discounted figure.
Pre-authorisation. A £40 pre-authorisation is taken at the start of an ultra-rapid session. Pre-authorisation amounts may differ at slower locations.
Speed. The page describes ultra-rapid 150kW chargers, plus some slower locations of up to 7kW or 22kW.
Caveat. These are published maxima, not a single exact rate. When using a charge card or partner app, the page says pricing is set by that provider.
Nectar collectors can earn 1 point per £1 spent. Hubs use CCS2, and most also offer CHAdeMO. Type 2 appears at the slower grey-pin sites.
Idle and overstay fees
No idle or overstay fee, rate, grace period or cap was stated on the page checked. Source: Smart Charge, powered by Sainsbury's (checked 2026-11-10).
Roaming versus paying the operator
The page says that when using a charge card or partner app, pricing is set by that provider.
- Zap-Pay: not published — Zapmap’s public help page (modified 23 March 2026) says the price shown when you pay with Zapmap is, wherever possible, the same or similar to the operator’s standard PAYG rate, but that some networks apply higher prices via third-party services such as Zapmap. The public Zap-Pay page does not list a per-network p/kWh table. In-app prices are not copied here.
- Octopus Electroverse: not published — Electroverse says the latest pricing for every network and charging point is displayed in the Electroverse app, and that rates might differ when charging with operators directly. No public per-network p/kWh table was published.
- OVO Charge: not published — OVO says PAYG rates are set by the charging networks and are shown for each charger on Charge Anywhere. No public per-network p/kWh table was published. Light Boost is described as 10% off the PAYG rate set by the networks; that percentage is not turned into a p/kWh figure here.
- Paua: not published — Paua says network prices are live in the Paua app and web map, and that customers pay each network’s standard PAYG or “pump” price. Its help page says it aims for a cost equivalent to or less than the network PAYG price where possible, but that some networks charge a premium and drivers should check the app. No public per-network p/kWh table was published.
Source
Source: Smart Charge, powered by Sainsbury's · Checked 2026-11-10