Energy as a Service: how ZAPME’s revolutionary approach to recharging electric vehicles offers new opportunities to businesses

There are now more than 660,000 electric cars registered in the UK. In December 2022 alone, that figure grew by 42,284, 32.9% of all new car registrations. As the UK gears up for the phasing out of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030, consumers and businesses are already choosing electric vehicles (EVs).

Yet while consumers are keen, a huge barrier to the expansion of the EV market is the UK’s vehicle-charging infrastructure. This, currently, is often unable to meet demand – and may be for some time yet, because the adoption of EVs is racing ahead of the provision of public charging. Over the recent Christmas holiday season, reports emerged of drivers waiting for more than two hours to recharge their cars at motorway service stations, an especially difficult scenario for families on long journeys.

Add in the problem of areas of the country where there simply aren’t enough chargers and the issue of showing up at, say, a hotel to find its charging point isn’t working and it’s easy to see why more than three quarters (76%) of EV drivers believe the UK’s charging infrastructure is not fit for purpose

So what can be done? Vehicle-charging pioneers ZAPME have the answer to delays to journeys caused by peaks in demand or the patchy provision of charging points.

ZAPME’s Vehicle Mounted Charger fits neatly into the back of a van or a recovery vehicle. This is an Energy as a Service (EaaS) solution that can be driven out to locations where there is a need, such as motorway services at holiday times – or to an event such as a festival or where an existing charging point is temporarily offline.

For those in the vehicle recovery sector, investing in ZAPME’s technology enables businesses to:

• Act as a roadside rescue service for EV owners who have run out of charge. ZAPME’s mobile EV recovery unit charges at more than 50kW, so it’s fast and efficient, enabling you to get grateful drivers on their way as quickly as possible.

• Offer queue-busting charging facilities to drivers travelling at busy times.

• Develop new business models and sources of revenue by, for example, providing on-demand charging facilities at events where there is otherwise no infrastructure.

Going forward, the government’s Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy has set an ambitious target of there being 300,000 charge points in the UK by 2030. When you consider there are currently a little more than 30,000 public charge points, this is a hugely ambitious target.

In short, it will be some time before the UK’s charging infrastructure catches up with the demand from EV drivers. In such a landscape, those who can reliably offer Energy as a Service will enjoy a significant advantage over their competitors.