How to scale your EV charging business

with home charging software

EV charging business e-book for charging service providers

INTRODUCTION TO
HOME CHARGING
It’s no secret that the EV charging market is evolving quickly. As sales of
electric vehicles take off, demand for home charging is set to explode. In
fact, 80% of all EV charging is done at home! The reason for this comes
down to one word: convenience.

Imagine coming home from the office, plugging in your car, and having it
charge while you sleep. You wake up to a vehicle that’s fully charged and
ready for whatever the day has to bring. For EV charging service
providers, home charging is a golden opportunity to offer superior
service and gain new customers.

So you’re ready to break into the home charging market. One question
arises: which business model is right for me?

Let’s take a closer look at the home charging market, potential models
for your business, and the tools you need to create a flourishing
network of home charging customers.
CHARGING FROM HOME: THE FUTURE OF EV CHARGING
In anticipation of a wave of new EV drivers hitting the streets,
From charging at home to charging
businesses and municipalities worldwide are racing to install charging
stations. While drivers will charge at the store, at work, or on the near home
street, home charging is poised to continue to make up the largest
segment of the EV charging market. While no one can argue with the fact that EVs are becoming
mainstream, tomorrow’s EV driver is going to look vastly different.
The explosion in home charging demand isn’t just limited to personal More and more people who don’t own single-family homes are
vehicles. Businesses are recognizing the potential home charging has switching to EVs.
as a solution for their corporate fleets.

Rather than charging in the garage, as has typically been the case,
A recent survey performed by Centrica Business Solutions showed drivers are increasingly charging in dedicated on-street charging
that in the UK, one-third of all businesses plan to install or reimburse units or at charging bays in their apartment complex.
home charging costs for their employees. A further 42% of companies
reported the complexity of managing employees charging at public Gone are the days where just a dumb charger in the garage was
charge points as one of the biggest barriers to switching company enough. Today’s charging stations need to be connected and managed
vehicles to EVs. in a smart and connected way to make them operate efficiently.

For EV charging service providers, adopting a successful home For charge point operators, this presents a huge opportunity to work
charging business strategy isn’t just an option to attract new with municipalities, parking operators, and DNOs to offer the
customers. It will be critical to future business growth. Take a look at convenience of home charging to residential parking customers.
some of the current trends in the home charging market.
Load Balancing and smart scheduling becoming Virtual power plants integration
impossible to ignore
Everyone knows renewable energy is the wave of the future.
Integration with virtual power plants to optimize the distribution and
As the number of parking spaces being electrified continues to grow
use of renewable energy resources will become an essential part of
at a rapid pace, the need for smart scheduling and complex charging
EV charging. Any charge point operator that has a large number of
solutions will grow.
home charging stations will be in a perfect position to partner with
renewable energy providers to offer their customers even more
Property managers will need to protect their grid through load
flexible charging solutions.
management. Drivers will reap the benefits of charging at off-peak
times, reducing total energy consumption, and promoting renewable
energy generation.

Vehicle to Grid (V2G) Technology Obstacles to adopting a home charging

V2G technology has revolutionized home charging and is on its way to

business model
becoming the norm. We can expect to continue seeing major support Despite the exponential growth in home charging, the market remains underserved by service
for V2G on residential charging stations. To gain a foothold in the providers. Often overlooked by charge point operators (CPOs) and e-mobility service providers
market, service providers will need to be ready to offer the right (eMSPs), home charging comes with unique challenges that, when met correctly, can fuel your business’
models and form strategic partnerships. growth.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the different challenges when it comes to charging at home in a
residential context in general.
CASE 1
HOMEOWNER WITH
A DEDICATED GARAGE

Let’s start off with an example of a typical EV driver. The driver comes
home from work, plugs in the vehicle, and goes about their evening.
As they cook, watch TV, and sleep, their vehicle charges, ready for
them when they get up the next day. Simple, right?

In this case, the charger could just be a dumb charger that doesn’t
even need to be connected to an operator’s platform. It basically
works as a more powerful socket. At this point, you’re probably
thinking, where’s the value in this for my business?

While it may be true that home charging can be done without

connection to an operator’s platform, there are still a few key things
chargers need to be able to do. Let’s explore some of the key
functions home or residential chargers need to have and how they
can present an opportunity for you to expand your customer base.
 With DLM, you can integrate with the local distribution network
Dynamic Load Balancing
provider, integrating charging data to act on demand-response signals.
Don’t let the grid stop your customers from
Offer your customers peace of mind, letting them charge worry-free
filling up
knowing their local and home grids are safe.

One of the first questions both EV drivers and municipalities have when
it comes to EV charging is, will I have enough grid capacity? Between
running power heavy appliances such as washers, dryers, and heaters,
most homes don’t have the capacity to add an EV charger without
significant risk of overloading their home electrical system.

These homeowners have two options: either make expensive upgrades

at the mercy of their electrical provider or gain a more efficient and
cost-effective solution from companies like yours. Enter the world of
dynamic load management.

Put simply, dynamic load management (DLM) allows the operator to

monitor the power output to the charger, ensuring that it never exceeds
grid capacity. In larger residential settings such as apartment complexes,
multiple EV chargers can be connected, with power to each one closely
monitored to ensure grid stability.

While many home chargers can handle DLM for the household, all too
often charge point operators overlook the local grid.
 When partnering with electricity distribution providers, charging
Smart-Scheduling: Save your customers
service providers still have the flexibility to schedule charging based on
money by taking advantage of lower the open market day-ahead tariff or based on input from the electricity
provider. These savings can then be passed on to drivers in the form of
electricity tariffs
public charging credits.

A sure way to build a network of loyal customers is by saving them

money. That’s why the second thing all home chargers should be able to Remote and Access Control: Offer your
handle is scheduling to take advantage of lower electricity bills. With
smart scheduling, the homeowner can set charging at times when
customers convenience at their fingertips
electricity rates are lower.
Besides price, the main differentiating factor charging service providers

This is especially important for users who are on flexible tariffs, where can use to differentiate themselves is convenience. Offer your

prices can change every hour and day-ahead pricing being made customers a seamless charging experience by allowing them to monitor

available from the electricity provider. With smart scheduling, charging charging at their fingertips.

service providers can ensure drivers' cars are charged by morning, but
letting charging take place during hours when electricity is cheapest. Through a white-label charging platform like AMPECO, customers can
monitor the charging process from start to finish: gaining insight on

While some newer EV models allow for scheduling, charging service their usage and authenticating the charger if located outside.

providers can also partner with electricity providers to offer flexible

tariffs. This is especially important in areas where legislation or The advantages don’t end there. Why not offer the customer the option

technical limits prevent scheduling from being offered directly to to open their charger for public use during the day? Stand out from your

drivers. competitors by allowing customers the opportunity to gain additional

income or receive public charging credits.
CASE 2
APARTMENT BUILDINGS AND
RESIDENTIAL COMPLEXES

Let’s take a look at a more complex charging scenario, apartment

complexes. While many of the same challenges exist, there’s one
main difference any charging service provider needs to know: the
customer.

Often, tenants have their own dedicated parking space, however

unlike in home charging scenarios, these spaces are normally
managed by a property management company.

When installing and operating charging stations, a few things could

become a challenge for property managers:
Tracking and billing of tenants for their Load Balancing
EV charging
One of the main obstacles to high-density residential buildings
adopting EV charging comes with the expensive upgrades building
With potentially hundreds of tenants arriving and departing
managers think they need in order to accommodate the influx in
throughout the day, keeping track of each tenant’s charging use can
power usage.
easily become a headache. Charging management platforms make it
easy to track and bill tenants all through the convenience of an app.
With multiple tenants all needing to charge at the same time, grid
overload can easily create major problems for building managers. The
Property managers are free to customize their pricing models, track
question on most building managers minds is:
tenant’s usage, issue billing, and collect payments with ease. Get an
edge over the competition by offering property managers the
How can I allow sufficient power to each of the chargers without
convenience of tracking and managing their tenants’ billing at their
breaking the bank?
fingertips.

This problem can be avoided completely with smart charging, where

the load is balanced to ensure that it never exceeds available capacity
and is scheduled in a way that ensures optimal power distribution
over time.

Connecting the buildings’ chargers to the charging service provider’s

management system is a win-win scenario for everyone.
BUILDING A COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGE IN THE HOME
CHARGING MARKET
While some of the features noted previously can be handled by the
charger, one word can help you stand out and get the attention of
potential customers: differentiation. Today’s EV drivers need more than
just the basics.

By connecting your charging stations to the charge point operator’s

management platform, you offer your customers endless options. From
flexible tariffs, to dynamic pricing models, to employer reimbursements,
all these added functions can be managed by an operator’s management
system.

Now that we've gone over the basics of home charging, the next
question is: Which business model should you choose?

First, let’s define some of the essential EV charging business models.

 As an eMSP, your app automatically becomes the driver’s default option
e-Mobility Service Providers (eMSPs)
for all of their charging needs. Since both public and home charging is
rolled into the same app, it’s not only going to stay on their phone, but it
An e-mobility Service Provider, or eMSP for short, offers charging
will become one of their most used apps. Talk about customer loyalty!
services to EV drivers. When using the eMSP’s app, EV drivers can view
charging stations in their area, start and stop charging, and pay by any
For that reason alone, home charging is an area of the market eMSPs
method accepted by the charge point operator.
can’t afford to overlook.

Typically eMSPs offer charging services to a set group of customers

registered to their service. They normally partner with charge point
operators (CPOs) to provide access to stations owned by the company,
but may also open up access to 3-rd party charging stations through
roaming.

By bundling home and public charging into one app, eMSPs can gain a
leg up on the competition and tap into the underserved market of EV
drivers charging at home.

Imagine you’re an EV driver. You have your home charging station within
your eMSP’s app. At the touch of your finger, you can enable smart
charging and integrate with your electricity company’s time of use
tariffs. But that’s not all, in the same app you can view your eMSP’s
entire network of charging stations
 Combine this strategy with roaming, either through direct connections
Charge Point Operators (CPOs)
via OCPI or through roaming platforms like Gireve or Hubject, and you
automatically have huge network coverage to offer your customers, on
As its name suggests, charge point operators build, install, and operate
top of your own public charging network.
EV charging stations. Put simply, CPOs build the charging network and
ensure it runs smoothly. They provide the network infrastructure,
hardware technology, and maintain the chargers to ensure a reliable
charging experience for the driver.

CPOs work with eMSPs to promote access to their network of charging

stations. By targeting the home charging market, CPOs stand to gain a
significant share of the growing market. Even better, you now have a
huge user base of customers with your app on their phones to manage
their home charging station.

Expanding your CPO business

Many CPOs decide to integrate their business by offering eMSP

services. Even if you haven’t considered focusing on eMSP, you now
have a significant base of home charging customers to justify expanding
into the eMSP business.
Stories of Success from our Customers
Now that you have an understanding of the structure of the home charging market and the different
structures of EV charging service models, you’re probably wondering, what’s the best strategy for my
business?

Let’s take a deeper dive into the home charging strategies successfully applied by AMPECO customers.
SUCCESS STORY 1
PURE EMSP WITH HOME CHARGING
Let’s start with a simple example that any eMSP Recently, this eMSP decided to launch into the home charging market by
can employ. This customer is based in Western offering a subscription service that allows users to connect their home
Europe and operates a subscription-based eMSP charging station and manage it through the same app, offering customers
model, similar to most eMSPs. They have secured the following benefits:
roaming rights with CPOs in their region and
offer a subscription service to their EV drivers.
1 Integration with tariffs

Drivers could schedule their charging when the price of electricity was lowest, providing
The model is simple: EV drivers pay a monthly fee significant savings for the company’s user base of EV drivers.
and in return, get access to the app’s vast amount
of public charging stations. The eMSP offers the
same fee as the CPOs, without any markup on the
2 Integration with public API on carbon intensity
By focusing on the unique challenges of
charging cost and makes its profits solely from Users could view the CO2 impact of the electricity generated from charging and schedule their home EV charging and offering significant
the users’ monthly fees. charging at the time of the day with the lowest CO2 footprint. cost savings to their network of EV

3
drivers, the eMSP was able to
Using AMPECO’s charging management Option for electricity cost reimbursement
significantly increase their user base. If
software, the company integrates billing, that wasn’t already good enough, the
subscription management, and roaming The eMSP saved its drivers even more cash by integrating options for charging reimbursement eMSPs customers now manage their
from the driver’s employer when the car was being charged at home.
capabilities through OCPI connections and via home charging through the app, providing
Hubject and Gireve. unparalleled lock in for public charging.
SUCCESS STORY 2
CPO PARTNERING WITH AN ELECTRICITY PROVIDER

For our second example, let’s take a look at a CPO. This company Through the CPO’s app, the user sets the minimum amount of energy
builds their own public charging network and operates EV charging to charge and also inputs their leave-by time. For example, a user may
stations for other businesses like supermarkets, hotels, and car decide they want to have 25kWh charged by 7:30AM during each
dealerships. night’s charging session.

They have established roaming connections with other eMSPs, but For the EV driver, their electricity bill remains the same as the energy
also operate their own app for users across their network. Unlike our provider doesn’t offer flexible tariffs to end users. However, the CPO,
last example, users are billed per kWh, without a subscription plan. using AMPECO’s charging management system, still schedules the
vehicle to charge at the times with the lowest rates while ensuring the
When looking to break into the home charging market, they faced one desired kWh set by the user.
big challenge in creating their value proposition: none of the
electricity service providers offered flexible pricing. The CPO then transfers a portion of the savings to the EV drivers in
the form of public charging credits. These credits could then be spent
To overcome this, they came up with an innovative solution. By on any of the CPOs public charging stations or those of other
partnering with the electricity provider, they were provided with a operators who the CPO has roaming agreements with. Through
day-ahead electricity cost API. This meant that they knew exactly how innovative thinking and passing the savings on to its customers, the
much electricity would cost each hour for the next 24 hours. They CPO was able to build customer loyalty and significantly increase its
then used this information to offer their customers smart scheduling. market share.
SUCCESS STORY 3
FUEL CARD COMPANY ENTERING THE EV CHARGING MARKET

For our third example, let’s take a look at something a little different. The only difference was that this time, drivers used the company’s
Perhaps you’re not already an established eMSP or CPO, and are card to charge at public charging stations. The company soon
looking to break into the EV charging market. encountered a new problem. They learned pretty quickly that EVs
aren’t charged the same way that petrol cars are fuelled. Many of the
This was the case with this client: a fuel card company that offered drivers were charging at home and being charged by their electricity
businesses with their own fleet fuel cards to use at petrol stations for companies for the additional power they consumed.
their internal combustion vehicles. The business model was simple.
Employees used the card to fill up at gas stations and, at the end of A new question arose: how could the fleet operators reimburse their
the month, the fleet owner pays the total amount accumulated to the drivers for the amount they spent charging at home? Through
fuel card operator. understanding the home charging market and thinking strategically,
the CPO set up agreements with other charge point installers to their
The company faced a dilemma: how to expand their business model eMSP platform on its home charging stations.
to capture the expanding market of corporate EV fleets hitting the
roads. Its business clients needed a way for their employees to fill up By using AMPECO’s charging management platform, the company
their EVs, without having to pay on their own. At first, the fuel card was able to track each driver’s consumption and calculate
company decided to become an eMSP, obtain roaming agreements reimbursements. Even better, they had turned the EV fleet operator’s
with charge point operators, and offer what was essentially the same employees into a loyal customer base. This allowed the old school fuel
service to its business owners. card business to become a prominent player in the market as an
eMSP.
HOW AMPECO CAN FUEL YOUR GROWTH
IN THE HOME CHARGING MARKET
As we have seen, home charging presents enormous opportunities for Monitor your charge point stations, customize payment and billing,
service providers to expand their business models and capture a set up roaming partnerships, and schedule smart energy management
greater share of this growing market. At AMPECO, we enable your all at your fingertips. If you’re looking to grow your business in the
business with the tools you need to build and grow a successful EV home charging market, we offer a wide variety of solutions to help
charging business. your business succeed.

Whether you’re an established CPO or an eMSP looking to get off the

ground, our team of experts are here to help your business thrive. We
offer a white-label management platform customized to fit your
business needs.
One dashboard to manage your charging
network
As a charging service provider, we know you have a lot to manage. From
infrastructure management, to roaming partnerships, to billing, we understand how
hard it can be to keep track of everything.

That’s why we’ve created one app to help you manage all your entire charging
network.
 All your services offered under one app Open API
Build unparalleled loyalty among your EV driver customers with complete No matter which strategy you choose, open API provides endless choices for
monitoring of their home charging and access to public charging networks, all customization, integration and partnership. Partner with other networks through
incorporated into a single app. roaming or establish relationships with electricity providers. Your customers will
thank you for the convenience and cost savings.
Smart Charging features
Save your customers money by allowing them the flexibility to sync their charging
with off-peak electricity rates.

Partner with electricity distribution companies to schedule charging based on the

open market day-ahead tariff and pass the savings on to drivers by offering public
charging credits.

Track consumption and generate

reimbursement reports
Keep the driver savings coming. Partner with employers to track their employees’
home charging costs and issue reimbursements across the whole fleet.

Customize your billing and payment methods

Monetize your charging network and set up customized billing strategies with the
flexibility to match your business needs. Accept payment through any combination
of payment methods - credit cards, pay-as-you-go, top-up balance, or vouchers.

Set your pricing per kWh or minutes. Keep your customers coming back with
vouchers, top-up options, and automatic payment receipts.
Ready to start?
CONTACT US FOR A CONSULTATION AND PRODUCT DEMO

Are you ready to launch a successful home charging business? Already

started and looking to expand your market share?

Our EV charging expert team can answer all your questions and help create a
strategy that works best for you and your business.

[email protected] +442038784385