ubitricity charging station guide: lamppost charging prices, how to pay and where the chargers are

A ubitricity charging station is a slow charge point built into a street lamppost or bollard, run by Shell’s subsidiary ubitricity and now branded Shell Recharge On-street. Since 1 October 2026 it costs 45p per kWh overnight, 56p in the day and 67p from 4pm to 8pm, and you pay by card or app with your own Type 2 cable.

What is ubitricity lamppost charging, and who runs it?

ubitricity is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell that turns existing street furniture, mostly lampposts, into charge points for drivers who cannot charge on a driveway. Its chargers now carry the Shell Recharge On-street name, and Zapmap lists the network under that name and calls it the UK’s largest charge point network.

The network is built for long stays rather than quick top-ups. ubitricity says the power output at its UK points is usually 5 kW, so it suits a car left at the kerb overnight. A smaller number of 7 to 22 kW points also sit on the network, and those carry different rules on idle fees and Smart Charging.

ubitricity grew again in February 2026, when it took over FM Conway’s SureCharge network of more than 2,400 London lamppost points, each charging at 4.8 kW. Its press release put the combined network at more than 14,000 points across 30 local authorities.

How much does a ubitricity charging station cost per kWh?

ubitricity’s pay-as-you-go price depends on the time of day: 45p per kWh from midnight to 7am, 56p from 7am to 4pm and from 8pm to midnight, and 67p from 4pm to 8pm. These prices started on 1 October 2026 in 28 local authorities, and on 19 October 2026 in Westminster and in Richmond and Wandsworth. We checked them on ubitricity’s price page on 10 November 2026.

Way to pay or charger type	Hours	Price per kWh (10 November 2026)
Pay as you go, off-peak	Midnight to 7am	45p
Pay as you go, standard	7am to 4pm and 8pm to midnight	56p
Pay as you go, peak	4pm to 8pm	67p
Points without Smart Charging	Any time	54p
Shell app	Any time	From 38p
Connection or subscription fee		None

Prices are not identical everywhere. ubitricity names Richmond and Wandsworth, and Greenwich and Tower Hamlets, as boroughs with more than one tariff, and Waltham Forest’s council page lists its peak band as running from 4pm to 10pm. The price shown on the pay-as-you-go page or in your app before you start is the one you pay. Parking charges are separate: Waltham Forest notes that lamp column points have no dedicated EV bays, so local parking controls still apply.

What does a 10 to 80% charge cost on a ubitricity lamppost?

A 10 to 80% charge costs from £9.45 in a BYD Dolphin Surf to £35.08 in a BYD Atto 3, depending on the car and the hour. We multiplied 70% of each car’s usable battery by ubitricity’s three time-of-day prices, and divided by 5 kW for the time, ignoring charging losses (how we work out costs).

Car	Usable battery	Energy for 10 to 80%	Time at 5 kW	Off-peak (45p)	Standard (56p)	Peak (67p)	Pence per mile, off-peak
BYD Dolphin Surf Active	30 kWh	21.0 kWh	4.2 hours	£9.45	£11.76	£14.07	9.9p
BYD Dolphin Active	44.9 kWh	31.4 kWh	6.3 hours	£14.14	£17.60	£21.06	9.6p
BYD Atto 3 EVO Design RWD	74.8 kWh	52.4 kWh	10.5 hours	£23.56	£29.32	£35.08	10.7p

Pence per mile uses each car’s WLTP range: 137 miles for the Dolphin Surf, 211 for the Dolphin and 316 for the Atto 3. The Dolphin Surf and Atto 3 can take 11 kW on AC, but the lamppost sets the pace at about 5 kW, so a bigger onboard charger does not shorten the session.

A worked overnight example

Most people plug in on the way home rather than at midnight, so the bill straddles two bands. Take the Atto 3, plugged in at 8pm at 10%. The first four hours, to midnight, deliver 20 kWh at the 56p standard price: £11.20. The remaining 32.4 kWh arrives after midnight at 45p, costing £14.56 and finishing at about 6:30am, before the 7am switch back to standard. The total is £25.76, against £29.32 if the whole charge had been billed at the standard price.

If you plug in before 4pm, Smart Charging, which ubitricity offers at more than 11,000 points, charges until 4pm, pauses through the peak and resumes at 8pm. Our guide to smart charging and your bills explains the same idea at home.

How do you pay at a ubitricity charger?

You can pay with a bank card, Apple Pay or Google Pay through the QR code on the lamppost, with no account, membership or RFID card needed. Scanning the code opens ubitricity’s pay-as-you-go web page, where you accept the tariff and authorise payment before the charge starts.

There are two other routes. The Shell app handles payment inside the app and quotes prices from 38p per kWh; ubitricity says Shell app and pay-as-you-go prices differ and that Shell is working to close the gap. ubitricity’s FAQ also lets you start a session through an e-mobility provider’s RFID card or app, with the cost shown in that provider’s app. If you already carry a roaming card, our guide to how the Octopus Electroverse card and app work covers that model; confirm that your app lists Shell Recharge On-street before you rely on it.

Whichever route you choose, your bank holds £40 when the session starts. ubitricity says that covers an average session for a 50 to 75 kWh battery. The hold is released after the session, but your bank may take 3 to 15 working days to do it, or 3 to 9 working days if no energy flowed. If the funds are not there, the session does not start and nothing is taken.

Is there a ubitricity subscription, and does it pay?

ubitricity itself has no subscription or connection fee; it dropped its connection fee on 8 April 2024. The only subscription that touches the network is Shell’s Recharge subscription, which costs £9.99 a month and takes 30% off standard Shell app prices on up to 1,000 kWh a month. ubitricity’s price page says it gives 30% off across the whole Shell Recharge network.

The subscription pays for itself once you would spend more than £33.30 a month at undiscounted Shell app prices, because 30% of £33.30 is £9.99. How many miles that is depends on the app price you see. The table converts it using the Shell app’s starting price of 38p and ubitricity’s three pay-as-you-go prices as stand-ins for the app price, and the BYD Dolphin’s WLTP efficiency of 4.7 miles per kWh.

If the undiscounted app price is	Break-even energy a month	Break-even miles a month, BYD Dolphin
38p per kWh	88 kWh	412 miles
45p per kWh	74 kWh	348 miles
56p per kWh	59 kWh	279 miles
67p per kWh	50 kWh	234 miles

If you charge mainly on lampposts and drive more than about 410 miles a month, the subscription is worth trying; under about 230 miles a month, it is not. Our full guide to Shell Recharge prices and the subscription covers the forecourt and destination sites where the same discount applies.

Where are ubitricity charging stations?

Zapmap counted 14,484 Shell Recharge On-street chargers at 14,364 locations at the end of October 2026. With 126,140 public chargers in the UK at the same date, that is about one in nine of every public charger in the country, and Zapmap names it the network with the most chargers.

The network is concentrated in London. Of the 30 local authorities on ubitricity’s October 2026 price list, most are London boroughs, among them Camden, Croydon, Ealing, Islington, Lewisham, Newham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Westminster, and Richmond and Wandsworth. Waltham Forest alone lists 1,010 residential lamp column points.

Outside London the list includes Birmingham, Liverpool, Oxford, Middlesbrough, North Lincolnshire, West Berkshire, West Suffolk, and Windsor and Maidenhead. To find a free point near you, ubitricity points drivers to the Shell app, the Shell Recharge web map, or Zapmap filtered to Shell Recharge ubitricity.

If your street has no ubitricity post, another on-street operator may cover it; our guide to char.gy on-street charging explains how that network works and what it costs.

Are there idle fees, and what if a charger is faulty?

Idle fees apply only at ubitricity’s 7 to 22 kW points: 5p a minute after a one-hour grace period once charging finishes, and only between 8am and 8pm. They apply when you pay through the pay-as-you-go page or at the charge point. The standard lamppost points carry no idle fee, which suits leaving the car overnight.

Smart Charging is not available at the 7 to 22 kW points, so they bill at whichever band you charge in. If a lamppost’s light is off or a session fails, ubitricity’s support line is 0800 024 6279, open 24 hours a day, or email support@ubitricity.co.uk.

One safety point matters on any QR code charger. ubitricity says it will never stick a second, smaller square QR code over an existing sticker, and it advises rubbing the code to check for an overlay and checking the web address after scanning. Our guide to fake QR codes on EV chargers explains how the scam works.

How do you use a ubitricity lamppost charger, step by step?

You need a Type 2 cable in the boot and a phone or a card; no account is required.

1. Find a point in the Shell app or on Zapmap, and park legally next to it; local parking rules still apply.
2. Set the car to charge immediately rather than on a timer.
3. Plug your Type 2 cable into the car and the lamppost socket. You no longer need ubitricity’s own SmartCable.
4. Scan the QR code on the plate above the socket, or start from the Shell app or your e-mobility app.
5. Accept the tariff and authorise payment by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. If you choose Smart Charging, the cable locks in place until the charge ends.
6. Keep the cable tucked close to the car so it does not cross the walkway.

If the car will not start charging, ubitricity’s troubleshooting steps are to unplug the cable from the charge point, scan the QR code, then reconnect.

Who is ubitricity lamppost charging for?

ubitricity suits drivers in flats and terraced streets who park at the kerb overnight and can leave the car plugged in for 4 to 10.5 hours. Charged after midnight at 45p, a BYD Dolphin costs about 9.6p a mile, and a small-battery car such as the Dolphin Surf goes from 10 to 80% in one night.

It suits drivers who need a quick top-up less well: at about 5 kW, an hour adds roughly 5 kWh. If you can install a wallbox, compare what it costs to charge an EV at home first, and see Best Chargers for home charger options. For drivers without a driveway, a lamppost charge after midnight is the lowest pay-as-you-go price ubitricity offers on its standard tariff.