You can soon earn Avios on fuel with BPme Rewards – how will it work?

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• Dave1985 says:

  2 Aug2 August 08:17

  I live very close to a BP and have been working close to one since January. I’m on a 2% return so far. Not that exciting but I’d be using BP regardless due to convenience.

• Andrew says:

  2 Aug2 August 08:33

  I’m not loyal with fuel, I’m not even that bothered about price within reason. Half the time the Clubcard or Nectar card won’t even read at the Pay at Pump machines.

  It’s just whichever is more convenient to get in and out of when I’ve got less than 100 miles left in my tank. I’ve stopped using a BP that I used to use, simply because it’s hard to turn right in peak traffic, and I can no longer do a left, left, left and reach the same place as a consequence of a new traffic bollard.

• Thomas says:

  2 Aug2 August 08:34

  Hold on people still buy petrol? In 2021? When a renewable energy source is already cabled into everyone’s home to power their cars? Madness.

  • Dave1985 says:

    2 Aug2 August 08:39

    Wait. So you thought that everyone was using electric cars?

  • AJA says:

    2 Aug2 August 08:40

    Only if you’re one of the advance pioneers to have an EV. My next car will be an EV, I’d be stupid not to buy one but my current (pun intended) car is still relatively new and until I’m ready to do so I will still need a petrol station.

  • Brian says:

    2 Aug2 August 08:46

    Yup.
    Absolutely no electricity in the UK is generated using fossil fuels.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      2 Aug2 August 09:30

      Even if they are generating electricity in huge qty is more Efficient than via an engine in a fuel powered car.

      Anyway it’s not just about fossil fuels but rather than poor inner city air quality. But I’d blame years of focusing on CO2 (diesel) rather than air quality for that (petrol/hybrid)

  • Dave1985 says:

    2 Aug2 August 08:50

    You do realise that electric cars are more expensive than used petrol cars (therefore not everyone can afford one)? Also, not everyone has a driveway

    • Rui N. says:

      2 Aug2 August 09:48

      And if bought new, they are also cheaper in the long run – thisismoney had an article about this recently.

    • Dave1985 says:

      2 Aug2 August 09:50

      Not sure how “cheaper to run” helps you if your budget is eg £10k and you can’t afford a new £20k/30k car.

      (Im in favour of electric cars but it’ll take time)

      • Rui N. says:

        2 Aug2 August 09:53

        Why would you need to buy new?!
        The article Rob posted is even about buying used. Both options under £10k.

      • Dave1985 says:

        2 Aug2 August 09:56

        Even if you can get one for less than £10k (there clearly won’t be as many available) how am I going to use the electricity in my house if I don’t have a driveway?

        Use a 30 foot cable?

      • Rich says:

        2 Aug2 August 09:59

        A lot of people, even when buying used, buy on finance.

        At that point, it doesn’t really matter if you pay £150/ month on the car + £150 on petrol, or £280 on the car + £20 on charging.

        It’s still not reached the ‘£500 banger’ market, but there will be a huge explosion in second hand market over the next few years.

      • Char Char says:

        2 Aug2 August 11:58

        There are used options for that budget.

    • the_real_a says:

      2 Aug2 August 13:40

      Of course transition will happen eventually – EV are better in many ways, however it will be significantly longer than many anticipate. People are running cars significantly longer than previous generations as they dont rust, or fail like they did. My 15 year old diesel is still running well, costs me on average £300 a year in Tax, insurance and MOT. It will be very easy to get to 50% of the market with the woke, and those on lease agreements – but its will be very hard and expensive to force the remaining 50% of the population (plus politically impossible) to ditch their older vehicles before they naturally reach scrap condition.

  • Sandra says:

    2 Aug2 August 09:35

    Paul is correct, with several more power stations closing in the near future & very little by way of replacement opening/lack of technology to store wind power etc until needed, the UK is getting very near to blackouts – one bad winter & nuclear may well become a lot more attractive to consumers!

    • Rui N. says:

      2 Aug2 August 09:52

      @Sandra? What do you mean no replacement? We are building 2 new nuclear reactors. Floating wind mills will start to be installed in quantity shortly (2023 or maybe even 2022) as well – just of those we should be able to install as much capacity as we can possibly need, the limiting factor will be the economics. In terms of lack of technology to store wind power, you might have heard of something called “EVs”…

      • Andrew says:

        2 Aug2 August 09:59

        I’ve heard it said that EVs will be used collectively as a massive battery to store surplus renewable energy but it’s not going to happen. Batteries are limited in how many cycles (charging and discharging) they can go through. Why would anyone knowingly wear out their car battery for very little personal benefit?

      • Rich says:

        2 Aug2 August 10:06

        It would be a relatively small amount of electricity coming and going, at a relatively slow charge/ discharge rate. The impact on your battery would be small, and certainly many people would happily opt-in – not for no benefit, but for a cheaper tariff. (You’re effectively ‘buying low and selling high’)

        It may even be that it’s not ‘your’ battery, if you’re renting/ leasing the car + charging service together. So not your problem.

      • Sandra says:

        2 Aug2 August 10:12

        Yes but not enough & unlikely to replace what’s going quickly enough, so there will be gaps particularly when there is a sudden peak in demand & maybe a breakdown/shutdown for maintenance at the same time. Whilst I would not wish for a winter like 2010 it might be what’s needed to make some people realise that more resources are needed, especially if mainland Europe decide they need to keep the power they send here for themselves.

      • Paul Pogba says:

        2 Aug2 August 10:17

        Hinkley Point C will provide 3.2GW of energy (if it ever works), renewables (ex hydro) are highly volatile and subject to dunkelflaute.

        The next problem if we had the generation (or import capacity) would be distribution, our energy distribution network was for the most part laid out and built immediately after the war. We’ve been able to milk it as efficiency gains in lighting have offset additional demand from gadgets and televisions. If you take all our gas and liquid fuel demand and try and distribute it as electricity you’d need huge investment in primary and secondary transformers, and have to dig up every street to lay new cabling.

        We have no idea how we’re going to recycle the batteries and I’ve not seen any discussion on how we’ll pay for the additional road maintenance required if we all go EV – electric vehicles weigh around double ICE cars so will increase wear on our already decrepit roads.

        It’s so hairbrained I’m exasperated people believe it will work.

      • Bagoly says:

        2 Aug2 August 11:38

        @Andrew
        I understood “EVs will act as batteries” not as meaning that they would cycle charge and discharge for the benefit of the grid, but that in use they will act as storage. E.g. those plugged in overnight, when there is little other demand, will soak up all the windpower.
        To minimise the digging up the streets that someone mentioned, make the grid smart by adapting power level to current and forecast weather during the night.
        Non trivial, but doable.

  • ken says:

    2 Aug2 August 09:36

    Why on earth would 20% be plugged in (and charging) at any time ?
    The majority of cars would need charging for 6 – 10 hours a week

    Demand is 20GW at night (11pm to 5am), so huge scope to ramp up electric cars as it is.

    Electricity aggregate demand has fallen by more than 20% in the UK in the last 20 years.

    It’s not an insurmountable problem over the next 20 years.

  • Rhys says:

    2 Aug2 August 09:37

    Everyone seems very concerned about this but the National Grid keep saying they are ready for it!

    • Rich says:

      2 Aug2 August 10:16

      They are indeed very chilled about it all.

      As a nation we’ve reduced demand by 16% over the last 20 years (through increased efficiency, and offshoring). We could pretty much switch to 50% EV’s today and the grid wouldn’t blink, as long as we charge overnight.

      The other 50%, well, the grid evolves. Relatively minor upgrades needed.

  • James says:

    2 Aug2 August 09:39

    Where I live we dont all have driveways and park in the streets. I can send my wife to look after the cable overnight but who is going to cook my breakfast in the morning?? I am not sure my neighbours are happy about my cable running over their front gardens but breakfast is more important.

    • Rich says:

      2 Aug2 August 09:55

      Some councils are putting in kerbside chargers, even converting lampposts. A combination of that, workplace charging, once-a-week rapid charging while you’re at the supermarket or some such place.

      But yes, those without driveways are likely to find it the most difficult. Luckily, most households do have off-street parking.

      • Dave1985 says:

        2 Aug2 August 10:03

        “ over the next few years”

        That’s the key part of your post.

        It’s not practical yet for many people.

        • Dave1985 says:

          2 Aug2 August 10:04

          Also, I’ve got a petrol car that’s in reasonably good condition so why I would spend money on a new car? When I get my next one I’d consider electric if it’s actually practical for me by then

        • Rhys says:

          2 Aug2 August 10:08

          I don’t think anyone is saying that you need to sell your car immediately and replace it 🙂

          As with all new technology it follows Roger’s Bell Curve. We’re still very much in the early adopters phase, although things are going to change rapidly in the next 2-3 years as legacy carmakers start releasing new electric cars hard and fast.

          At some point it may even make financial sense to ditch your ICE car for an electric car earlier than you would otherwise.

        • Rich says:

          2 Aug2 August 10:10

          Yes, over the next few years. Nobody’s asking you to throw away your car today if you don’t want to.

          There will still be diesel and petrol cars sold in 2030, and they’ll be on the road for a good 10 or 20 years.

          But in the mean time, new and used EVs will get cheaper and cheaper.

        • Dave1985 says:

          2 Aug2 August 10:12

          “ I don’t think anyone is saying that you need to sell your car immediately and replace it ”

          Apart from the first post about electric cars, which said exactly (or pretty much) that 🙂

        • Mikeact says:

          2 Aug2 August 10:21

          And we definitely need a ” one plug fits all”. Not like VHS, Betamax or Philips in days gone by,

        • Doug M says:

          2 Aug2 August 10:35

          I rented a Tesla Model S couple of weeks back. Skeptic to fan instantly. Public charging is not straight forward. 4 days and I had 4 new apps on my phone. Tesco most straight forward, free, but do need app to confirm or charging stops after a few mins. Did 320 miles and spent £43 on leccy including the £10 sign-up.

        • Char Char says:

          2 Aug2 August 11:59

          If you charge at home then you can get 300 miles for less than £5 on a good tariff

        • Doug M says:

          2 Aug2 August 12:22

          That was Source London. It was a rental, not worth any effort for a few days. Main concern was the volume of different chargers, outputs and schemes, for something like a short term rental EV is a poor choice unless you already own an EV. The Model S was fabulous, but compared to just going to a petrol station the charging was anything but straight forward, and clearly not cheaper on an ad-hoc basis.

        • Rich says:

          2 Aug2 August 12:37

          Pricing is indeed all over the place. When people ask me ‘how much does it cost to fill’, I can see their eyes glaze over when I say it’s anything between ‘less than zero’ and ‘about the same per mile as typical family car’.

          Source London, in particular, has one of the most complicated pricing structures I’ve ever come across!

          I have a wallet full of cards and a phone full of apps, but it is getting better. I think it won’t be long before you can forget all that, and it just recognises your car and bills you. Some chargers already do this.

      • Rob says:

        2 Aug2 August 10:37

        Our lampposts are converted. I assumed it was more common. Bit of a no-brainer.

        • Rich says:

          2 Aug2 August 10:44

          Practicality largely depends on whether your council went for kerbside lampposts or property-side. Sadly all the ones round here are property-side.

          I’m just a little astonished that they can support 5kW. How over-engineered were they in the first place?!

        • Memesweeper says:

          2 Aug2 August 11:00

          Tesla Supercharger network is their USP, because the other networks provide a less good experience (honourable exception is podpoint) and the recharging requirements and locations are built into the satnav routing software. It’s a no-brainer experience even when on long, overseas road trips.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          2 Aug2 August 12:46

          3kw isn’t really useful for anyone in a hurry.

          I think all manufacturers are using Type 2 for their AC socket and CSS Combo for DC charging (I’m not aware of any car that doesn’t let you use a type 2 charger in your CSS socket for anyone that doesn’t know what they are)

          Only the early Japanese cars had Type 1 and now have CHaEMo.

          Another comment re providers there are far more providers of EV chargers than petrol forecourt brands ime. Just the ones I’ve used Gridserve (just took over Ecotricity), ChargePoint, Ionity, BP Pulse/chargemaster, Shell newmotion, Char.gy plus ones I haven’t like Ospray, EVBox, Alfa and many many more depending on which way the wind blows in the local council area.

          Luckily most take a standard contactless card.

      • jack charlton says:

        2 Aug2 August 12:10

        its one of the mixed up things about EV. Their ideal environment is were the journey make-up is scewed to short runs, which is mostly around town type stuff. But many living in that catchment area live in apartments or other places that are not good for at home charging. But will have good access to public chargers

        Rural or semi-urban need to drive further to get to their place of work, be more prone to range anxiety, but are more likely to be in a position to have an at home charger, and but less likely to have good access to public chargers.

        • Rhys says:

          2 Aug2 August 12:19

          How many people are commuting 100+ miles, though?

          Even the Nissan Leaf, which was shortrange when it was first introduced, now has pretty long legs.

        • Paul Pogba says:

          2 Aug2 August 16:32

          I drive 63miles each way from west Herts for work and its 345 miles from work back to Cornwall. There is no charger at work and I don’t have a fixed parking space anywhere, these were my personal reasons not to bother with EV, by time these are resolved by on-street charging I imagine the national problems with the grid will have entered the national consciousness.

  • Rui N. says:

    2 Aug2 August 10:12

    Dave, who said that you should replace a good working car with a new EV? Strawman much?
    As for not having a 30ft cable, do you have a petrol pump at home? How is being able to charge at many more places compared to pumping petrol (in a declining number of petrol stations, mind you) a bad thing?

    • Dave1985 says:

      2 Aug2 August 10:14

      It’s not a bad thing and I’ll get one at some point. However the first post about electric cars said “people still drive petrol cars in 2021?”

      Yes, there’s loads of good reasons people still buy petrol cars. Ask again in 5/10 years and there’ll be fewer good reasons to buy petrol

      • Rui N. says:

        2 Aug2 August 10:16

        Well, that first post was just silly. Besides Norway, in all other countries almost all cars sold are still ICEs.

  • Billy P says:

    2 Aug2 August 10:12

    “Renewable energy” 43% of the electricity used in your EV comes from fossil fuels, UK utility firms have plans to build up to 30,000MW of new gas capacity.

    95% of the spent toxic batteries going to landfill.

    • Rui N. says:

      2 Aug2 August 10:19

      No, they do not go to landfill. Don’t spread misinformation.
      Most EV batteries are reused in powerbanks. If not, they can be recycled.
      Also, if you are so worried about “toxic batteries” first perhaps you should be concerned with the 1 billion+ smartphones sold every year, plus all the tablets, laptops, smartwatches, childs’ toys, etc., which all of them have a lithium battery in them.

      • Dave1985 says:

        2 Aug2 August 10:24

        Some people will believe anything if it suits their “can’t say anything positive about anything that reduces pollution” identity.

      • Paul Pogba says:

        2 Aug2 August 10:55

        They’re being used in power banks as a stop gap but nobody has a long term solution, their capacity will continue to deteriorate until they’re not suitable for that.

        FCEV would be better if we could perfect hydrogen from biomass. Pistonless rotary engines are 30% more efficient than the common reciprocating piston type in current cars and could have contributed to an environmentally friendlier future. I’m not anti EV for the sake of it but we’re rushing towards a solution that has its own pitfalls and problems.

        • Rui N. says:

          2 Aug2 August 11:04

          No, they’re being used in powerbanks because it makes financial sense to do so. The long term solution is the same as for all the other lithium batteries we use. People talk about lithium batteries like they were invented for EVs and haven’t been used anywhere else.
          Would there be any forests left in the world if we replaced all fossil fuel used in ground transport with biomass?! Would there even be enough forests in the world to do so? And if you want to burn biomass what’s the point of transforming it into hydrogen? Just to reduce the overall efficiency of the process?
          There is a reason that only Mazda mass produced rotary engines…. it’s not because other car makers didn’t want to make money.

      • Billy P says:

        2 Aug2 August 15:29

        Blinkered EV owner that only looks at the clean side, the dirty side of production and end of life does not exist.

    • Rich says:

      2 Aug2 August 10:23

      Even where it does come from fossil fuels (mine doesn’t) it’s still far cleaner than petrol or diesel. And it gets cleaner and cleaner every year.

      Batteries live a long and happy life, and then a retirement as fixed storage, then they can be recycled. Not all have so far, which is poor.

      EV’s aren’t magic guilt-free chariots. They’re just a bit less bad than fossil fuel cars.

      • Rui N. says:

        2 Aug2 August 10:32

        @Rich. Exactly. EVs won’t solve all environmental problems and are still much worse for the environment than cycling or walking. But they are demonstrably better than a comparable ICE in almost every scenario you can throw at them.
        And since I know what the next argument against EVs will be: children mine cobalt not only for EVs but also for other uses. Including refining oil.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          2 Aug2 August 12:50

          I think it’s debatable what the overall environmental impact will be of moving to heavy EV but it’s undoubtedly better for inner city air quality.

    • Char Char says:

      2 Aug2 August 12:01

      Not EV batteries as most wouldn’t have reached end of life anyway

  • Rui N. says:

    2 Aug2 August 10:29

    @Mikeact, there has been a standard charger across the EEA for a few years now. All new EVs have to be compatible with it (there was a transition period, but that has finished).

    • Doug M says:

      2 Aug2 August 10:39

      The rental Tesla I had was 2017 model. I got the idea from my reading I couldn’t use the fast BP ones, there is definitely a confusing array of charging rates and connector types.

      • Rui N. says:

        2 Aug2 August 10:43

        For Tesla the standard only applied to the Model 3 onwards. For the S you can get an adaptor.

  • Sam says:

    2 Aug2 August 23:21

    Welcome to 2021….from the cave? I am confused when was this even a question, I’m like @Dave1985 did you serious think we all drive electric cars?

    • Sam says:

      2 Aug2 August 23:22

      *why did you ask

• AJA says:

  2 Aug2 August 08:36

  I live within 1/2 mile of 2 BP, an Esso, 2 Shell, a Tesco and a Sainsbury’s garage. Tesco and Sainsbury’s beats all of the brands hands down on price so no matter what the rewards offers are at the branded stations all other things being equal I will go to either Tesco or Sainsbury’s, usually filling up after buying groceries. The Tesco is the most awkward to get to so was always second choice to Sainsbury’s purely on ease of access.

  The only reason I would get this BPme offer is to give me flexibility if out and about but as a scheme to attract me to regularly buy it won’t succeed unless the headline price of fuel is much more competitive. I look at the rewards points as a bonus, not the reason to shop. I suspect I’m not alone. But good for BA and Avios for trying to tie up yet more fuel partners.

• Genghis says:

  2 Aug2 August 08:55

  On my two cards with the offer, first took about a week and the second four days from purchase.

• Rich says:

  2 Aug2 August 09:17

  I’m surprised none of the EV charging networks have jumped on the points bandwagon yet. Especially the ones run by (or branded as) the fossil fuel giants.

  There must be plenty of cash available since they’re throwing money at building networks and now is surely the time to invest in loyalty?

  Best I’ve seen is a free sausage roll when I charge with Shell Recharge, which the guy on the till wouldn’t give me because ‘that’s the wrong app’!

  • Char Char says:

    2 Aug2 August 12:03

    Well until there are enough chargers to have a selection, you will find most people don’t have a choice on the ones they use so no need for loyalty program, also its not exactly cheap to use public chargers vs home. Its often 30-40p vs 5p.

• Frenske says:

  2 Aug2 August 09:27

  Who on earth would drive an extra couple of miles to get some extra Nectar, Club, etc. points? Burning unnecessary fuel and money in the process.

  • Dave1985 says:

    2 Aug2 August 09:30

    New to this website? 🤣

  • TGLoyalty says:

    2 Aug2 August 09:32

    Is the point that hardly anyone does and that’s why it fails.

• Jimmy says:

  2 Aug2 August 09:40

  Yes I had the £10 credit – the transaction was on the 27th and the credit arrived on the 29th. The retailer name wasn’t bp strangely but simply the road name and the motorway it was off.

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