How To How to Use The Charge Scheme at GRIDSERVE Chargers: 2026 Guide
Source: GRIDSERVE pressroom
GRIDSERVE has become one of the defining names in UK public charging.
GRIDSERVE operates two distinct products that together form the backbone of its UK network. Its Electric Forecourts are purpose-built, high-powered charging destinations with amenities designed for the time it takes to charge - making it feel like an experience rather than inconvenient.
It’s Electric Highway is the rapid charging network that runs alongside the UK's motorway network, and has done more than most to address the infrastructure gap that once made long-distance EV travel genuinely stressful.
For drivers who still carry residual range anxiety about motorway journeys, GRIDSERVE's charge point density across the major UK routes is one of the more persuasive answers the infrastructure has to offer. The hardware is there, and it's reliable.
But paying for it is a different matter.
Pull up to a GRIDSERVE hub without the right setup, and you're looking at pay-as-you-go pricing via a contactless bank card - convenient enough in the moment, but funded entirely from your post-tax, take-home pay. If you're driving an EV through salary sacrifice, that's a missed opportunity on every single charge. You've already made the financially intelligent choice on the car. The question is whether you're doing the same thing for the fuel.
The Charge Scheme changes that equation at GRIDSERVE. Your RFID card authenticates the session, your charging cost flows directly through payroll, and the salary sacrifice saving (between 20% and 50%, depending on your tax bracket) applies automatically. Tap, charge, drive. The admin takes care of itself.
This guide covers everything you need to know: what GRIDSERVE's network offers, how to use your Charge Scheme card at an Electric Forecourt or Electric Highway hub, what the financial saving looks like in practice, and why HR teams find the automated billing model significantly preferable to expense claims!
gRIDSERVE and The Charge Scheme: A Match Made for the Motorway
GRIDSERVE built its reputation on doing public charging properly.
Where earlier rapid charging infrastructure was often characterised by unreliable units, limited power output, and minimal facilities, GRIDSERVE took a different approach: high-power chargers in purpose-designed locations, maintained to a consistently high standard, with the kind of amenities (cafés, toilets, covered bays) that make a 20–30 minute rapid charge feel like a planned stop rather than an inconvenience.
The technical headline is the charging speed. GRIDSERVE's latest Electric Forecourt and Electric Highway installations support charging rates up to 350kW - fast enough to add over 100 miles of range in well under 15 minutes on compatible vehicles. Even if your car's onboard charger can't accept the full 350kW, GRIDSERVE's infrastructure means you're always getting the fastest charge your vehicle can take. There's no bottleneck on the network's side.
Among UK motorway chargers, GRIDSERVE's Electric Highway stands out for its charge point density. You can expect multiple high-power bays at each location rather than the isolated single-unit installations that still characterise parts of the older network.
Image source: GRIDSERVE Pressroom
The Electric Highway covers approximately 85% of the UK's motorway network, with rapid and ultra-rapid charging available at major services on routes including the M1, M4, M6, and M25. The Electric Forecourts (the larger, flagship locations) add a higher-density charging experience at key strategic points, including sites near major urban centres.
For salary sacrifice EV drivers looking for the best card for public EV charging, The Charge Scheme integrates directly with GRIDSERVE's network. When you tap your RFID card at a GRIDSERVE charger, the session authenticates against your salary sacrifice account. No GRIDSERVE account required. No separate payment method. No contactless bank card transaction pulling from your post-tax income. The session is logged, costed, and processed through payroll… automatically!
For salary sacrifice EV drivers who regularly use the motorway network, this combination removes the two most common friction points at GRIDSERVE: the payment process and the post-tax cost.
Key Takeaways
GRIDSERVE's network offers up to 350kW charging at major motorway services
Electric Forecourts provide high-density, amenity-rich rapid charging destinations
The Charge Scheme RFID card authenticates GRIDSERVE sessions without a separate account
Payroll integration removes post-tax payment and replaces it with gross salary deduction
Step-by-Step: How to Start a GRIDSERVE Session with Your Charge Card
Knowing how to pay for GRIDSERVE charging is straightforward once you have The Charge Scheme set up - and the process is identical whether you're at an Electric Forecourt or an Electric Highway hub. There's no special setup required and no GRIDSERVE-specific steps to learn.
Before You Arrive
Open The Charge Scheme electric car charging app to check live availability at your intended GRIDSERVE location. The app shows real-time charger status across 76,000+ compatible charge points, including GRIDSERVE's Electric Highway hubs and Electric Forecourts. If a bay is occupied, you'll know before you pull in.
Step 1: Pull In and Plug In
Park in an available bay and connect the tethered cable to your vehicle's charging port. GRIDSERVE's rapid and ultra-rapid chargers are all tethered (meaning the cable is fixed to the unit), so there's no need to retrieve your own from the boot. The connector will be CCS for most modern EVs; check your vehicle's charging port if you're unsure.
Step 2: Tap Your Charge Scheme Card
Hold your Charge Scheme RFID card against the reader on the charger unit.
Authentication takes a moment. The screen will confirm your session has started. That's it. You don't need to open an app, enter a PIN, or create a GRIDSERVE account. The card handles the session; The Charge Scheme handles the billing!
Step 3: Charge
Your session is now active. Charging at GRIDSERVE's ultra-rapid speeds begins almost immediately. Monitor progress via The Charge Scheme app on your smartphone - it shows live kWh delivered, estimated completion time, and session cost as it accumulates.
Most drivers target 80%, which is where fast-charging speeds begin to taper naturally, and battery health is best protected.
Step 4: End the Session and Drive
When you're ready, stop the session via the app or the charger's stop button, unplug the cable, and you're on your way. Your session cost is logged against your account and processed through payroll at the end of the month, deducted from your gross salary before tax is applied.
No receipt to save, and no expense claim to submit.
Key Takeaways
Check live GRIDSERVE bay availability in The Charge Scheme app before arriving
GRIDSERVE rapid chargers are tethered - no cable needed from your vehicle
Tap your RFID card to authenticate; no GRIDSERVE account or app required
Session cost processes automatically through payroll at the end of the month
The Financial Advantage: Motorway Charging Without the Motorway Premium
Rapid charging on the motorway has always carried a premium. That's partly infrastructure cost, partly convenience pricing, and partly the VAT disparity. Public charging is currently taxed at 20% VAT (as of March 2026, this is being disputed), compared to 5% for home charging, which adds approximately 9.5p per kWh to every rapid charge session before you've even considered the base rate.
For drivers asking how to find the cheapest way to use GRIDSERVE chargers, the answer isn't hunting for off-peak windows or discount codes. It's salary sacrifice. Without a salary sacrifice arrangement, a driver paying pay-as-you-go at a GRIDSERVE hub is absorbing the full cost of motorway charging UK rates from post-tax income. For a higher-rate taxpayer, every pound they spend at a rapid charger has already had 40% income tax and National Insurance taken from it. The effective cost is substantially higher than the price on the charger screen suggests.
The Charge Scheme changes this.
Because your charging cost is deducted from your gross salary (before income tax and National Insurance are calculated), every kWh you charge at GRIDSERVE costs you significantly less than the displayed rate. Here's what that looks like in practice:
Basic rate taxpayer (20% income tax + 8% NI): saves approximately 32% on every charge
Higher rate taxpayer (40% income tax + 2% NI): saves approximately 42% on every charge
Additional rate taxpayer: saves up to 50% on every charge
To put that in concrete terms: if a GRIDSERVE ultra-rapid session costs 85p/kWh, a higher-rate taxpayer using The Charge Scheme is effectively paying closer to 49p/kWh. That's a meaningful difference over the course of a year, particularly for drivers who rely on the motorway network regularly.
For a higher-rate taxpayer covering 10,000 motorway miles annually (roughly the mileage of a regular long-distance commuter or frequent business traveller), the salary sacrifice saving on public charging alone could amount to several hundred pounds per year, on top of the savings already made through salary sacrifice on the vehicle itself.
No Benefit-in-Kind tax currently applies to employer-provided charging when structured correctly, which means the full saving is yours to keep.
Key Takeaways
Public charging carries 20% VAT versus 5% for home charging - a structural premium
Basic rate taxpayers save ~32%; higher rate taxpayers save ~42% per charge
No Benefit-in-Kind tax applies to employer-provided charging when structured correctly
Salary sacrifice makes motorway rapid charging materially more affordable than pay-as-you-go
No More Manual Expense Claims: Why HR Teams and Employees Prefer Automated Billing
For any employee who has tried to reclaim public charging costs through a workplace expenses process, the friction is familiar.
Save the receipt. Log the transaction. Submit the claim. Wait for reimbursement. Repeat, every month, for every charge point visit.
This process does work, of course, but it creates unnecessary admin for the employee and a corresponding workload for whoever processes expense claims on the HR or finance side. For regular public charging users - particularly those without a home charger who rely on the public network as their primary fuelling method - it compounds quickly.
The Charge Scheme removes the process entirely.
When an employee uses their Charge Scheme card at a GRIDSERVE charger, the session is logged automatically against their account. At the end of the month, the employee submits a single mileage reading (a 10-second task), and the system calculates total charging costs across home, workplace, and public sessions. That figure is then deducted from gross salary through the employer's payroll. No receipts. No claim forms. No reimbursement cycle.
For HR teams managing GRIDSERVE charging for company cars within a salary sacrifice scheme, the benefits are straightforward:
Centralised Reporting
Every employee's charging activity (including GRIDSERVE sessions) is visible through a single reporting dashboard. No need to reconcile individual expense claims or track down missing receipts.
Payroll integration
The Charge Scheme operates through your existing payroll process. Charging costs are deducted as part of the normal monthly salary run - no separate billing, no additional payment infrastructure required.
Employer NIC savings
Because salary sacrifice reduces employees' gross pay, employer National Insurance contributions fall as a direct result. The Charge Scheme creates a financial benefit for both sides of the payslip.
Bolt-on Compatibility
The scheme works alongside any existing EV salary sacrifice arrangement, and does not require employees to change their current car setup. HR teams can add The Charge Scheme to their benefits offering without disrupting anything already in place.
For organisations with a growing proportion of EV drivers in the workforce - and a corresponding volume of charging-related expense claims coming through - the move to automated billing through The Charge Scheme resolves both the employee friction and the administrative overhead in one step!
Key Takeaways
The Charge Scheme eliminates expense claims; sessions process automatically through payroll
HR teams access centralised reporting across all employees' GRIDSERVE and other charging sessions
Employer NIC savings apply because salary sacrifice reduces employees' gross pay
Bolt-on compatibility means no disruption to existing salary sacrifice arrangements
Start Saving On Every GRIDSERVE Charge
For employees: If you're already in a salary sacrifice scheme, adding The Charge Scheme takes minutes and starts saving you money from your first GRIDSERVE session. Your card arrives within 3–5 working days. From that point, every motorway charge is paid for in pre-tax pounds.
For HR managers: The Charge Scheme bolts directly onto your existing salary sacrifice arrangement with no disruption to current payroll processes. It removes expense claim admin, delivers centralised charging reports, and generates employer NIC savings as a direct result of the gross salary deduction.
Frequently Asked Questions About GRIDSERVE & Salary Sacrifice Charging
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The Charge Scheme is the UK's first salary sacrifice benefit dedicated entirely to EV charging, built by The Electric Car Scheme.
It allows employees to pay for home, workplace, and public EV charging from their gross salary (before income tax and National Insurance are applied) saving between 20% and 50% on every charge depending on their tax bracket.
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Yes. The Charge Scheme RFID card is compatible with GRIDSERVE chargers across the Electric Highway network and Electric Forecourt locations.
You don't need a separate GRIDSERVE account or app - tap your Charge Scheme card to authenticate, and your session costs process automatically through your salary sacrifice arrangement.
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Yes. The Charge Scheme covers public charging regardless of whether you have a home charger.
For drivers who live in flats or properties without a dedicated charging point, the public network (including GRIDSERVE) becomes the primary fuelling method.
The salary sacrifice saving applies to every public session, making GRIDSERVE's rapid network materially more affordable than pay-as-you-go pricing.
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GRIDSERVE's latest Electric Highway and Electric Forecourt installations support charging rates up to 350kW.
In practice, the speed your vehicle charges at depends on its own onboard charger capability - but GRIDSERVE's infrastructure ensures there's no bottleneck on the network's side.
Most modern EVs will charge at their maximum supported rate at a GRIDSERVE ultra-rapid hub.
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Yes. Every GRIDSERVE session paid for through The Charge Scheme is processed as a salary sacrifice deduction from your gross salary, before tax and National Insurance are calculated.
Basic rate taxpayers save approximately 32% per charge; higher rate taxpayers save approximately 42%; additional rate taxpayers save up to 50%. The savings apply regardless of which charger or network you use.
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GRIDSERVE has committed to supplying its Electric Forecourts and Electric Highway network with renewable electricity.
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HR teams add The Charge Scheme as a bolt-on benefit to their existing EV salary sacrifice arrangement. Employees' charging costs (including GRIDSERVE sessions) are calculated automatically from their monthly mileage submission and deducted via the normal payroll run.
HR teams benefit from centralised reporting across all employees' charging activity, employer NIC savings on salary sacrifice deductions, and no additional expense claims or reimbursement process to manage. Setup is straightforward and requires no overhaul of existing car benefit arrangements.
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Typically, 3–5 working days after you complete your sign-up through The Charge Scheme.
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Yes - and it is worth using! While the card handles your charging sessions, the app provides full visibility of your charging history, costs, and savings, giving you complete oversight of your usage.
Last updated: 18/03/2026
Our pricing: is based on data collected from The Charge Scheme Calculator. All final pricing is inclusive of VAT. All deals are subject to credit approval and availability. All deals are subject to excess mileage and damage charges. Prices are calculated based on the following tax saving assumptions; England & Wales, 40% tax rate. The Charge Scheme is a product of The Electric Car Scheme™ – a trusted, trademarked brand dedicated to making electric driving more affordable. All rights reserved. The Electric Car Scheme is the trading style of The Electric Car Scheme Limited (company number 12646157, ICO number ZB030706, VAT number 439430195) and The Electric Car Scheme Holdings Limited (company number 13295877, ICO number ZB252629). Head office & registered address: The Shipping Building, 254 Blyth Road, Hayes, UB3 1HA. The Electric Car Scheme Limited provides services for the administration of salary sacrifice employee benefits. The Electric Car Scheme Holdings Limited is a member of the BVRLA (10608) is authorised and regulated by the FCA under FRN 968270, is an Appointed Representative of Marshall Management Services Ltd under FRN 667174, and is a credit broker and not a lender.
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