Aldi charging stations: prices, how to pay and where they are

Aldi charging stations cost 40p/kWh on fast chargers and 62p/kWh on rapid chargers, with no subscription and no free allowance. Drax Electric Vehicles runs about 1,200 of them at more than 250 Aldi stores, and you pay by contactless on the newer units or through Drax’s Charge Assist app.

Who runs Aldi’s EV chargers?

Drax Electric Vehicles runs them. On 10 June 2026 Drax announced that Aldi had moved around 1,200 chargers at more than 250 UK stores over to it, and that it would operate the network as Aldi expands it. Drax sets the prices, handles payment and runs the helpline; the store staff do not.

The network grew quickly before the handover. Zapmap counted 592 charge points at Aldi in June 2025, up from 199 in 2023, the largest increase of any UK supermarket in that period, and it credited the growth to a partnership with Shell Recharge. Drax’s figure of about 1,200 a year later counts chargers rather than Zapmap’s devices, so the two numbers are not directly comparable, but both show a network that has grown several times over since 2023.

Not every charger in an Aldi car park belongs to Drax. At the new Aldi on the A46 at Market Rasen, Zest and the site developer Morbaine opened four 160 kW bays in January 2026, and Zapmap lists that site at 72p/kWh through the Zest app.

How much does Aldi charging cost per kWh?

Aldi charging costs 40p/kWh on a fast AC charger and 62p/kWh on a rapid DC charger. Those are the rates Drax published for Aldi in June 2026 and still the published rates when we checked on 10 November 2026. Under the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023, the total price must be shown in pence per kWh before you start, and it cannot rise once the session is running.

Charger at Aldi	Power	Price per kWh	Operator	Checked
Fast AC	up to 22 kW	40p	Drax	10 November 2026
Rapid DC	up to 160 kW	62p	Drax	10 November 2026
Ultra-rapid, Market Rasen	160 kW	72p	Zest	Zapmap, 6 November 2026
Home, standard variable tariff	home wallbox	26.32p	Ofgem price cap	1 October to 31 December 2026

The home figure is Ofgem’s cap for Direct Debit customers this quarter, which carries no VAT on electricity from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027. It is there as a yardstick: a rapid charge at Aldi costs well over twice the capped home rate. Our guide to the cost of charging an EV at home sets out the cheaper overnight EV tariffs as well.

What does a 10 to 80% charge at Aldi cost?

A 10 to 80% rapid charge at Aldi costs between about £19 and £36 for three popular cars, depending on battery size. We take 70% of each car’s usable battery, multiply it by the price per kWh and ignore charging losses; the method is on our methodology page.

Car	Usable battery	Energy for 10 to 80%	Aldi rapid (62p)	Aldi fast (40p)	Home cap (26.32p)
BYD Dolphin Active	44.9 kWh	31.43 kWh	£19.49	£12.57	£8.27
Geely EX5 SE	60.2 kWh	42.14 kWh	£26.13	£16.86	£11.09
BYD Seal Design RWD	82.5 kWh	57.75 kWh	£35.81	£23.10	£15.20

For a supermarket stop, what an hour adds matters more than a full 10 to 80% charge, and on a fast charger that depends on the car. A 22 kW post only runs at the speed the car’s onboard charger accepts. The Dolphin takes 7 kW on AC, so an hour adds about 7 kWh: £2.80 at 40p/kWh and about 33 miles at its WLTP efficiency of 4.7 miles per kWh. The EX5 and Seal both accept 11 kW, so an hour adds about 11 kWh for £4.40, worth about 49 miles in the EX5 and 47 miles in the Seal. Cold weather and motorway speeds return fewer miles than those WLTP-based figures.

How do you pay at an Aldi charger?

You pay by contactless or through an app; there is no Aldi membership or loyalty link. Drax’s help pages list three routes:

• Contactless. Tap a bank card or phone on the terminal. The newly installed chargers take contactless, and the 2023 regulations require it on new chargers of 8 kW and above and on rapid chargers. The rate is shown on the screen, and receipts are at evreceipt.mydrax.com, usually within 24 hours.
• Charge Assist app. Scan the QR code under the socket, then pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Visa or Mastercard. The app shows nearby Drax chargers with live availability and keeps your receipts.
• Roaming. Third-party apps and cards such as Octopus Electroverse work on Drax chargers. Drax warns that roaming providers can add a premium or offer a discount, so the rate in the roaming app is the one you pay.

Drax’s apps place a temporary hold of about £20 when the session starts to check the funds are there. You are charged only for the energy used, and the hold drops off within 10 working days, often much sooner. Our explainer on contactless EV charging covers how card-on-the-charger payment works across other networks.

Is there an Aldi charging subscription, and does it pay?

There is no subscription, so there is no break-even mileage to work out. Drax’s announcement states the chargers can be used without one, and every driver pays the same 40p or 62p per kWh whether they charge once a year or every week. That keeps things simple for occasional users, but a frequent user has no way to bring the rate down at Aldi, which is worth weighing against rapid networks such as Shell Recharge that publish their own pricing schemes.

Where are the Aldi charging stations?

Drax runs chargers at more than 250 Aldi stores. Zapmap’s June 2025 count put Aldi’s charging at 19% of its stores, so most Aldi branches had none at that point. The newest installations include Diss in Norfolk, Eastbourne, Durham and Yate near Bristol, and Aldi plans chargers at about 20 new stores a year.

Every newly built store gets the same layout: two AC fast chargers with four bays at up to 22 kW, and up to two DC rapid chargers with four bays at up to 160 kW. The Charge Assist app and Zapmap show which Aldi stores have chargers, which speeds they offer and whether a bay is free.

How Aldi compares with other supermarkets, using Zapmap’s June 2025 figures:

Supermarket	Charge points (June 2025)	Locations
Tesco	1,409	633
Aldi	592	not published
Lidl	411	349
Sainsbury’s	over 375	105

Morrisons had the highest share of stores with charging, 332 of 497, but Aldi and Lidl had overtaken it on charge point numbers. Across the whole country Zapmap counted 98,899 public charging devices at 48,815 locations at the end of October 2026, so supermarkets are a useful top-up rather than the backbone of UK public charging.

Are Aldi chargers reliable, and are there idle fees?

Drax publishes no idle or overstay fee for Aldi chargers, and the legal reliability rules apply to its rapid units. The 2023 regulations require every network of rapid chargers (50 kW and above) to be working 99% of the time on average across each calendar year, and every operator to run a free helpline open 24 hours a day, with the number shown on or near the charger.

For a fault, call Drax rather than the store. Its contactless charging helpline is 0800 368 9558, Charge Assist support is 0345 646 1630, and for error 304 Drax’s help page says to check the cable is plugged in fully at both the charger and the car.

How do you use an Aldi charger, step by step?

1. Find a free bay in the Charge Assist app or on Zapmap, and park in the marked EV space.
2. Read the price per kWh on the charger screen or in the app before you start.
3. Plug in firmly at both ends until you hear a click.
4. Tap your card or phone on the terminal, or scan the QR code with Charge Assist.
5. Shop. The app shows the session’s progress if you started it there.
6. Stop the charge from the car, the app or by presenting the same card again. Do not pull the cable out.
7. Collect the receipt from the app or from evreceipt.mydrax.com.

Is Aldi a good place to charge?

Aldi suits drivers who want to add 30 to 50 miles while they shop, at 40p/kWh with no membership and, on the newer contactless chargers, no app sign-up. It does not suit someone who relies on public charging for most of their miles: 62p/kWh rapid charging costs more than twice the capped home rate, and only about a fifth of Aldi stores had chargers at Zapmap’s June 2025 supermarket count. If you can charge at home, Aldi is a convenient top-up; if you cannot, compare it with dedicated rapid networks such as InstaVolt before you plan a weekly routine around it. For home charger choice and installation, Best Chargers covers the options.