Download our comprehensive PDF and learn about the pricing structures in e-mobility

Being an eMobility leader in various projects across multiple startups, Piotr was responsible for OCPI and OCPP integration as well as EMP and CPO platforms development. With extensive expertise in the open standards field and eMobility tech solutions, he is leading teams of experienced developers and contributing with invaluable knowledge and experience.

Piotr Majcher

Although it would seem rather straightforward, the pricing system within the EV charging environment extends further than just to the payments made by electric vehicles right after they charge their car.

Being such an interconnected network of mutual dependencies between numerous involved parties, e-mobility charging services require various levels of settlements.


It must be noted that it takes a few units to build up and manage a charging network. From 

, which manufacture the hardware side of required components (connectors, chargers, cables, etc), through 

, which are responsible for the backend management, all the way to 

, which determine the final user (here: EV driver) experience, there is a whole network of reliabilities.

Put simply and briefly, CPO’s are to establish billing connections with both EVSE and eMSP’s, in order to put the entire charging formation in place, while ensuring all parties receive transparent information and clear instructions.

To facilitate it, there are multiple types of pricings and contracts, some of which allow for complex, dynamic price models. Such undertaking is required so that eMSP’s can shape their end-users pricing often based on certain conditions, leaving the rates flexible.


Interoperability - the core of proper functioning

It should go without saying, that managing a pool of charging stations - oftentimes distributed across entire countries/regions - is not an easy task to handle and can only be achieved via advanced levels of interoperability and clear, unified procedures.

Open Standards are the chief example of how this can be achieved and maintained. Through the utilization of API’s like OICP the flow of information can be sustained in a transparent manner. This allows for a seamless communication and can facilitate the management of a vast majority of proceedings remotely, which comes in handy while developing a state-wide network, especially when there are numerous parties involved.


Knowing the behind-the-scenes nuances and arrangements, we prepared a comprehensive paper portraying the pricing structure within the e-mobility industry. Those who are willing to learn more about tariffs within charging services, should definitely find it useful.

Download our free paper and broaden your horizons with some great knowledge!

E-mobility tariffs. How is the pricing structured within the industry?

Get an exclusive view on a stakeholders mapping designed for E-Mobility Service Providers.

After founding Solidstudio, Pawel was an originator in terms of pursuing expertise in eMobility. With the build-up of a solid knowledge-base on industry’s needs & wants, he now keeps a close eye on products’ development. He’s also hugely responsible for the business’ side and designs the business models for our products.

Paweł Małkowiak

Business owners surely know how much planning, preparation, drafting and forethought it takes to kick off, manage, supervise and successfully deliver a project. Amongst tens of things to consider, are stakeholders mapping and list.

These are any people or institutions who may have any sort of interest in your business, or even who’s opinion may impact it in any way. This includes people who might be your customers in the future, any regulatory body to whom certain procedures must stay compliant, industry enthusiasts or sceptics. It can be anyone from the “outside” who may not necessarily be directly involved in a project's undertakings and yet still play a vital role in its development. Whether they work in one’s favor or could potentially block certain actions, one should identify these key outsiders: their strengths & weaknesses; how much influence/power do those have over us? What can we use them for if anything else would suit better given time constraints etc.? How often should the company communicate back?

How to identify stakeholders relevant to a business/project?

Proper identification of anyone who might have any correlation with a project may be a daunting task, especially for inexperienced. However, a good, old brainstorming session comes handy here. It’s worth gathering all employees directly involved in the project in order to ensure no potential stakeholders are missed out. While selecting a list it’s also worth going beyond the most usual patterns of thinking such as the obvious - CEO, working team, first-line regulatory institutions and, instead, create a separate part of the list dedicated to secondary stakeholders - that is anyone who at first glance in not directly involved and yet may have an impact (find more about that in our PDF).

How to understand stakeholder’s needs and their position?

Similarly to the identification process, it’s important to brainstorm all possibilities. There is a number of questions that one can ask oneself in order to group the potential stakeholders in a clear and transparent way:

What’s in it for them? Would they have any financial interest and if so, is it positive or negative?

Do they have any emotional interest and may want to interfere in a project or its outcome in any way?

Knowing that they may come in with a negative approach / means to block the development, what can be done to minimize negative impact and manage the potential opposition?

Is there a chance that if not now, then maybe in the future they may become your customers and it’s worth taking them into consideration from the start?

What has the utmost impact on their decisions and opinions? How are they shapes? Are there any particular factors that may influence them?

How has the general opinion changed in recent years and what motivated the changes? Is there maybe a person/institution that led the changes?

What’s the government stance, is there maybe a political figure that could potentially get involved?

What’s the customer base and what makes the products/services popular with them? What are their main pain points?

What/who poses the biggest threat to the industry and how can it/they be addressed to win them over?

Are there any third-party companies that may want to get involved into the project and nourish it?

In terms of regulatory institutions, how often and at what scale should they be addressed in order to keep them satisfied?


There are two ways in which all relevant stakeholders may be presented.


- presents all the relevant figures in a clear catalogue. It’s a place where one can record all the stakeholders along with short description and any additional information that may be useful.



- being a quadrant diagram, it shows the level of interest and correlation between certain figures. It aims to group the above list in influence-involvement levels from the most to least significant. It helps to keep a good track of how often and at what scale one should communicate with particular stakeholders.

Stakeholders specifically for E-mobility Service Providers

Naturally, some of EMSP stakeholders will overlap with any other typical business’. Namely, there will always be a CEO, working team, security department, etc. but within e-mobility there will also be figures specific only to the industry.

We prepared a walkthrough of EMSP stakeholders for you to download. It includes a completed list and mapping along with tips and things worth considering while creating such a list for e-mobility oriented projects.

Stakeholders mapping for EMSP

Research data, latest achievements, and statistics on e-mobility development

Research explanation of e-Mobility as a Service

Before the digital revolution and user-centric approach, the concept of accessible, new forms of transportation was the future vision of what life could be like. With the rapid growth of technology, mobile devices, enhanced battery capacities, wide Internet connection, investments in new unexplored forms of service delivery, and quick social adaptation in the last ten years we have witnessed a great transformation.

Raising enthusiasm boosted consumption and proved that rapid adaptation is possible and widely accepted. New economic models have begun to take into account sharing concepts and value the tangible benefits of such solutions. In a sharing economy, not used assets such as parked cars and extra bedrooms can be rented out. We transferred from owning to renting. And this concept widely approved first by Uber users moved to other transport areas offering new possibilities. In the Alternative Journal article, 

 , Ray Tumulty (2014) the sharing economy is described as a clearly urban phenomenon. To achieve economies of scale for shared economy services satisfactory population density is required. Moreover, these services are seen as an extra option, not a replacement for traditional sectors. Ridesharing is used along with public transportation in cities.

With the growing success of rented items and services, new forms of transportation options come to the market. The mobility concept grew to form a comprehensive ecosystem offering numerous moving variants, such as city bikes, electric scooters, car rides, ticket purchasing options, city traffic monitoring, planning the most convenient route, parking options, integrated payments, and available charging options for ‘e’ users. All available in real-time from the mobile app on one’s phone. This progress developed the term 

 , which covers a wide range of mobility services available on the market, and its integral part becomes a shared economy providing extra value for participants.

On a high-level, the MaaS ecosystem includes transport infrastructure, transportation services, transport information, and payment services. Within the ecosystem, the common objective is the delivery of a seamless mobility experience and transportation network improvement by utilizing the benefits of each service - public and private. Besides, other participants such as local authorities or data administration companies can collaborate to smooth the operation of the services and improve their profitability.

One of the MaaS ecosystem examples was presented by the Siemens Mobility Division in 2016 for Tampere City, Finland. The ecosystem is build of 4 main elements: service providers; a business-to-business (B2B) platform; mobility retailers; and the users. The intention of the project was to unite the existing and upcoming transport services with the operations of the local paratransit services.

A similar approach on a high level was presented by König project ‘Mobility As A Service for Linking Europe’. Four different levels define the public and regulatory level, the transport and logistics service providers level, the mobility service level, and the end-user level. On the basis of similar concepts and definitions, a framework for Mobility as a service was developed.

From a business perspective, MaaS is described by Kamargianni and Matyas in the paper ‘The Business Ecosystem of Mobility-as-a-Service’[1](2017) as ‘the wider network of enterprises that influences how a dominant company, in this case, the MaaS provider, creates and capture value’.

To support theoretical premises on shared mobility, a survey conducted by McKinsey&Company (2017) provides some insight into the consumer’s opinion on ride-hailing and car-sharing. Respondents were asked how their usage of ride-hailing and car-sharing services will change within the next two years. In both cases, over 60% responded that it will increase or increase significantly. Shared mobility is mostly favored in urban areas, but seems to be less attractive for running errands or multi-stop shopping trips.

We are an integral part of the next global transformation, where alternative fuels and green energy takes charge. The concept explained above has been extended with ‘e’ - a possibility to travel in an eco-friendly way, where ‘e’ stands for electric solutions.

Electric Mobility as a service combines Mobility as a Service (MaaS), Electric Mobility Systems (EMS), and Shared Electric Mobility Services (SEMS) [2]. As a concept eMaaS operates upon MaaS, where the last one became one of the complementary components. With that defined, all MaaS participants become, as a consequence, eMaaS attendees. Providing they offer electric mobility solutions.

Electric Mobility System (EMS) covers technologies (batteries, charging technologies, drivetrains, and EVs), infrastructure (physical and organizational of charging stations, electricity grid, information and communication technology), and users (manufacturers, suppliers, end-users, service providers, governments, and agents).

Shared Electric Mobility Services’ (SEMS) applies to a new economy implementation, where instead of ownership there is an on-a-need basis share connected by the technology with users and providers. SEMS replies to the environmental, social, financial, and transportation-related benefits that had already been correlated to emobility and shared mobility practice connecting both. Five business approaches are proposed:

Membership-based (e.g. e-bike sharing, e-car sharing, e-ridesharing, e-ride hailing, e-scooter sharing, e-bus sharing),

Peer-to-Peer(e.g. e-car sharing, e-bike sharing, e-scooter sharing),

Non-membership-based (e.g. e-car rental, elimousine rental),

For-hire (e.g. e-car/bike/scooter sharing, e-ridesharing e-carpooling),

Mass transit systems (e.g. e-Public Transport, airport autonomous shuttles).

As a part of a wider concept, combined with two other components MaaS & EMS, together provides multiple eco-friendly transportation possibilities. Successful implementation of such a concept requires multi-level support, well-designed system architecture, and an extensive network in public structures.

The user-centric approach will always be foreground. It applies to the development of the widely recognized concept of e-mobility as a service. From accessible payment methods for single ticket purchasing, subscriptions, to well-developed charging networks and various means of transport access. At each stage of the proposition should be declared value.

We are still in the early stages of what could be called e-Mobility as a service. Most customer journeys are under development, and achieving overall flow is still in its infancy. There is a lot of research to be done, but there is room for the general necessary approaches. Each of the participants, in order to achieve success and remain successful in this growing market, should remember the needs and behavior of the end-customers - have in mind that ½ users are likely to bail on service or purchase because of a single bad experience.

One of the success factors will be easy, integrated payments, giving preferable plan or demand models.

Plan option: Participants pay a monthly fee befitted to their transportation needs. Such plans can be split into an urban commuter, family, business, and casual. They include all public transport options as well as taxi, rideshare, carshare, etc, to cover individual needs.

Pay on-demand alternative: Paid as traveled with the difference that the payment is for the whole trip in one go independent of transport means. So if in need to take the train, bus, and then taxi on one trip, it’s all included in one, joint payment, executed automatically via smartphone.

Technology changed the way people consume goods and services. With handy devices, ¾ of consumers expect the service within five minutes from the initial contact. The same share wants ‘the simple experience’. From all players, customers expect immediate action, personalization, and convenience. This requires a broader view focusing on journeys, not only touchpoints, which will become a framework for further expansion.

When it comes to user preferences, whether it applies to simple app development or complex system design, it’s been always about developing a complete value proposition that answers the needs of the user and delivers a convenient solution. With a unique experience, trust, and the right technology that supports EV drivers, e-mobility participants can succeed.

E-mobility revolution driven by technology

The entire development of various e-mobility solutions is powered by rapid smartphone penetration. Since the handy device gives us access to countless possibilities, the way people consume goods and services changed. As a matter of fact, smartphones enable and will be a core factor for rapid growth in eMaaS concepts and Smart City solutions. Among the technologies being developed electric cars, route optimization resolutions, car-to-car communication will change the way we commute itself.

In search of efficiency, communication will become a smart blend of technology, infrastructure, and users. Electromobility and autonomous driving development are considered to be the catalyst for changes taking place in urban consumption. E-mobility secures eco-friendly and efficient vehicles on the roads. E-driving became globally a high priority. Climate change, oil shortage (Statistical Review of World Energy 2017 estimates that the world’s currently known oil reserves will last +/- 50 years given current levels of consumption), and air pollution brought forward the development of green solutions. As long as the power is received from renewable sources e-cars and hybrids represent the most efficient and environmentally friendly ways of driving.

Core components of business and technology are connectivity solutions, integrating components, user interface, infrastructure development, battery technology, driving software and product design, high accuracy maps, secure solutions, data storage and processing, between-vehicle communication. Well-developed services build upon a user-centric approach, providing integrated, smart, handy assistance.

According to a survey conducted by Otonomo [3] among the citizens of European countries, most car owners think that manufacturers collect their data for product improvement or development, advertising, segmentation driver types, and learning more about habits, reliability, usage, or preventative maintenance.

Consumers declare that they would love to have access to data generated by their cars. Three-quarters of survey respondents showed an interest in receiving data held by OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturer) more than twice a month and nearly 50% of respondents would love to receive data frequently (even up to once a day).

Additional information consumers would love to receive are car alerting about dangerous conditions ahead (72%), early necessary maintenance and repairs detection (59%), car knowing the traffic and suggesting an alternative route (59%), an app that allows deliveries to be made to your car’s trunk (51%), car suggesting nearby, available parking (48%) and software that allows having fuel delivered (46%). So, not only drivers do not mind gathering information but also would appreciate receiving feedback and insights.

One of the widely appreciated models by the 2 billion consumer segment is car sharing [4]. Generation Y (born between 1977 and 1994) desires connectivity and convenience. Having numerous transportation options Millennials are more likely to choose on-demand services instead of ownership. New mobility service providers connect seamlessly drivers with passengers (carpooling, taxi) or passengers to cars (car-sharing).

The latter one, powered by technology and finest logistics, offers great value for one-way trips, as well as planned round-routes. Without bearing the cost and effort of car ownership Millennials can get a unique feeling of driving. The sharing economy provides favorite conditions with a blend of technology and service without exhausting the possibilities. Car sharing leads in big cities where scale effect is easy to achieve by, among other things, cost reduction and lifestyle changes. To confirm this, in 2019 Global Car Sharing market value was 2.5B USD (Global Growth Trends) and is expected to grow up to 9B USD globally in the next 6 years.

Car sharing quickly became outstanding among other mobility services thanks to a wide range of business models applied, offering different experiences and pricing systems. One of the success factors is the flexibility provided with usage areas and distances to be traveled. On the basis of a well-known car rental model, three concepts were developed: 

free-floating, stationary, and peer-to-peer car sharing

. The latter business model, where individuals can offer their car rental to private users via a platform, successfully conquered the French market. P2P offers long-distance transportation mode for longer routes and became an alternative for short-term rental or carpooling.

Allows to pick up the vehicle and return anywhere within a certain area, operates mostly in the city centers, usually providing smaller cars, in cooperation with local authorities providing dedicated parking spaces. When it comes to car sharing in a free-floating model, many providers see the investment as a strategic step, as a new promotional channel, and direct access to customers’ insights.

Free-floating business model success factors are:

location (high density to reach the scale),

cooperation with local authorities or private sector (e.g. in Poland IKEA offered dedicated parking spaces for Traficar as a part of yet another transport service), and

convenience (the majority of the fleet consists of city driving cars).

E.g. In France free-floating cars, according to a study by Les Échos newspaper, represent 26% of carsharing vehicles. Among these, 44% are electric. Free-floating electric car-sharing in Paris emerged in late 2018 with the following launches of Free2Move, Car2Go, and Zity. Over 1,400 electric vehicles were deployed across the French capital by these companies.

What is interesting, on the basis of free-floating, other urban transportations are offered, such as electric scooters, city bikes, e-bikes, and mopeds.

The oldest model with the start and endpoint at the same station, dedicated to round routes. With different needs, the lack of flexibility is being replaced with a wide fleet variety. Stationary car providers usually operate in smaller cities and rural regions. What is interesting, they do not operate globally (with one exception Flinkster by Deutsche Bahn Rent). Success is linked to extensive local market knowledge and customers' needs understanding. They often rely on other providers' cooperation, creating broader networks offering free-floating alike experience on a long-distance driving.

Key success factors in this oldest, but nourished with fine technology, are:

location in medium-sized cities and rural areas

availability (often located by the airports or train stations)

pricing based on hourly rates or distance

wide fleet selection for various purposes

Some global players see the opportunity in free-floating, e.g. in 2011 as a joint venture of BMW and Sixt established DriveNow, other invest in stationary car sharing, e.g. Volkswagen by investing took over 60% of Greenwheels in 2013.

In February 2020, Daimler AG and BMW announced yet another car-sharing services partnership under a new brand, 

 . By merging Car2Go and DriveNow, 'ShareNow’ became a market leader, being present in 20 European cities with a fleet of over 20 000 vehicles. ShareNow actually is a mix of both concepts mentioned - a combination of stationary car-sharing and free-floating. Various paths of car sharing are being tested, thanks to a broad range of possibilities offered by technology. In October 2020, Toyota launched its new car-sharing service to provide a wide range of mobility services for short-term use on the Japanese market. Based on these few examples we can only expect new services to be tested and developed. Combining traditional concepts with modern technologies may soon influence consumer behavior, look at certain aspects of e-mobility as well as create new businesses. Hence, the theoretical aspects of emobility presented earlier reflect the real changes.

P2P seems to be a niche market, is the only concept where private individuals offer their own vehicles. The exchange takes place via a dedicated platform, offering insurance and telematic equipment to provide smooth access. The car must be returned the same day within the pick-up area and used for round trips. The pricing provides a great alternative to car rentals or stationary car sharing. A decentralized fleet offers a wide range of brands and models.

Being called a niche, drivy initially operated in the French market, quickly converted to 

 , and operates now in the UK, Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Belgium, and the USA. Undoubtedly, the P2P car-sharing success happened due to most favored factors among consumers, similar to Airbnb, unique value combined with technology resulting in a great alternative to other, more traditional services. A prime technology - the platform and telematics ease the use. Thanks to one of the shared economy principles, P2P car sharing offers a diverse, accessible network, quickly spreading to new markets, providing value to each participant. Moreover, the P2P concept getaround is empowered by well-designed insurance policies to cover lending concerns.

The increasing traffic congestion in urban districts doubled with overloaded public transport facilities is boosting the car-sharing market revenue. The emergence of electric vehicles in public areas will be accelerating in order to reduce gas emissions. Attracted by extra benefits, such as incentives, 

 , parking spaces in exclusive, centered areas, providers will enhance the electric cars fleet.

Although the concept of car sharing is enthusiastically acclaimed this doesn’t mean that ‘ownership’ will go into a niche. Today’s consumer profile on the EV market is evolving from early adopters to mass adoption. According to a survey conducted by Accenture [5] in 2019 in China, Europe, and the US, respondents declared that they expect to own a car in the future. When asked if they would resign from possessing in favor of services, nearly 50% would consider giving up ownership in favor of integrated mobility services. What is more interesting in Europe, 55% of premium car owners and 41% of non-premium owners are more likely to switch.

One more factor may place a sharing idea further afield. A 

 conducted in June 2020 by cars.com showed that 70% of respondents declared the coronavirus has led to a reduction in commuting, and 49% reported their commute has been greatly reduced or become nonexistent. 58% who previously commuted via a public vehicle - carpool, taxi, ride-share, or bus - 44% of them said they’ve had a reduced the need, and 15% reported having no need to commute. 38% stated they usually rely on a bus to commute to work, 42% declared they’re riding less and 15% said they aren’t riding the bus at all. More than 55% of respondents actively consider buying or leasing a car, and 7% actually acquired a vehicle due to the pandemic. What is more, the pandemic became a reason to consider buying a car for 20% of respondents. The decisions were strictly dictated by the concerns about public transportation and the sanitation of ride-sharing vehicles.

Electric Vehicle market is going mainstream

Although the term electromobility or e-mobility applies to all means of transport powered by electric energy such as e-bikes or pedelecs, electric motorbikes, e-buses, and e-trucks we focused on e-cars. Several factors contributed to rapid EV penetration in Europe. From governmental declaration to achieve zero-emission goals by 2050, research and development, a wide range of possibilities to scale up fast provided by technology to raising environmental awareness. In this paper, we provide all the necessary information but starting from the beginning. Among the available options for electric cars, we have:

Hybrids (HEV) - Hybrid contains both an electric and combustion engine. The battery is charged via the engine while driving and stores the braking energy at the same time.

Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) - The battery stores the braking energy in plug-in hybrids. Plus the car can be charged via the grid.

Range Extended Electric Vehicle (REEV) - is efficiently an all-electric vehicle, with all the motive power provided by an electric motor, but with a small internal combustion engine present to generate additional electric power. I.e. it might be viewed as a series hybrid with a much larger battery, namely, 10–20 kWh;

Battery Electric Vehicle (EV or BEV) - The vehicle is fully powered by the battery charged via the grid.

Two-way charging technology. When EV is charged, AC (Alternating Current) from the grid is converted to DC (Direct Current) power. Possible to be implemented by the EV’s owner or charger’s converter. What is more, this technology allows the energy stored in batteries to powerhouse/external load (V2H) or send it back to the grid (V2G).

Nothing new here, but some may not know that EVs wireless charging is possible. The vehicle’s battery can be empowered wirelessly by parking the car on a spot with a charger on the ground. Just like wireless phone chargers. Although, the amount of exchanged energy in these wireless systems notably outpaces a wireless cell phone charger, seems like a great challenge for startups developing them. These innovations must be 100% safe, certified solutions. One of the examples of a park & charge solution is Canadian startup ELIX.

A fully charged car in 20-60 minutes is possible, although the ultimate goal is to fully charge a vehicle in less than 10 minutes. Just like gasoline at the petrol station. For example, GBatteries is working on advanced super-fast charging technology without the influence of battery life. The pioneers like Tesla, ABB, ChargePoint, EVbox, and other OEMs and networks offer fast-charging stations. Among other obstacles associated with handling the huge power demanded, if not done correctly, fast charging can lead to faster battery degradation.

Similarly, just like power banks for mobile phones, startups are building portable charging systems for EVs. For example, SparkCharge offers stackable batteries that can deliver up to 60-75 miles per full stack and work together to deliver the exact amount of range needed.

Since the most comfortable ways of charging EV is still overnight, for those who don’t have a garage or access to any charging station nearby, British startup ZUMO offers a solution for those who own or want to own an EV but lack a driveway. They pick up the car, bring it to a charging station, and bring it back to the owner the following morning, fully charged and ready to go solving the issue of charging in big cities.

With the technology that uses copper coils embedded under roads and connected to the electricity grid, along with receivers installed under vehicles the dynamic charging is being in deployment in Sweden for E-bus with a Super- Capacitor battery and a heavy Duty E-Truck with a Li-Ion battery. Yet another EV charging resolution proposed by Electreon. Similar projects also take place in Germany and Israel. Recently Italy joined the testing phase with a one-kilometer examination section of the A35 highway between Brescia and Milan. If the pilot becomes successful the entire 62-kilometer (both ways will be approx. 150 km) length of the A35 freeway will follow.

This allows to intelligently manage EV charging by connecting it to the grid. Smart charging is all about connecting charging points with users and operators. Each time an EV is plugged in, the charging station sends information (i.e. charging time, speed, etc.) via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to i.e. a centralized cloud-based management platform. Smart charging can provide additional data such as information about the local grid’s capacity and how energy is currently being used at the charging site (house, office building, supermarket, etc.). The gathered data is being analyzed and visualized in real-time by the software behind the platform. With smart charging, charging operators can control and regulate energy usage easily and remotely through one platform, or mobile application. EV owners can benefit by using a mobile app to monitor and pay for their charging sessions from anywhere, any time. Smart charging offers power-sharing, dynamic power-sharing, and power boost. It also allows vehicle owners, businesses, and network operators to control how much energy EVs are taking from the grid and when. For example, Wallbox offers such a solution. A wall-mounted box can be installed in a private garage or a condominium or company parking lot. Wallbox is being recommended by several electric vehicle manufacturers, e.g. Renault.

With the most common charging option on the market comes three main types of EV charging: rapid, fast, and slow. These represent the power outputs, and hence charging speeds, available to charge an EV. Each charging device type has an associated set of connectors that are designed for low- or high-power use, and for either AC or DC charging.

 enable to recharge an EV up to 80% in 20 min to 1 hour, depending on the battery capacity. With 50 kW DC charging is possible on one of two connector types using either the CHAdeMO or CCS charging standards, 43 kW AC charging on one connector - Type 2 standard, 100+ kW DC ultra-rapid charging is possible on one of two connector types: CCS or CHAdeMO. All rapid units have tethered cables.

The growing concept of e-Mobility as a Service

Learn about the P3 Charging Index and how it may affect the data behind charging features.

What is P3 index and what it means for e-mobility?

Range anxiety. It seems like this term is by now known to the entire e-mobility industry and generates lots of debates around the topic. To no surprise, this is in fact a big factor slowing down the mass adoption of EVs around the world, especially in countries where charging infrastructure falls behind.

Knowing the significance behind the matter, automakers race to launch electric cars suitable for long-distance journeys with a very high charging possibility that’s fit for super fast charging (100kW and more). As much as it looks extremely attractive on paper, the actual, everyday charging capacity often differs massively from the promised maximum, making it not the best point of comparison for many confused first-time buyers.

The truth behind maximum charging capacity

There are few points to consider when speaking about EVs’ charging procedure. Maximum capacity, although willingly promoted by automakers, might be confusing for inexperienced drivers, who would think that i.e. 100kW super fast charging will be a round-the-clock occurrence anytime they plug their vehicle in. We must take into account that the maximum capacity may only be reached under ideal conditions which are usually nowhere to be found while everyday EV utilization. Amongst the factors heavily impacting the charge speed are temperature, state of charge (SoC), the type/brand of the charging point, age of the vehicle, very low battery level and many more.

It’s the “ideal” charging range, usually between 20% - 80% of the total battery capacity. The lower limit comes from drivers' behavior, as they want to avoid running out of range and will start recharging sooner than necessary. Once most cars have reached around 80%, then charging times dramatically slow down as there's less power available for use within the engine itself. This distorts the charging speed and makes the given maximum capacity not usually a decent point of comparison. To make sense out of these reports and differentiations for an average consumer, many now indicate both numbers: their maximum potential as well as what most drivers will actually experience in daily use.

However, there is still a lack of unified figures that would allow for a cohesive comparison between numerous brands on the market.

P3 Group - consulting and engineering agency - has created a calculation that aims to standardize the average charging capacity that can reflect the real-time charging from the user’s perspective. The P3 Index “defines the charging speed of vehicles and leads to a significantly higher comparability and therefore to more transparency regarding the real suitability for everyday use of electric vehicles on long distances” as we read on their page.

If widely adopted, such standardization could significantly improve the transparency of charging procedures across various brands and types.

In simple words, if an EV reaches an index of 1.0, in practice the vehicle would be able to charge a range of 300 km in only 20 minutes.

What’s interesting, amongst available vehicles on the market, none has reached the 1.0 score, although some are fairly close. With Porsche Taycan leading the pack at 0.72, through VW. ID3 scoring 0.70, to Tesla Model 3, closing the big three with 0.66 P3 charging index value.

Why does the industry need such charging standardization?

The e-mobility market, as much as it’s blooming and growing at a very rapid pace, still requires lots of work put in. Especially in terms of unification and ratification of widely approved standards. This is beyond important from the user perspective as one of the main factors slowing down the mass adoption (apart from undeveloped charging infrastructure) is the confusion of first-time buyers who often resign from the idea of getting an EV due to the lack of unified knowledge. The question of how fast the vehicle charges and what is the charging range is naturally one of the first that comes to mind and not clearly stated information on it may discourage the end user from buying an EV.

In order to ensure that the future of electric mobility looks bright, transparency, clearly presented data and standards open for everyone should be the primary focus. In such cases, initiatives like P3 Charging Index may turn out to be the determining factor pushing the mass adoption forward.