VIRTA

TRANSFORM YOUR FREE CHARGING SERVICE TO A COMMERCIAL BUSINESS

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People are not buying electric vehicles because:

1.They feel that EVs are too expensive

2.They feel that the range of EVs is too short

3.They feel that there are not enough good charging possibilities

Problem:

You need a big charging network so that people would buy electric vehicles…

… but companies don’t want to invest in charging networks if there are no

electric vehicles

Easy solution: Taxpayers’ money

… however, this is just a temporary solution that won’t last for long

sooner or later you need to be able to do business without government

subsidies

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Question we at Virta hear every day:

How can my organization change our free charging network to a commercial

business?

Or how can we get at least some money from the charging?

STORY ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN FINLAND

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INDIVIDUAL COMPANIES HAD BOUGHT AND INSTALLED SOME CHARGING STATIONS

ALL CHARGING WAS FREE

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There was interest in some companies to start invoicing money from charging

However, the analysis showed that creating payment solutions is far too expensive

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What the Finnish companies were looking for was:

1. Operation costs need to be low and everything needs to be fully automatized

2. Different charging stations need different prices

3. Roaming needs to be build in to the system from day one

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SOLUTION

One technical platform

Available in many brands

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Energy utilities got state-of-the-art payment solutions with a low cost

Customers got a big network with seamless roaming, they can charge everywhere

New companies can easily join the network, even the small ones with 1-2 stations

THREE MAIN THINGS WE LEARNED IN FINLAND

1. Your customers will accept that you start asking money for charging

The sooner you move from free to paid services, the easier it will be for you

2. You need different payment options –one size does not fit all

Plug-in hybrids need a totally different payment models than a Tesla

Tourists who visit you once a year need different payment models than the locals who charge daily

3. You need to minimize and automate your own work

do not go with a solution that requires you to manually create user accounts and manually create and send

invoices

When you select a backend system, focus on automation

WHAT AN OPTIMAL PAYMENT SOLUTION LOOKS LIKE AT THE END

To maximize the profits of your charging business, you need to

optimize the utilization of your charging network

In other words, you want to have the optimal number of electric vehicles

charging at your network all the time.

To optimize the utilization,

you need two things:

1. You need different prices for different stations

maybe even different prices at different times of day?

2. You need different prices for three different customer groups

1. Visitors, who charge rarely

2. Active users, who charge regularly

3. Heavy users, who charge daily

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AT THE END YOU SHOULD HAVE THREE PRICING MODELS

1. Direct payments for visitors, no requirement for membership or subscription

2. Pay as you go –model for active users with a membership and subscription

S

• 100 kWh

• 20 € / month

M

• 250 kWh

• 40 € / month

L

• 500 kWh

• 70 € / month

3. Monthly packages for heavy users who charge their EVs daily

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ALSO, YOU NEED TO CONSIDER DIFFERENT EV MODELS IN YOUR PRICING

Example: price for charging is 2 €/h on a 22 kW AC charging station

1. Price for a plugin-hybrid, charging from Schuko:

87 cents / kWh

2. Price for a Tesla with a double charger:

9 cents / kWh

One size does not fit all

FIVE STEPS IN TRANSFORMATION FROM FREE TO PAID CHARGING SERVICES

Step 1: Focus on communication

Tell your customers why you are asking money for charging, they will understand.

Give your users a clear transition period so that the change does not come as a

surprise for them.

Step 2: Offer something extra

Your customers will accept your prices easier, if you offer them something more

than just the electricity.

For example: great mobile apps, 24/7 customer service, reservation possibility…

Step 3: You can start small, but be prepared to offer different pricing plans

You can get started with just one charging unit and with just the direct payments

However, sooner or later you need to create different pricing plans for plugin-hybrids and Teslas, and for

tourists and heavy users

Step 4: Automate everything

Automate especially customers registration process and your payment process, including

roaming payments.

Do not go for a solution where you need to handle customers and invoicing manually.

Step 5: Optimize your charging network utilization

To maximize your revenue, you need to optimize your utilization.

To optimize your utilization, do tests: how does the utilization and revenue change if you for example give a -20 % discount for a week?

Result: You can get more customers with paid solution

than with a free one

If you offer a great service, people are ready to pay for it. If your service has problems,

people won’t use it even for free.

HOW WE AT VIRTA CAN HELP YOU

VIRTA’S SOLUTION FOR A FREE-TO-PAID TRANSITION

1. We have done transition from free to paid service with many companies – we have both the expertise and the technology to do this

2. We have a fully automatized technical platform which is used in several countries by over 20 energy utilities

3. With our solution you can offer wide range of payment options to your customers – starting from simple direct payments ending up to different monthly packages

4. It doesn’t matter if you are big or small – our payment solutions scale up from a single charging unit to a country wide roaming network

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SummaryFrom free charging to paid services

1. The sooner you start with paid services, the easier it will be for you

2. Be prepared to offer different pricing plans, differentiate for customer groups and vehicle types

3. Choose a technical platform that automates all your money traffic

We at Virta have an excellent solution for you

I AM HAPPY TO DISCUSS MORE – PLEASE COME AND MEET US ON ECARTEC

Jussi Ahtikari

Chief Technology Officer

Virta Ltd.

jussi.ahtikari@virta.fi

+358 50 5148489

solutions.virta.fi/en

twitter: @virtaltd

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