How Smart Site Rejection Boosts Business

We talk a lot about the importance of the right locations for EV charge points, but what about the effects of being able to quickly and accurately identify the wrong ones? We explore how ruling out those sites without potential can bring significant business advantage.

Any charge point business in the market right now would agree that when choosing a location for an EV charge point station, getting the site assessment process right is imperative. But no one really talks about the boost to business brought by being able to draw a line through those sites that do not live up to the desired criteria.

This capability is important for a few different reasons - I go into them below - but for now, let’s talk about what effective site rejection should look like during the assessment process.

What is smart site rejection?

Smart site rejection is the ability to efficiently and accurately identify those sites which fall short of the desired criteria - such as the likely return on investment or projected utilization levels - and should happen as a result of a consistent site assessment process incorporating up to date, EV-relevant and business-specific data sources.

Once a site has been identified as being unsuitable, it should be quickly filtered out of the mix.

How does this benefit a charge point business?

Well, put in simple terms, it allows the Charge Point Operator (CPO) or charge point business to focus its efforts on viable and valuable locations which have the potential to bring them value. This, of course, brings a number of benefits to the business, if site rejection is conducted efficiently and accurately. These include:

• Confidence in the right sites - With a clear and consistent site assessment removing those sites not worth investment, charge point businesses are free to move quickly and confidently on the sites which have scored highly against their criteria.
• Avoiding financial risk - Costly mistakes such wrongly investing time, funds and resources into one or more sites which are unlikely to produce the desired return on investment, can be totally avoided.
• Building business momentum - Free from decision fatigue or funds draining away on failing sites, charge point businesses benefit from profitable sites delivering on their projected return on investment, and are able to direct available funds and resources towards identifying the next successful charge point locations, supporting the development of a profitable and well-maintained charge point network.
• Attracting investment and partnerships - Customers, investors, and other stakeholders are encouraged by the ability to quickly discern which sites are worth moving on, and which are not, especially if the assessment process behind these decisions is backed and explained by data.

We are seeing this happen with many of our customers. In a recent case study with FOR EV, a charge point operator and leading provider of EV fleet electrification solutions, the company’s new-found ability to reject sites efficiently is highlighted as improving their efficiency and productivity:

“ Irrelevant or unsuitable locations are quickly filtered out of the mix, using Dodona’s scoring outputs, allowing the team to focus its efforts on viable and valuable locations … We spend less time laboriously scoring individual sites, and have more time to think critically and consider the results. The process is smarter, seamless, and easy to use.”
- Excerpts from customer case study: Smart Charge Point Planning for Fleet Electrification- FOR EV’s Data-Driven Transformation

With many charge point businesses on both sides of the Atlantic looking to secure their foothold in the EV charging market, it is important to ensure that the site assessment process is consistent, efficient, and accurate in identifying the right and the wrong site locations for that business.

If so, they will become more discerning and altogether more competitive when it comes to building out profitable and high-utilized charge point networks which garnering a positive brand reputation and customer loyalty in the developing days of EV driving.