Charge point business Pod Point has rebranded as Pod and launched a new, all-inclusive home charging service that saves drivers over £1,000 in upfront costs.

The Pod Drive subscription gives drivers a cheaper and more convenient way to charge their EV at home, slashing the upfront costs of installing a charger from £1,249 to £99, while rewarding customers with cashback on up to 7,500 ‘smart charged’ miles per year, covering household electricity costs of charging their vehicle.

Pod Drive removes the high upfront cost of charger installation, while giving subscribers control over their EV running costs. A £40 monthly subscription to Pod Drive includes a Solo 3S charger, installation and a 48-hour service guarantee. This plan works with any energy provider, while the Solo 3S charger is compatible across EVs.

Pod Drive also helps customers to reduce the impact of EV ownership on household electricity bills through its ‘Miles’ cashback scheme. By enabling smart charging with Pod Drive, customers will be rewarded up to 7,500 Miles of cashback per year, the equivalent of over £170.

The next wave of development will include multiple partnerships with major retailers and brands. This includes major OEMs such as Mazda, which will offer Pod Drive to their customer bases, providing even more incentives and options for consumers to go electric.

Pod also plans to deepen its existing partnership with Tesco by syncing drivers’ charging experiences across home and public charging points.

The changes mark the struggling EV charging firm’s evolution from a charger-only proposition to services provider. Pod Point chargers will retain their product branding and sit alongside the Pod Drive proposition under the new Pod brand.

Pod CEO Melanie Lane said: “Pod Drive takes the hassle and complexity out of going electric and removes significant barriers in the form of upfront costs. As the original innovator in electric charging, we are constantly working hard to make life with an EV easy for drivers.

“Our EV charging heritage means we are well placed to help households shift to clean energy in a way that also helps the UK’s electricity grid. Pod Drive is only the first of a number of everyday electrification propositions we are developing as we expand from providing chargers to helping busy households with all their charging needs. With over 250,000 customers already trusting us to be at the heart of their EV life, we see Pod playing a leading role in the UK’s increasingly electrified future.”