Four contributions from our webinar on electric car charging

The electric car boom is here. We notice this not least in all the questions that we get about who should offer the electric car charging and how to do it. Since this is a very important issue, where many unfortunately make unnecessary mistakes, we have put together a webinar on the topic”That's why you should offer electric car charging to your parking customers — and here's how to get started“.

Four of the most important points we went through:

1. Parking is the key to profitable and scalable electric car charging
2. Electric car charging is a great business opportunity and revenue source — today and tomorrow
3. Our recommendations on how to solve the technical operation of your chargers
4. Some common mistakes to avoid on the road

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1 - That's why parking is the key to scalable and profitable electric car charging

The debate is hot on whether Sweden's electricity grid will have enough capacity to supply everyone with electricity when we replace our fossil-fueled fleet with an electric one.

A common mistake that many people make is that you think of electric car charging as refueling — you take the car to a place where you fill it with energy. Then it has to go quickly, and it requires high power. But one of the great things about electric car charging is that it is possible to “refuel” the car while it is parked. This is one of the reasons why it is you who own or manage the parking that are best placed to offer the charge.

“The challenge of the electric car boom is to get as many outlets out as possible, so they should be installed where there is as low an investment as possible”

— Oskar Ekman, Head of Product at Mobility46

When the car is charged while parked (which it does on average 95% of the time), not very high power is needed to meet the motorist's daily driving needs. We describe how this works in more detail in the webinar, but in brief you can think like this:

The average mileage of a car is 2.5 miles. A car that charges 1.4 kW under 9 hours (e.g. at home at night or in the office during working hours) gets a range of about 6.3 miles.

This means that you can meet more people's charging needs without overloading the grid.

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2 - How integrated electric car charging increases revenue and brings more satisfied customers

90% of electric car charging takes place while the car is parked. And it is by offering electric car charging along with parking that you create the best user experience for your customer. Instead of having to fuss with two agreements, two apps and two contact areas, they can instead have everything in one place. It increases customer satisfaction - and we all know that satisfied customers are willing to pay.

“Developing this business and taking a share of this 90 percent is a great opportunity that just can't be missed.”

— Pelle Sjögren, co-founder of Mobility46

By adding electric car charging to your existing parking business, you create a new source of revenue that will only get bigger over time. Initially, you meet a need of existing customers while strengthening your offer. Soon you will also notice that you are attracting new customers. And in addition, you future-proof your parking business and ensure that you continue to take part in this ever-growing business.

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3 - How to manage the technical operation?

Many believe that it must be the same operator that offers the charging service that takes care of the technical operation. That's not how we think. It is you who own or manage the parking lot that should offer the electric car charging — that is, the management of start, stop, payment solution and so on.

However, when it comes to technical operation, you can choose how you want to do it. We recommend that you choose between:

1. Take care of the technical operation yourself. It does not have to be as difficult as one might think and is suitable, for example, for those of you who have a slightly smaller charging park and/or skilled and interested technicians or electricians in the business.
2. Outsource the technical operation to a charging operator. It is important to choose a hardware agnostic operator, so that they can operate all your chargers regardless of manufacturer.

You can also outsource both the offer and the technical operation. It may feel practical, but it brings with it a few disadvantages that you should be aware of:

1. Coordination between parking and charging offers becomes complicated, which can create frustration for both your administrators and parking customers
2. You have no control over the charging of the electric car and cannot control the technical or financial offer
3. You run the risk of locking yourself into a certain type of hardware/charger
4. It provides a reduced user experience as the customer needs to manage their parking and charging in two different services/apps/environments

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4 - Five common mistakes

In summary, there are five pitfalls that you should avoid if you want to succeed in your electric car charging business. To achieve long-term profitable, scalable and customer-friendly EV charging, avoid:

1. Provide users with a complicated experience. Therefore, offer the electric car charging in the same app/environment as the parking lot.
2. Outsource both commercial and technical operations. That's when you scramble to it and lose control of the offer.
3. Choosing too high power on the chargers. You get a long way on low power because the cars charge for a long time, and with lower power, the electricity is enough for more people.
4. Missed charging, or making the wrong payment. Electric car charging is an important source of revenue in your parking business.
5. Missed the connection between parking and charging point. You cannot offer a charging station without parking, so of course it is you with parking facilities that should offer electric car charging!

If you have these in the back of your mind during your electric car charging trip, there are only options to pick up!

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View the full webinar

In this blog post, we have summarized some of the points that we discussed during our webinar “Why you should offer electric car charging to your parking customers”. Please watch the entire webinar to get more detailed knowledge about what you have read, and find out, for example, how you can think about pricing and strategic positioning of your chargers.