Creating Happy Chargers, with Accurate Site Assessment

We’re on a mission to create happy EV chargers, both in terms of highly-utilized, profitable, and well-maintained charge points as well as EV drivers themselves. But this is a lot easier said than done, so we take a look at a key hurdle for those planning and deploying EV charging networks: site assessment.

There are two sides to every story, and when it comes to creating happy chargers, we are referring to both the chargers themselves and their end-users - EV drivers. Why? Because a well-planned and maintained charger, in the right location, will inevitably become well-used and loved by EV drivers in its locale, and in turn, this charging experience creates a very happy EV-driving customer.

But at the moment, this level of customer satisfaction in the EV charging arena is hard to come by. For Charge Point Operators (CPOs), the charging experience is part of the complex challenge of network planning, and one which is not easily revealed by generic data. But when done right, a CPO unlocks future success for themselves and the EV market as a whole.

So let’s look at one of the top hurdles for CPOs at the moment - site assessment.

Many CPOs struggle to gain a clear, data-driven understanding of a site’s viability and feasibility, either on an individual basis or as part of a larger network. With some businesses looking to identify and assess thousands of potential sites at once, it can be extremely challenging to execute this efficiently and accurately.

Why?

• Data quality - The data being sourced and used in site assessment is usually generic, sourced from mainstream GIS (geographic information system) tools which lack EV-specific intelligence, and not tailored to specific network strategy goals. It also needs to be maintained, at the risk of decisions being made based on out-of-date information.

• Time & expense - Gathering and collating the relevant data points is both time-consuming and complex. Access in itself can be difficult and costly, especially when it comes to sourcing EV-relevant and business-specific data.

• Lack of predictive modeling - Building the right data model to allow for objective assessment is essential but requires the skills of a data scientist 

• Disparate tools - The data must be housed, arranged and scored somewhere, but too often than not we see data stored across any number of tools, including spreadsheets, making an efficient, collaborative assessment process very difficult to achieve.

• A lengthy and inconsistent process - All of the above issues lead to a slow and inconsistent process which of course blocks a CPO's ability to scale their network at the desired speed. It can also result in CPOs making the wrong decisions in haste, while missing out on the right sites for them

And of course this can lead to CPOs creating a network of UNHAPPY chargers - with charge points sitting in the wrong locations and not turning a profit due to low-utilization rates. Equally, EV drivers don’t feel supported by accessible and conveniently-placed charging hubs.

Successful CPOs have found that the solution to this is implementing a Charge Point Planning (CPP) platform (and we of course recommend looking at Dodona Analytics here) - but here are our top tips for creating happy chargers through the right approach to site assessment:

• Data accuracy and relevancy - Make sure that your data is accurate, up-to-date, EV-specific and relevant to your strategic network growth plans.

• Include custom data - The ability to upload custom data, especially financial, can help CPOs further define their site assessment model according to their business needs.

• Use “derived data”-  This provides a new level of insight to site assessment that is unique to your chosen data mix, delivering more targeted and specific insights thanks to aggregating data in a predictive model. We call it “smart data”, and it is a major advantage of the CPP solution we offer our customers.

• Site scoring - Sophisticated site scoring enables rapid evaluation of hundreds of sites, which is tuned to the CPO’s specific business model and equipment. 

Accurate site assessment at scale is the first step towards ensuring your chargers are in the right location for you and your customers. 

When a CPO uses a Charge Point Planning platform or solution specifically designed to assess EV sites using the above approach, then it is highly likely that they will be building a network of very happy charging points, seeing high levels of utilization from happy, EV-charging customers, and profitability for the CPO. 

Will you join us on our campaign?

We are passionate about creating happy chargers here at Dodona Analytics.

You can explore our product and its benefits on our website, and follow along on LinkedIn to read more as we dive into this topic on the Blog. You can also get in touch, and we’ll show you how we do it.