&Charge newsroom

&Charge, the leading platform for smart user engagement in the EV charging ecosystem, is set to revolutionize the EV driver experience with the introduction of an innovative SupportBot feature in the &Charge app. This new, recently released feature, aims to address common challenges faced by EV drivers, particularly newcomers to address common challenges faced by new and existing EV drivers to enhance their charging experience. The SupportBot was recently launched on the Source London charging network, operated by TotalEnergies, and is now available at all of their charging stations across London.

One of the primary challenges EV drivers face is navigating the complex charging infrastructure. Authentication issues, such as occupied charging spaces, malfunctioning membership cards and problematic card payments, and unexpected charging interruptions, can lead to frustration and wasted time, even when the charging infrastructure itself is fully functional.

&Charge’s new SupportBot feature is designed to provide immediate support and assistance to EV drivers when they encounter these common challenges. By offering real-time guidance and solutions, the SupportBot helps:

• Secure charging sessions: The SupportBot will help EV drivers troubleshoot authentication and payment issues to ensure a smooth and secure charging session.

• Route to available charging stations: In cases where a charging station is unavailable or facing technical issues, the bot will guide drivers to the nearest available charging station, prioritising the charging stations of &Charge partners. 

• Preventing drivers from getting stuck: By addressing problems swiftly, the SupportBot will prevent EV drivers from getting stuck at charging stations, allowing them to continue their journeys without issues.

• Reduce call center dependence: The bot aims to divert EV drivers from traditional call center support to a more efficient and user-friendly digital alternative.

The introduction of the SupportBot aligns with &Charge’s commitment to enhancing the overall EV charging experience. It offers added value to both businesses and EV drivers, as it is expected to reduce call volumes, and offer personalised support and fast(er) assistance. 

Nicolas Garnier, Managing Director of TotalEnergies Charging Solutions UK, states “launching the new SupportBot on our Source London network is a proud moment. This milestone gives customers even more ways to get the support they need, without having to make a call (although our phone lines are available 24/7, 365 days per year).

This SupportBot, deployed on Source London, is a great example of customer service innovation, made possible through our collaboration with our partners at &Charge.”

Simon Vogt, CSO and co-founder of &Charge: “We are quite excited about this cooperation. Source London is one of London’s largest electric vehicle charge-point networks and we are proud to be a trusted partner and help realize solid benefits for their charging infrastructure.

After we successfully established the cooperation last year, the launch of the SupportBot marks a huge milestone towards innovative support and assistance for EV drivers” 

Are you an EV driver? Download &Charge on the app store (Apple) or get it on Google Play (Android).

For businesses that want to improve the charging experience of EV drivers, contact &Charge here.   

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About &Charge 

&Charge is the leading platform combining smart user engagement with value-added services around EV charging. The technology company has established unique “plug and play” value-added services (Software as a Service) in the global E-Mobility ecosystem, available on the &Charge Value Platform via flexible APIs or the partner dashboard. & Charge’s smart reward mechanism is based on the first sustainable loyalty scheme for EV drivers. Users can collect &Charge kilometers for their activities like feedback on charging sessions and online shopping in more than 1,500 partner shops which can be redeemed for free charging sessions. This smart mechanism empowers the huge &Charge EV driver crowd and its strong daily engagement for crowd-sourced data around EV charging. 

The corresponding &Charge app is the dedicated daily companion for EV drivers and impresses with a unique gamification approach by which users also can reach certain levels and receive batches for their engagement. &Charge makes charging cheaper, more reliable, and just fun for every EV driver. Porsche Ventures and Helen Ventures have invested in the platform to accelerate the development and roll-out across Europe further.

Find more information at https://www.and-charge.com.

PRESS RELEASE

Introducing the &Charge value platform in the UK – offering CPOs the chance to enhance their business

Electric vehicle adoption is accelerating globally, and the demand for reliable, efficient, and user-friendly charging solutions is on the rise. CPOs play a big role in shaping this ecosystem, and &Charge is enabling them to take a giant leap forward in achieving their business objectives. The &Charge Platform offers CPOs real-time insights, enhanced reliability, and profitability in the ever-evolving EV charging industry.

&Charge’s value platform introduces a suite of tools and insights that enable CPOs to market their charging stations, increase the uptime of their charging infrastructure and use improved data around the charging location. These are some examples of things that the &Charge value platform offers:

• &Charge Operations Management makes it possible to engage the experienced &Charge Crowd to perform validations and checks on site (incl. dedicated Services Level) instead of sending expensive technicians and third party providers (e.g. time critical validations of incidents, complete audits and assessments of the entire infrastructure)

• &Charge Reputation Management is your direct line to every EV driver at your charging stations. Receive real-time feedback on the charging experiences of your customers incl. the Net Promoter Score (neutral) as key KPI for your daily operations

• &Charge POI Data Management offers validated, enhanced and enriched POI data from and around charging stations to always guarantee the highest possible data quality for your charging network and increase the overall appearance and brand awareness

• &Charge Loyalty / Retention Management offers a campaign tool to acquire new customers and enrich existing customers by a smart reward mechanism.

These real-time data insights empower CPOs to make data-driven decisions, optimize operations and provide a superior charging experience.

The success of &Charge’s value proposition is validated through partnerships with industry leaders such as IONITY and Source London. IONITY has integrated &Charge’s solution to gain structured feedback and insights from users, ensuring the quality and performance of their charging stations. This is what IONITY says about the collaboration: 

‍ “The collaboration with &Charge is an important component of our quality assurance: feedback related to our charging stations is fed into our systems in a structured way via an interface. We can then evaluate potential issues and act quickly. The crowd-source approach of &Charge helps us to intensify the relationship with our customers across borders and to benefit from the daily experiences of the community.“

Source London is also collaborating with &Charge to enhance the overall charging experience for EV drivers and gathers real-time feedback on the charging experience via dedicated &Charge QR code on every charging station in London. The upcoming integration with an innovative Support Bot further showcases &Charge’s commitment to innovation and problem-solving in the industry.

‍With the &Charge Value Platform, CPOs can confidently navigate the evolving landscape of EV charging, providing seamless, reliable, and rewarding experiences to EV drivers. &Charge’s mission to transform charging into a fulfilling experience extends to both consumers and businesses, contributing to the growth of the electric vehicle ecosystem worldwide.

Want to become part of the world’s leading platform to gain real-time insights at charging locations? Please visit https://and-charge.com/#/emobility-partner

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About &Charge 

&Charge is the leading platform combining smart user engagement with value-added services around EV charging. The technology company has established unique “plug and play” value-added services (Software as a Service) in the global E-Mobility ecosystem, available on the &Charge Value Platform via flexible APIs or the partner dashboard. & Charge’s smart reward mechanism is based on the first sustainable loyalty scheme for EV drivers. Users can collect &Charge kilometers for their activities like feedback on charging sessions and online shopping in more than 1,500 partner shops which can be redeemed for free charging sessions. This smart mechanism empowers the huge &Charge EV driver crowd and its strong daily engagement for crowd-sourced data around EV charging. 

The corresponding &Charge app is the dedicated daily companion for EV drivers and impresses with a unique gamification approach by which users also can reach certain levels and receive batches for their engagement. &Charge makes charging cheaper, more reliable, and just fun for every EV driver. Porsche Ventures and Helen Ventures have invested in the platform to accelerate the development and roll-out across Europe further.

Find more information at https://www.and-charge.com.

Press contact

For more information and media opportunities, please contact And-ChargePR@nexxtindustry.com – Phone +31 85 060 13 11.

By contributing to &Charge, you are actively contributing to a better charging infrastructure! Did you know that you automatically collect points with every EV enthusiast contribution and participate in a league every month?

‍A league starts anew every month – for promotion and relegation the monthly points collected during the league are counted. The most active users of a month advance to the highest league – so you have the opportunity to reach the top of the ranking every month again.
Enthusiast points also increase your Enthusiast level and unlock you for additional features.

In total there are four different leagues (Schuko, AC, DC and HPC league). There are 10 points for checking in at a charging location and 5 points each for each completed charging location challenge, accepted image, wallbox sharing session, added charging location, improved record at charging location and verified record.

How to do a check-in:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lfwZ0YwpIYo

How to solve a challenge:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PJ-RTy6wbXc

Your EV Enthusiast points can be spent on various loot boxes that contain random content.
Redeeming points for a crate only reduces the number of points you have available, so you and other &Chargies can still see how many points you’ve earned in total.

There are five different loot crates to choose from, which can contain either common, rare, epic or legendary stickers, profile frames or kilometers.

Try it out right now and become an EV enthusiast:
https://kylomtr.me/ln/zwOiB

In our new series “Charging station of the month”, we will report in future on charging stations that have particularly caught our eye this month. These can be, for example, top-rated charging parks with particularly outstanding equipment (lighting, w-lan on site, etc.) or curious examples of unusable charging columns that could be forwarded to the charging station operator by the &Charge community.

Just recently, something happened in Remscheid West (Germany) that we have not seen before either. At the highway location in Remscheid West, a truck actually crashed into an HPC charging station. Less than 15 minutes later, this incident was reported by the community via the &Charge app – including detailed challenge photos and descriptions.

Pics made by &Charge users in the &Charge app:

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Although the incident was promptly reported to the CPO (charging point operator) by the police, the challenge photos were instrumental in assessing the property damage and were passed on to the insurance company for further investigation.
The CPO has informed us that the reconstruction of the station will be started immediately.

The entire &Charge team would like to thank you, also on behalf of the CPO, for your commitment and dedication! You are actively helping to ensure that defects can be reported more quickly and thus also remedied more quickly.

Thank you very much!

Electricity prices are rising and many e-car drivers are wondering how they can reduce their energy consumption in everyday life and thus save some money.
With our tips, you can save electricity when driving electric and even gain range.

What you should look out for when buying an electric car:

Before you buy an electric car, there are a few factors you should consider to ensure you get the best e-car for your needs. Here are a few things to look out for.

Battery Capacity / Range: Check the range of the car when it is fully charged and make sure it is sufficient for your daily driving needs. Saving energy starts with the selection of the electric car. That’s why when choosing an electric car, make sure the battery capacity is right for you. After all, the bigger the battery, the heavier it is, and more weight means: higher energy consumption.

Charging times: Consider how long it takes to recharge the car and whether it fits comfortably into your daily routine. It is also advisable to charge the electric car at a wallbox instead of a standard household socket. This way, your car will not only charge safer and faster, but also more efficiently.

Availability of charging stations: If you don’t have your own charging facility at home, check if there are enough charging stations in your area to charge your e-car.

Performance and driving behavior: Check the e-car’s performance and ride, including acceleration, handling and stability, and make sure it meets your needs.

So how can I save electricity if I’ve already decided to buy an electric car?

The biggest impact on the energy consumption of an electric car is the individual driving style and charging behavior. Apart from that, there are also factors such as the outside temperature, but these cannot be influenced.

Details such as rim size and tire pressure also have an impact on the range of your e-car. To reduce consumption, it is recommended to use the smallest possible rim size. For example, 1 inch can make a difference of 30km range.

Tires also play a role. Narrow and rolling resistance optimized tires with aerodynamically closed rims have a positive effect. About 0.2 bar additional tire pressure is usually not a problem and can provide additional range.

Of course, the same applies as with the internal combustion engine: Avoid unnecessary luggage. The lower the vehicle weight and the air resistance, the more energy-efficient you will be.

What else should you consider when driving?

Use regenerative braking energy:
The term “recuperation” describes the technical process of recovering energy when slowing down in hybrids or all-electric cars. This happens when you take your foot off the gas without touching the brake pedal. This noticeable resistance is precisely what recuperation is.

Try to use this recuperation as often as possible instead of the brake to use regenerative braking energy. The electric motor converts the kinetic energy generated during driving back into electrical energy. This is stored in the battery and provides more range for the electric vehicle.

Avoid unnecessary acceleration and deceleration:
Accelerate gently and avoid abrupt braking, as this increases energy consumption. Let your e-car coast when you want to slow down.

Driving at higher speeds has the greatest impact on range. You will notice this especially when driving longer distances on the highway. The reason for this is that high speed requires more energy due to the higher air resistance. Therefore, avoid excessive speed. Try to maintain a constant speed instead of accelerating quickly and then braking again, as this increases energy consumption.

It is recommended to use the eco or energy saving mode. This reduces energy consumption by limiting functions such as air conditioning or engine power.

Plan the route carefully: try to plan the route so that you have as little stop and go traffic as possible and drive on roads with low traffic volumes to minimize energy consumption.

Have fun saving energy 🙂

Saving money when charging at IONITY

EVs are increasingly becoming more popular, and the need for convenient and reliable charging solutions has never been greater. IONITY is a leading provider of high-power EV charging solutions, with a network of stations across Europe.

If you’re regularly travelling longer distances with your EV, you’ll probably need to charge on the highway regularly. So while you’re shaking off your feet to get refreshed, how about earning money for your next charge?

Here are 3 reasons why you should try a Challenge while you charge at IONITY:

1. Earn a little saving for your next charge

2. Climb up the &Charge leaderboard and be a charging hero

3. Help the community and IONITY to have a great charging experience

All it takes is doing a quick visual inspection – answering a few questions and taking some photos of the charger. It’s that simple. Check out how our &Chargie Arne did one on a recent journey: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WzWXhYuunRY

All open Challenges can be found in the &Charge App.

So the questions is:
When will you do your first challenge? 😊