Features
10 mai 21

Charge your EV on your neighbour’s driveway

As their range and price have brought them within reach of the average driver, electric cars have become ideal fleet cars. However, the ideal becomes less so when drivers don’t have access to a home charger. Co Charger is a British start-up that could have the answer.

Each fleet has its own approach to dealing with drivers that don’t have access to a home charger. Some choose to assign such drivers an ICE vehicle. Others see no objection if charging at the office can be a valid alternative. Still others expect their drivers to rely on public chargers.

In the UK, there is now a new option: downloading the Co Charger app and using one of your neighbour’s chargers. You can charge your car, your neighbour can make some money.

CEO Joel Teague (pictured, right) told us what it is about:

“Co Charger is based on my personal experience.  A neighbour convinced me to buy my first EV and when it arrived I was told the home charger would be another six weeks away. So I ended up using that neighbour’s charger once a week, dropping the car off and plugging it in, putting some money through the door, then walking home. It worked, so years later when the need for a solution for those who cannot charge at home became clear, that concept was the driver behind Co Charger.”

Is it C2C or is there also a corporate solution?

“There are two core models: domestic and commercial. The former is simply the sharing of home chargers among neighbourhoods, but the commercial version does the same with small businesses and organisations with car parks; it enables them to make good revenue from staff and customer chargers out of hours. However, over this year we are adding full fleet support functionality that enables fleet operators to make best use of Community Charging to accelerate their fleet electrification programmes.”

Is it limited to the UK?

“Currently we’re just in the UK, but with the intention of extending to other markets as soon as things are up and running here – which means months rather than years. We’ve already had enquiries from the USA, Canada, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Australia – it’s going to happen quickly!”

“At Co Charger we are already talking to fleet operators such as DPD, Centrica and Sherbet Cabs about how Co Charger can enable them to accelerate and streamline their ambitious electrification programmes, at no cost and to the benefit of everyone. The fact that the platform is free, carries no contracts or ongoing obligations, and works with any electric vehicle and any charger, makes it an obvious part of the electrification plans for any fleet operator.”

Images: Co Charger

Authored by: Benjamin Uyttebroeck