Episode 290
290 - The Mid-Season Round Table 15
Are there really 160 different EV charging apps in the UK?
In this Mid-Season Round Table, we dive deep into the biggest hurdles facing EV drivers today.
Joining me are Jade Edwards from Zapmap and Victoria Hutton, an EV marketer, to tackle three massive topics:
⚡ The Metric Shift: Why counting "devices" is outdated and how Zapmap & the DfT are changing the way we measure charging hubs.
📱 The App War: Is the proliferation of CPO apps helping or hurting the user experience? We debate whether we need a "single app" solution.
💰 The EV Tax (eVED): A frank discussion on the upcoming 3p-a-mile tax, the messaging behind it, and what it means for the future of EV adoption.
#EV #ElectricVehicles #ChargingInfrastructure #Zapmap #UKPolitics #EVTax
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Transcript
I remember Sam Clark from GridServe raised it at one point when we often share stats on
the number of hubs that are around the UK and how that's grown.
2
:And he raised a point that said, you know, we are seeing that growth and that's fantastic.
3
:What about the size of the hubs?
4
:How many EV chargers, how many cars can charge in those hubs?
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:How's that changing?
6
:I can't start and stop a Tesla charge without using the Tesla app.
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:So that's kind of...
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:built in And for those pedantics who are listening, unless I'm using the V4 Tesla
supercharger that has the card reader on it, I do understand that,
9
:That's over 160 apps that ideally a person should have on their phone at the same time in
order for them to charge at any point, anywhere, just in the UK.
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:We're not even talking about Europe.
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:Hi, I'm Gary and this is episode 290 of EV Musings, a podcast about renewables, electric
vehicles and things that are interesting to electric vehicle owners.
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:And on the show today, it's the mid-season round table episode.
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:Now, before we start, I do want to remind you about the sister podcast I do called the
Commercial EV Musings podcast.
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:It's B2B focused and we've got some great discussions on there with companies like Amplify
EV, TransitionWise,
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:and soon to be released, Valor Power.
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:You can find that on YouTube at evmusings.com slash commercial.
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:Once you've listened to this show, if you enjoyed it, a like, a comment or a subscribe
would be most appreciated.
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:Thank you.
19
:So welcome to episode 290 of the podcast.
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:As usual, I've got some specially invited guests.
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:We'll discuss important matters in the EV space and when we put the world to rights, we'll
continue with the next topic.
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:And as this is the mid-season episode, have two guests.
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:The three guests are reserved for the end of season episode, both of whom have great
topics to discuss.
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:So let me introduce them.
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:From podcast sponsors Zapmap, we have Jade Edwards, who is the head of insights there.
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:Jade is a past guest on the show, having appeared on episode 192, the data insights
episode.
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:Welcome, Jade.
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:Hi Gary, nice to be here.
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:Thank you for joining us.
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:I'm also joined today by Victoria Hutton, is a marketing expert specializing in the EV and
mobility sector.
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:Victoria worked on the digital ecosystem supporting the launch of Polestar's first
electric vehicles and later led digital marketing at InstaVolt, one of the UK's largest
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:public charging networks.
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:Welcome, Victoria.
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:Hello, Gary.
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:Hello, Jade.
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:Thank you very much for having me.
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:So let's get right into it.
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:Now, this is the point where I hand the show over to one of you to introduce your topic.
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:And today I think we'll start with Jade.
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:So what are we discussing today, Jade?
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:Yeah, so what I thought we could discuss today was that recently we've updated the way
that we count the number of EV chargers in the UK and that's something that Zapmap has
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:done in conjunction with the Department for Transport so the official statistics that the
government use and that are published on the growth of the charging network are now
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:reflecting a slightly different count than they were previously.
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:Wonderful.
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:So my opening question on this is why?
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:What is it giving us that we didn't have before?
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:Yeah, so why we've changed it is that originally, when Zapmap and then the Department for
Transport started reporting on how many EV chargers were out there in the UK, there was no
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:set way of doing that.
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:And there wasn't really a lot of data that was being shared across the industry.
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:They started in about 2014 with this.
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:So it really was, you know, really sort of early in the transition and in that rollout.
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:And so at the time, there were two ways that you could really think about it.
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:You could think about the number of connectors that there were.
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:So there was a CHAdeMO connector, there was a CCS connector, there was a Type 2 connector.
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:So you could count up all those connectors across the UK and use that number.
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:Or you could look at the number of chargers that were out there and physically the kind of
the boxes and the housing, which is Zapmap called the devices, and you could count those.
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:and at the time it was felt that if you tried to count all those individual connectors,
you'd vastly overestimate the number of cars that would actually be able to charge.
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:And so really that kind of provision would have been over counted.
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:So at the time, Zapmap and the Department of Transport decided to count the devices, the
kind of number of boxes that were out there.
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:So that's what's been counted to date.
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:The change is that as OCPI has become a ingrained within the charge point industry as a
way of the charge point operators sharing their data with platforms like Zapmap, OCPI
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:includes what is termed an EVSE, electric vehicle supply equipment.
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:That's a well-known term in the industry.
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:It's not a nice, friendly term for the general public, for EV drivers.
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:So we call it EV Chargers.
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:But basically,
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:this EVSE or EV charger is what controls the charge session with a car.
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:And that data is now being shared with Zapmap with other EMSPs and across the industry.
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:And so moving to count those rather than the devices or the connectors is the best way of
representing how many cars can actually charge simultaneously across the UK.
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:It's not perfect.
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:but it's the best way there is at the moment.
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:So Victoria, I know you can't speak in detail about some of the things at InstaVolt, but I
know you were involved in the Winchester Super Hub where they've put 44 uh chargers in
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:there, but some of those were dual headed ones, Chademo and CCS.
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:Do you recall off the top of your head, are they able to charge two vehicles at the same
time or is it CCS or Chademo?
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:It is CCS or Chademo.
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:So essentially one charger would provide the charging for one car at a time, either
through CCS connection or through the Chademo.
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:But I think just to add on a point that Jade was making, I think it's great that the
changes are happening.
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:However, from a marketing perspective, I guess I have a question to Jade.
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:And for me, it's always been a bit strange to market the chargers
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:from the charger perspective rather than from the location.
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:So consumer obviously, first of all, trying to find where the location of the charger
exists and then find how many chargers available there to estimate whether they will be
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:able to charge when they arrive or if they're not gonna be able to charge.
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:So my question is, why do we count individual chargers versus location?
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:on top of why we have to charge
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:The chargers is because some of the sites will be upgraded and some of them will be
downgraded and you constantly then have to refresh the number of EVSE connectors.
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:And that is a lot of work to keep up to date with the numbers.
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:Yeah, really good question.
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:So on the first point, why not count locations?
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:We do count locations as well because it is a really important metric.
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:But you do want to try and reflect how many, when you're talking about the actual size of
the overall provision, you do really want to try and reflect as much as possible and how
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:many cars would that actually enable to charge?
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:And the difference between the number of locations that have got
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:just one charger because maybe that's an on-street location and that counts as one versus
something like the Winchester Hub.
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:You know, you'd be, it's not apples with apples.
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:So trying to go down to the EV charger level tries to give you a consistent base in which
to count them all equally.
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:But we always talk about how that's split through on.
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:route charging, destination charging on street, we always talk about that split and the
split by the power rating because it does make a huge difference, know, not every charger
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:is equal in those terms.
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:So I think that's really important.
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:And then I've forgotten the second part of the question.
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:I don't know, what was the part Victoria?
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:the second part, Victoria?
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:And I can answer that part.
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:trying to recall now as well, actually.
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:While you're thinking about that, can I just ask a of a related marketing question?
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:What sort of marketing or education is Zapmap doing on these changes out to the general
public?
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:Because as far as a lot of people are concerned, had whatever it was, 80 odd thousand
places that you could charge.
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:Now it seems we've got 120,000 places that you can charge.
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:And that could be confusing for some people.
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:What education has been done to help people understand the differences?
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:So we've, as part of our stats page that we update every month, we've created an explainer
page that links off that main page to talk about the differences and what's changed.
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:The DFT put out a press release that talked about some of these changes and they've done a
really good set of FAQs that are linked to the official statistics.
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:When you download that data, you can also download these FAQs where they've tried to
explain
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:all the different aspects and the changes and that seems to have landed quite well.
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:As Zapmap we are just bringing this language and this change into all the comms that we do
going forwards.
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:We're updating all our guides and all the pages on the website and so everything we put
out we're doing that way and we've also been trying to get the rest of the industry on
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:board as well so that we can kind of all do this together.
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:and just help make sure that when the media are picking stories up, when they're writing
about things, we're all giving them the same kind of terminology and the same messages
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:because it's the consistency that's the key.
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:And that's why, you know, we wanted to make this change in step with the government and in
sharing it with other industry partners because it is the consistency's key.
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:Otherwise it just gets more confusing again.
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:That makes sense.
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:Do have a question, Victoria?
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:Yeah, I think on the, on the subject of consistency, the second part was obviously you
have to update the EVEC data quite regularly to keep that consistency, but charging
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:providers sometimes reduce the number of chargers at a location as well as add.
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:For example, Banbury Gary, would know started as a few chargers and now has got over 30
chargers at that location.
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:And that location grew over a few years.
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:And it kind of feels like you making obviously your work a little bit harder as well from
that perspective.
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:Yeah, well, I think that's exactly why we're doing it.
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:It's because if we didn't count at the EV charger level, we'd miss the fact that a lot of
these locations are getting better and better.
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:I remember Sam Clark from GridServe raised it at one point when we often share stats on
the number of hubs that are around the UK and how that's grown.
132
:And he raised a point that said, you know, we are seeing that growth and that's fantastic.
133
:What about the size of the hubs?
134
:How many EV chargers, how many cars can charge in those hubs?
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:How's that changing?
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:And actually we see that grow as well, because as you say, there's lots of projects to
increase the provision at key sites.
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:So that is, know, yes, it's a harder job than reporting on the number of locations, but we
have that data.
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:We need that data to be accurate in Zapmap.
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:and to help EV drivers.
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:so for us, it's why not share that at that level and to reflect all the amazing work
that's going on from the Chargepoint industry.
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:And I think I want to sort of loop back to something you said earlier.
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:You mentioned OCPI, which is the Open Charge Point Interface, I believe, as opposed to
OCPP, which is the open charge point protocol.
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:So OCPI is what you're using to gather some of this data, is that correct?
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:So does every charger in the UK adhere to the OCPI standard?
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:Not everything, no.
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:The vast majority, and it's moving more and more and more, we can still cope with other
APIs that are OCPI format, but yeah, it's absolutely the way it's going.
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:And the public charge point regulations say that any charge point operator that meets the
criteria has to use OCPI to provide data.
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:So yeah.
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:It's very, very rare now that we've got something still that's not OCPI.
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:Okay.
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:And are you able to talk about what changes have been made to the Zapmap app?
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:Try saying that three times quickly to accommodate the updates that you've talked about.
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:So on the app, most of those changes are following on from the changes that we've made on
the stats page and with the official statistics.
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:So there's lots of other work that's going on with the app that they will sort of flow
through as we go forward.
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:The big thing that we've changed on the app recently is showing the price markers.
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:So there's obviously been a lot of focus on that because that was felt as a...
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:really high priority for drivers to be able to start seeing and surfacing that
information.
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:So that went to the top of the queue.
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:Okay.
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:And one of the things that I think I alluded to earlier when I was talking to Victoria
about the CHADMO CCS, one of the things that, and I'm not picking on Zatmod because I
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:think this happens on other services that define the number of chargers that are
available.
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:It used to be that if there was one charger that had one EVSE and two cables,
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:If one of those cables was being used, the other one was shown as available on certain
apps.
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:So, you know, if a CCS charger was being used, if the CCS cable was being used, somebody
like me who used to have a Kia Soul that had Chattemo, I go, all right, I could charge
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:there.
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:But of course I can't because there's only one EVSE.
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:So do we know if that kind of availability metric or posh word of the day, heuristic, is
being captured correctly within
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:Zapmap and within the other Roman services that use that.
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:Yeah, it does depend on the different chargement operators can send to that differently.
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:So it does depend on how it's sent, but there are lots where what they're trying to move
more towards is that if it is being controlled by one EV charger, that you'll get the
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:charging on one of those connectors and then you'll get the not available on the other
one.
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:So it's definitely trying to be clearer on that and we have seen that and we do see that
on a lot of CPOs and the way that the data comes through to us.
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:Do you have any more questions on this, Victoria, before we move on?
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:No, no questions.
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:Fantastic.
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:Any closing comments, Jade?
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:In comments, would say that the industry has developed so much over the past few years
that this was one of those key changes that really helps us to measure the UK's progress
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:better with international standards so that we're more consistent with how we measure
things and other countries do as well.
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:So I think it was really important for that perspective as well.
180
:and hopefully everybody seems to be getting behind it and we've made that sort shift
change which was the difficult part.
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:Now we can just continue to see how that kind of beds in.
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:My personal opinion on this is it's a move in the right direction.
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:It's absolutely what we need.
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:It gives more accurate, more up-to-date information and that's got to be good for the end
user.
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:So, appreciate that.
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:Thank you very much, Jade.
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:% agree as well.
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:100 % agree.
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:It's definitely a move towards the right direction.
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:Now, Victoria, over to you.
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:What's your topic of discussion?
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:Thanks, Gary.
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:Well, I guess as a digital marketeer or person who specializes in digital with everything
online on their phone as well, it came to my attention that there are more and more apps
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:being developed for people to charge.
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:We currently have got 150 charging operators.
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:In addition to this, we have got roaming partners.
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:In addition to this, we also have got car manufacturers that are also very keen to produce
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:their own app to allow people to charge their cars when they arrive to the charging
location.
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:That's over 160 apps that ideally a person should have on their phone at the same time in
order for them to charge at any point, anywhere, just in the UK.
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:We're not even talking about Europe.
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:My view from marketing perspective is in this particular instance, the user experience
should be prioritized.
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:it needs to be easier because the number of apps that everyone has to download and then
obviously register there is just becoming ridiculous.
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:I do however understand why brands are still very keen to develop their apps, but I would
really like to hear what you guys think on this topic.
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:Now I have my own opinion on this and I'm happy to share that in a short while.
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:But Jade, I want you to open on this if you wouldn't mind.
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:Yeah, I think it is an interesting question.
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:think I can understand why Chargepoint operators want to have an app because they want to
be able to kind of own the customer in those kind of marketing terms and be able to really
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:understand their customers, understand who's charging with them and therefore develop
their services to better meet their needs.
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:So I do understand that.
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:However, I think as you say, from a customer perspective,
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:When you have got a wide variety of ChargePoint operators that you could be visiting, it
doesn't make sense to have all these separate apps.
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:What we're trying to do at Zapmap and other EMSPs are trying to do is say, actually, if we
put all these in one place in one app, we enable you to pay for those ChargePoints via
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:that app.
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:then you've got that choice, you can make those decisions about actually where are you
going to charge and we can give you that variety of information about all these different
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:providers.
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:And that's part of us adding in the pricing view is because then people, that's what they
want to make the choice on, they're able to do that.
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:And that's really what the customer wants is different ways of making a decision about
where they're going to charge depending on what's most important to them at the time.
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:And the other piece I think is that there's lots of things that a ChargePoint operator
should be good at doing and should really focus on being excellent at.
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:Building and running an app feels like that doesn't need to be something that they're
spending their time and their efforts on.
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:There are providers like Zapmap who that is what we do.
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:It is about building and providing an app.
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:And so I feel like that.
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:do what your strengths lie and where you can make the biggest difference to the end
customer.
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:100%.
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:And if I had the graphics, I'd be going, yay, because I totally agree with what you're
saying there.
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:It basically comes down to there's a choice that every ChargePoint operator has to make.
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:it's do we make this the easiest it can be for the customer or do we make this the easiest
it can be for the ChargePoint operator?
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:And it's, know, I like to play.
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:I'm known for playing devil's advocate on this.
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:So, you know, I'm looking at this and I'm saying, right, I'm a ChargePoint operator.
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:And to me,
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:The best thing for me as a company is to get as much data as I can from all my customers.
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:And I may use that to make the service for the customer better, or I may not.
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:I may use that for other internal purposes or even sell it onto third party companies.
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:We know that happens.
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:So the question then is,
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:Why as a charge point operator, if you're looking at customers as being the source of your
income, why are you not making it as easy as you can for them?
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:Why don't you put in plug and charge?
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:Why don't you look at things that will decrease the pricing?
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:Why don't you put canopies on charge points?
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:That sort of thing.
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:But no, a lot of them are very much more focused on saying, right, no, we've got this app
and this app will allow you to locate the charger and it will allow you to pay for the
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:charger.
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:and you know you might even get a discount.
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:Fine.
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:As you say, Jay, there are other apps, yours included, which will do exactly the same
thing.
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:So you've got a duplication that's giving no benefit to the customer.
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:Plus, and you've probably seen this on social media, whenever you go on there, new EV
driver, first time they go to a public charger.
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:How do I start this?
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:What's up there?
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:Download our app.
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:And then underneath it goes, well, you can use a
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:Contactless card.
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:So they're pushing.
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:went to, I saw one EV point a couple of years ago now.
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:It literally had four QR codes on the front of the unit to download the app to make that.
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:Just one little thing at the bottom saying, and you can use contactless.
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:Four QR codes versus one contactless.
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:So what's the new EV driver going to do?
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:They're going to download that app and then they're to go to the next CPO.
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:Same thing.
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:And as you say, Victoria, they're to end up with 150 different apps.
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:But I think Niall Ridell from PAUA I think he's up to about 200 on his phone.
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:If you ever see him, ask him to scroll through all the EV apps that he's got on his phone.
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:It's fantastic.
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:So yes, to me, it's the ChargePoint operators focusing on the wrong thing.
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:They're focusing on what they can get from the customer rather than what they can give to
the customer.
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:Does that make sense?
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:Definitely makes sense to me.
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:And I agree with both of you.
271
:From my perspective, when I was investigating the benefits and downsides of having the
app, obviously there are benefits as data, as we have talked about it, but unfortunately,
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:if you don't have a very good CRM system in place, then the data that you're receiving
can't really be used very well because you still have to have somebody who will analyze
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:the data, they will segment it.
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:then they will pass it to marketeers like me to actually make use out of it.
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:And quite often in startup or scale up companies, there is just not enough budget.
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:mean, Jade, you probably know developing an app is very cost inefficient unless it's your
prime income source.
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:So from that perspective, I think spending a huge amount of money to develop an app and
make it secure and make it very user friendly, et cetera, et cetera.
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:is not the best way to invest the money.
279
:However, I do have a question for you, Jade, because you have mentioned a couple of things
that really was interesting.
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:First thing you said Zapmap is trying to develop a one app to go to.
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:Why do you say trying?
282
:Is that something that you have proposed to CPS already?
283
:And if you have received...
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:reservation from their site?
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:Would you be able to share what sorts of reservations you come across most of the time?
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:No, so I think what I mean is that we at the moment have got, well, as we've shared on the
numbers of the EV chargers, about 118,000 EV chargers showing on Zapmap, which is pretty
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:much all of the ones in the UK.
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:And then about 80,000 of those you can pay at using the Zapmap app or the RFID card.
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:So,
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:it's about increasing that coverage.
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:That's what we're trying to do is increase that coverage as much as possible so that that
EV driver who is new doesn't worry about downloading all different apps.
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:They download Zapmap and then that serves their needs for how when they're then trying to
choose which and where to go to charge.
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:So I think it's just about developing that really.
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:And then you will have, you know, we have competition on that and that's absolutely fine.
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:You would want in the market is you want.
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:a few providers that are working hard to compete against each other and bring out the best
features, give the best service they can to EV drivers to win them over to using their
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:app.
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:And then the EV drivers are getting a great service.
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:They've got choice, but they've not, they're not overwhelmed with having to download so
many different things.
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:They can make some choices through a limited number of providers who are really competing
hard to make sure they're developing the best stuff.
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:So hypothetically, should you be able or Zapmap, not you, should Zapmap be able to become,
let's say a Google of charging operators, location, navigation, and paying for it?
302
:The question is, if the rest of the CPOs, for example, will say, okay, we are giving up on
our app, we just want to make sure there is the best experience for the user, what do we
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:do with the data?
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:How can then CPOs remove that thoughts about, my God but what about my data?
305
:I need my data, I need to know about the customer.
306
:Is that something that Zapmap would like to share with everyone openly as well as with
individual CPOs as well as like the other CPOs?
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:What's your thinking about that, Jade?
308
:Yeah, so I mean, that's my job is I'm, I head up Zapmap Insights.
309
:So my job is to go, okay, with the data that is out there and that we can access via the
app, what should we do with it in order to help the industry progress and who needs that
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:data to help them provide a better service for EV drivers?
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:That's the kind of loop we have at Zapmap.
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:So yeah, absolutely.
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:It's about going at the moment we have products and services.
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:based on the data that flows into us that helps the ChargePoint operators develop.
315
:And we always look into how we enhance those, bring in new services, and yeah, basically
create that ecosystem of making sure the data is available where it needs to be.
316
:With all the obvious restrictions about what we can or can't share, at the moment we don't
share anything that's to do with EV drivers.
317
:themselves through the app.
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:It's not their data.
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:It's the data that the Chargepoint operators send to us via OCPI.
320
:That's what our products and services are around.
321
:But as we move into the future, it will be looking at what else should we do that helps
everybody in the best way.
322
:I've got to jump in here because again, I've got to put my devil's advocate hat on there.
323
:If we get to that situation a number of years down the line where Zapmap is the preeminent
app that everybody uses and the ChargePoint operator apps have diminished down to a much
324
:lower number, if you're gathering all that data on behalf of the ChargePoint operators,
are you going to be giving it to them or are you going to be selling it to them?
325
:Well, most likely we'd be selling it because at the end of the day, we are a commercial
business and we charge very little to EV drivers and we always want to have a free app for
326
:EV drivers.
327
:So that is a core kind of piece within the company is about making sure we are helping EV
drivers and we're on their side.
328
:Chargepoint operators are our major stakeholders and our partners and we work with them
really collaboratively.
329
:But you've to balance the books, haven't you?
330
:We're going to be constantly developing an app that adds real value to Chargepoint
operators because what we want is that the app works so well for EV drivers that it's
331
:driving up demand for Chargepoint operators.
332
:They'll be very happy the more we're pushing utilization of their chargers.
333
:So it's about that balance.
334
:We have to work that balance out as we go and we always do that really collaboratively
with the charge point operators.
335
:I have a, notwithstanding what I've said earlier on about playing devil's advocate and
saying that, know, CPO shouldn't really have apps for every single one of them.
336
:I will put my hand up and say, there are a couple of CPO apps that I do currently use.
337
:And there's a couple of reasons why I use them.
338
:One is primarily due to pricing.
339
:There are a number of
340
:CPOs who will give you a reduced price on charging if you start and stop an app, sorry,
start and stop a charge via the app.
341
:And there are other charge point operators who have functionality in the app, which is,
it's missing from other apps, let's put it that way.
342
:So I'm thinking particularly of the Gridserve one where you can actually track your charge
curve within the app.
343
:So.
344
:I don't want to pick, because I know that there are ChargePoint operators who are going to
be listening to this and going Gary, Gary, Gary, you can't say that.
345
:You know, we want our apps, we need them for these reasons.
346
:And I fully understand that.
347
:And I think they're all legitimate reasons why some people would use some ChargePoint
operators app.
348
:I mean, the other one is Tesla.
349
:can't, as a non-Tesla driver, I can't start and stop a Tesla app.
350
:Why do I keep saying app instead of charge?
351
:I can't start and stop a Tesla charge without using the Tesla app.
352
:So that's kind of...
353
:built in there.
354
:And for those pedantics who are listening, unless I'm using the V4 Tesla supercharger that
has the card reader on it, I do understand that, that's fine.
355
:So I think, yes, I can see use cases where an app would be useful.
356
:I can't see a use case where every ChargePoint operator has their own app, which then
brings the next question up, which is, and
357
:I don't know whether you can answer this for Zapmap, Jay, because you're obviously not in
the app development, but some of that functionality that I've talked about at the CPO
358
:level would be really good to include in the Zapmap app, don't you think?
359
:Don't you think?
360
:I can definitely pass your feedback on on that one Gary.
361
:Fantastic.
362
:Do you have any more questions, Victoria?
363
:No more questions.
364
:I really enjoyed it.
365
:I guess from my professional perspective, I'm more keen for the user experience to be
prioritized versus development.
366
:And the way that digital world is moving on, I do feel like fractional feature development
is a little bit more efficient nowadays than just doing everything in house, having a
367
:whole marketing team in house, having a whole development team in house.
368
:It makes sense to work collaboratively and everyone focusing on their thing by making it
perfect versus just trying to do everything yourself.
369
:And I think this is where the app development is kind of can be entered into as well.
370
:Excellent, good.
371
:Thank you very much for that.
372
:My turn now.
373
:I want to talk about a subject which I think is near and dear to many of our hearts, which
is EVED, the electric vehicle excise duty.
374
:Now we all agree that EV drivers need to be able to pay their way and fill the gap which
has appeared in government finances through the potential loss of fuel duty because people
375
:aren't buying fuel if they've got electric vehicles.
376
:And the government is currently proposing this solution called EVED, otherwise known as
the three pence a mile tax.
377
:Now my thesis is that this is the wrong tax and the introduction at this stage is poorly
timed and it will result in fewer electric vehicles being sold in the short to midterm.
378
:On top of that, there are several proposed aspects to the tax, which are fairly troubling.
379
:And I'm happy to go into that in detail, but I want to put this to the panel of guests and
say, do you think EVED is the solution?
380
:And if not, what do we think the solution should be?
381
:And I'm going to ask Jade to take that question first, please.
382
:From a Zapmap perspective, we agree EV drivers should pay their way as the fuel duty
revenues will inevitably decrease over time.
383
:But we think this is definitely the wrong time to introduce something like this.
384
:We think it contradicts with the electric car grant.
385
:it's confused messaging on that.
386
:And it's definitely too early.
387
:the OBR did a review and think it could impact say 400,000 reduction in 400,000 cars.
388
:So that kind of reduction in demand, which is quite frightening really.
389
:so we think there's other things that need to be done before something like that is
introduced.
390
:So particularly looking at
391
:how we reduce the cost of public charging because this feels like a bit of a double whammy
on those people who can't charge at home.
392
:We know from looking at our data that for the vast majority of people, even when, or if
this three pence per mile tax comes in, for the vast majority of people who drive an EV,
393
:it will still be cheaper than if they had a petrol or diesel vehicle and were running
that.
394
:So we don't think it will change actually that headline.
395
:number in those terms but the optics are just not right particularly at this time.
396
:There are other things that should be focused on first before we look at this kind of
measure.
397
:Victoria, any thoughts?
398
:A very quick one.
399
:I personally disagree.
400
:This is a personal opinion.
401
:I disagree with the tax.
402
:To support Jade, I would say the timing is really poor.
403
:Just from the communication and marketing perspective, the timing of such message is just
very poorly structured.
404
:It took us a very long time to go through electrification and make it semi-normal.
405
:We've just started
406
:seeing people saying we don't have a range anxiety anymore and all of a sudden all these
incentives that every single car manufacturer, every single charging operator were trying
407
:to send over to convince consumer this is the new norm, all of a sudden it feels like this
new norm is being punished.
408
:And in addition to this, I just don't understand why electric
409
:car drivers have to pay for loss of fuel, isn't it the whole point that we need to start
having more clean energy and therefore this needs to be reinvested rather than suddenly
410
:subsidized by other users?
411
:But this is just my personal opinion.
412
:I don't think it's the right thing to do and I definitely don't think it's the right
timing to do that.
413
:I think the other thing is that especially while now with car tax, you can be being taxed
200 pounds a year for having an EV, but I know people with 10 year old petrol or diesel
414
:cars that are getting charged 20 pounds a year.
415
:that blew, I had kind of, that had passed me by and then someone said, said, no, no, that
can't be right.
416
:And then I went and I thought, oh my, like, what is that all about?
417
:Like, if you're not going to address that before you do a pay per mile tax that's just
aimed at EVs, I mean, that's the sort of stuff that the general public can understand.
418
:They know what they pay in car tax.
419
:And if they go, well, hold on, if I get rid of this old petrol car and go and get any,
you're going to charge me 10 times as much for my car tax.
420
:And now you're telling me you're going to be charging me a pay per mile.
421
:Mm-hmm.
422
:just not good.
423
:You can't send those mixed messages.
424
:Yeah.
425
:And what's interesting, looping back to the comment that you made earlier, Jade, about the
OBR figure of 400,000 vehicles uh fewer being sold.
426
:I think they walked that back a little bit to about 150,000 shortly after that.
427
:But the point still stands.
428
:Yeah, I believe so.
429
:The potential for people who would have gone to electric to not go to electric.
430
:So my question to you two is, do you know, either anecdotally or legitimately,
431
:of anybody who has said, I am now not going to electric because this tax has put me off.
432
:I wouldn't say I know personally, but I'm still part of a few communities the same way on
Facebook where people are voicing those opinions and they say, I don't want to switch
433
:anymore.
434
:And not necessarily because of the cost, because people are calculating and basically
saying this is okay, because it's so confusing.
435
:It's just a lot of confusion.
436
:You now buy an electric car, you're not getting any visible benefits.
437
:I mean, incentive wise, but you kind of feel like you pay there and there and there, and
then you have to then figure out how much to pay for an app subscription.
438
:You then need to figure out how much to pay for the charging.
439
:And it's just so confusing and people saying, nah, it's just easier to go back to, you
know, classic car, ice car.
440
:Yeah, I think what I've seen on it is comments like, I'm glad I didn't make the switch
because I knew they were going to do this.
441
:They hooked everybody in saying, we'll give you these benefits and make it cheap.
442
:And then as soon as people have started making the switch in decent numbers, they've gone
great, we can get more money out of you.
443
:I've definitely seen a lot of that kind of talk.
444
:It's interesting, was writing a script for another episode later on in the season and I
n I first got an electric car:
445
:parents about 200 miles and using a subscription on what was then Polar slash
Chargemaster, it used to cost me
446
:from my house, three public charging stops, because I had a really short range vehicle, to
get up to Yorkshire used to cost me about £3.50 in public charging.
447
:It's now going to cost me £6 in e-VED to do the same distance.
448
:So that's the way public charging has gone up or how it was six, seven years ago versus
what it is now.
449
:what the EVED is going to be.
450
:that comes back to the point that you were making earlier, which is that we do need to be
looking at the cost of public charging and how we can reduce that.
451
:Because if we can reduce that, it takes the sting away a little bit from the three pence a
mile.
452
:I still think it's the wrong solution at the wrong time.
453
:But if we can sort of normalize some of the or equalize some of the costs associated with
it, it becomes less of a sting.
454
:Do you think?
455
:I remember when I was driving Polestar just before COVID using InstaVol charger and all I
need to make sure I have got 20 quid on me and that would have been plenty for me to
456
:charge the car and go about my day because I live in a terrace house so charging from home
means I have to take the three pin through my bathroom which is optional.
457
:But I like InstaVolt.
458
:know, for me it was much easier just to go, tap my cards and I was ready to go further.
459
:And I still remember I just need to make sure I have 20 quid and that was was enough.
460
:So Victoria, do we think this is a marketing problem more than anything else?
461
:If they'd approach this in a different way and marketed in a different way, would it be
something that people would be more receptive to than they are at the moment?
462
:I think it could have been solved by changing the communication style for sure.
463
:I think it could have been communicated a little bit later.
464
:I think it could have been communicated simpler.
465
:And I think it would have been good if the charging operators as well as automotive
manufacturers have been consulted before this message have been put out there.
466
:yeah, communication style probably needs to improve.
467
:But I guess it just needed to go out there so people can start prepare.
468
:But now we have to fix it.
469
:We now have to find a way to deal with this.
470
:And I think this is the challenge where CPOs companies like Zapmap and automotive
manufacturers will have to face.
471
:They need to find a way to make it easier for the consumer to understand that it's still
the right choice to make.
472
:And it's still the right choice to make with their car or with their
473
:charging provider.
474
:because the irony is this is something if it does come in, it's going to be coming in from
:
475
:fuel duty is going to rise.
476
:because of the way fuel duty works, will rise with the RPI or CPI, whichever.
477
:So by the it gets to 2028, people who are still driving petrol and diesel will actually
end up paying more than somebody who's driving electric vehicle at the three pence a mile.
478
:But that wasn't communicated that way.
479
:I mean, if it had been communicated that way, I think the public perception would have
been different.
480
:Yeah, that's a very different message, isn't it?
481
:But I guess that's the, don't want to scare the horses because as soon as they make any
kind of reference to fuel duty increases, then they've got a lot of people on their case.
482
:So yeah.
483
:Yeah, yeah.
484
:the other thing with the eVED, I've been involved in a number of discussions about this,
including one where the Treasury were present.
485
:And at the time when we discussed this, this is a pay in advance.
486
:So you have to estimate what your mileage is going to be and pay it upfront.
487
:And if you sell or get rid of the car there is no refund.
488
:Although I believe they've now walked that back after complaints.
489
:If you want to pay in installments, you will pay more.
490
:It just, you know, it's one of those things that...
491
:why are they doing it this way?
492
:Even if people thought this was a good idea, some of those are ridiculous kind of
constraints that they're putting in there.
493
:But hopefully because of the pressure that companies like organizations like EVA England
and EVUK have been adding to the treasury, I think they're starting to moderate some of
494
:the situations there.
495
:we shall see when the, because the consultation closed yesterday as of this recording.
496
:or two days ago, so we'll see what comes out of the consultation.
497
:Interesting.
498
:that they will be recording the number of miles you've made during MOT.
499
:So why not to just add that cost to MOT cost and then you can kind of estimate in your
head, but at least it's a bit simpler, right?
500
:You do your MOT once a year and then you pay the additional chargers.
501
:So the two reasons they won't do that is first, MOTs are only on after three years.
502
:So what about the new vehicles?
503
:Do they not pay it?
504
:And second one, who's actually going to administer the gathering of that?
505
:Is it the MOT company, the company doing the MOT who will take the money and then have to
transfer it?
506
:Or will the MOT then say, this is how much you pay and you've got to go to a website and
pay it.
507
:And you know, it's just, it's
508
:poorly thought out as to how you will understand this.
509
:I think the other thing is people are going to start looking at clocking speedometers or
odometers so that they won't show the value thing.
510
:Little fact I found out recently, and I'm sure people in the comments will validate this.
511
:It's not illegal to clock a vehicle.
512
:It's illegal to sell a vehicle that's been clocked and not say it's been clocked.
513
:but it's not illegal to clock a vehicle.
514
:So how's that gonna work with e-Ved?
515
:It's just completely bizarre.
516
:Completely bizarre.
517
:Any final thoughts before we move on?
518
:I shall take the silence as saying, no, we have no final thoughts.
519
:Fine.
520
:So I think that's about it for today.
521
:I think we've had some great discussions.
522
:Thank you, everyone.
523
:And to the listeners, I hope you enjoyed listening to today's show.
524
:It was put together this week with the help of Jade Edwards and Victoria Hutton.
525
:Many thanks to both of you for your participation.
526
:If you have any thoughts, comments, criticisms or other general messages to pass on to me,
I can be reached at info at evmusings.com.
527
:On the socials I'm on bluesky at evmusings.bsky.social.
528
:I'm also on Instagram at evmusings where I post those little short videos in the odd
podcast extract regularly.
529
:Why not follow me there?
530
:Many thanks to everyone who supports me through Patreon on a monthly basis and through
coffee.com on an ad hoc basis.
531
:Now, if you enjoyed this episode, why not buy me a coffee?
532
:Go to coffee.com slash EV Musings and you can do just that.
533
:KO dash FI dot com slash EV Musings.
534
:Takes Apple Pay too.
535
:Regular listeners will know about my two e-books.
536
:So you've gone electric and so you've gone renewable.
537
:Now they're 99p each or equivalent and you can get them on the Kendall store on Amazon.
538
:Now check out the links in the show notes for more information as well as a link to my
regular EV Musings newsletter and associated articles.
539
:Now I've spoken to a few of you and I know that you're probably driving, walking, jogging,
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540
:enjoyed the episode drop a review in iTunes please, like, subscribe, leave a comment on
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541
:If you've reached this part of the podcast and are still listening, thank you.
542
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543
:at musingsv.beesky.social with the words, halfway there, hashtag if you know you know
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544
:And thanks as always to my co-founder Simon.
545
:You know he's been very quiet this week.
546
:I bet he'll be back next week.
547
:Thanks for listening and watching.
548
:Bye now.
