Featured image provided by Kia.

Kia Shows Us Another Way Forward For Free EV Charging

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The Challenge

Free EV charging is great, but it often doesn’t get maintained. A business probably goes into this thinking that offering free L2 charging will bring in rich EV owners who will come in and spend lots of money, and that often actually does happen. But, when the first big repair bill comes along, the business owner didn’t know who charged and who came in and spent money. But, they can see that the charging station has been costing them a fair amount in electricity every month and now there’s a repair bill.

With no way to track who came in and who was an Uber driver or retired cheapskate waiting outside and taking juice without buying anything, many business owners decide that they don’t want to continue offering the charging.

Paid L2 charging faces its own problems. In many cases, the station owners think they’re going to turn a big profit on EV charging, and end up having almost nobody actually plug in. As faster DC fast charging proliferates, expensive L2 stations end up being the more expensive and less convenient option.

So, places like Petrified Forest National Park end up with dead L2 stations. When that first repair bill comes in, and almost nobody has been using the stations, they tend to go offline forever or get removed.

This presents a real Catch-22 for EV charging. Give it away for free, and it won’t seem like it’s making you money. Charge too much for it, and people won’t charge, so it’ll look like there’s no reason to keep it up and running. Charge the “just right” amount, where people use it and it covers repair costs, and it won’t look like it’s doing anything but breaking even, so it won’t look like it’s worth the hassle.

Kia Is Trying Something New That Might Lead Free Charging Away From Inevitable Ruin

Kia recently shared a press release telling us how the company is revolutionizing its EV charging services in both the UK and Europe through a strategic collaboration with &Charge, an inventive EV charging system that offers customers smart user engagement as well as rewards and added amenities.

‘&Charge’ is a revolutionary way to save money on EV charging sessions. All you have to do is download the app and shop at hundreds of UK retailers. When you get to the checkout, scan it like any other rewards program and you’ll get credits that can be used via Kia’s Charge app for public charging sessions. Plus, customers are offered even more savings by providing feedback or information about their experience with public charging stations (which should help with reliability).

The ‘&Charge’ service is now available in the UK, and customers can get it on their phones or tablets through and-charge.com, App Store, or Google Play Store. Kia has joined this new platform to offer rewards that will help remove barriers hindering the expansion of e-mobility such as reducing costs for electric car drivers. This partnership provides a great opportunity to make all-electric driving more affordable without leaving retailers on the hook for repair bills and other headaches.

“As we expand our EV offering, it is important that the charging network offers the same accessibility and quality of experience that our customers have come to expect from our state-of-the-art EVs,” said Sjoerd Knipping, Vice President Marketing & Product for Kia Europe. “Collaboration with the ‘&Charge’ service platform can only strengthen our ability to meet this objective.”

British customers can now take advantage of ‘&Charge’, a service platform that grants access to more than 300 retailers. Popular stores such as DIY and home shops, fashion outlets, online travel agencies, airlines, attractions, and activities are some of the many options available through this platform. With each purchase made through ‘&Charge’, users accumulate “Kilometres,” which equate to Kia Charge credits valued at an average £0.071 per kilometer (depending on retailer).

‘&Charge’ not only allows for more affordable EV ownership through its shopping bonus program, but also improves the electric vehicle charging experience within Europe. Through regular feedback and data collection on powered stations, ‘&Charge’ app users can give real-time updates about individual station performance with supporting images of chargers. This provides reliable and effective information to ensure a top-notch user experience.

Ordinarily, contributors can accrue one to five &Charge Kilometres for every picture they share. This community-sourced data is then utilized by charge point operators in order to authenticate issues and rapidly elevate the effectiveness and user experience of their charging stations.

“By providing feedback, Kia customers will not only earn ‘&Charge Kilometres’ to use on public charging via the Kia Charge app but also help to ensure that the public charging infrastructure is operating at the level required to ensure progression of the e-mobility movement,” adds Knipping.

The Important Things This Does For Retailers

The biggest problem you probably saw in the Catch-22 I explained earlier was that businesses can’t see whether the charging station benefits them, and if so, how much. If somebody plugs in and then comes in and spends $500, there’s no connection between the $1-2 of electricity and the $500 in revenue. So, when it comes time to repair or upgrade stations, it’s tempting for a retailer to think that it’s all cost and no benefit.

Having a service that rewards paying customers with free charging takes all of that guess work out. You can see very directly in the end how much the rewards cost you and what you gained from it. Plus, the amount of free charging is pegged to spending, so you’re guaranteed to benefit and not get taken advantage of by freeloaders with nothing better to do than take up space in your lot.

On top of this trackability, it’s also possible to participate without even spending money on stations. If you give them rewards points toward charging, they can go anywhere to charge up, even if you aren’t on the hook for the machines’ care and feeding. If you do choose to install stations, you’ll know that nobody is getting a free ride, because they’re either paying or shopping in your store to get points.

I don’t know whether &Charge plans to expand outside of the UK and Europe, but if they don’t, charging networks need to consider partnering with retailers like this in the United States. It would greatly increase the survivability of L2 charging stations.

Featured image provided by Kia.


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Jennifer Sensiba

Jennifer Sensiba is a long time efficient vehicle enthusiast, writer, and photographer. She grew up around a transmission shop, and has been experimenting with vehicle efficiency since she was 16 and drove a Pontiac Fiero. She likes to get off the beaten path in her "Bolt EAV" and any other EVs she can get behind the wheel or handlebars of with her wife and kids. You can find her on Twitter here, Facebook here, and YouTube here.

Jennifer Sensiba has 1931 posts and counting. See all posts by Jennifer Sensiba