Powering the shift: insights from industry leaders on the front lines

Driver behaviour, fleets, funding, and data are redefining public charging across the UK and Europe.

To cut through the noise, we brought a CPO, a fleet specialist, a software provider, and a hardware manufacturer together on one stage in London. Their discussion offered a clear-eyed look at what’s working, what isn’t, and what’s next for the industry.

Here are the key takeaways from the conversation with Evyve, Novuna Vehicle Solutions, Monta and Rolec EV.

Drivers aren’t price-shopping – their priority is “does it work here, now?”

• Across networks, drivers care most about availability (chargers working and available), accessibility (easy to get to, easy to use), and speed. Price matters less than most assume – especially for commercial users.
• Repeat behaviour is real – private drivers become loyal to convenient sites.
• Roughly 20% of vehicles are responsible for ~60% of public transactions.
• Payment methods remain mixed:
  • With UK CPO Evyve citing ~10% via apps – common with AC chargers (often in car parks), 45% via roaming and 45% by contactless payment. Roaming can add a markup, but drivers still choose it for convenience.
  • Whereas Monta see majority of payments made via app and QR code – where the most common use case is destination charging.

Implication: If you want growth, build hubs that are easy to find, easy to pay at, and hard to block. If you want loyal drivers, deliver consistency.

Data and AI are now core infrastructure

This isn’t a “set and forget” asset like a toll road or solar farm. Charging needs active sales and service. 

The operators leaning into analytics and AI are getting ahead:

• Identifying issues before they surface and lead to downtime
• Using charging session analytics to tune aspects, such as pricing
• Reducing administrative and reporting time by using AI as a personal software assistant 

Implication: data and AI is becoming increasingly important for running a smooth, scalable operation.

Utilisation often plateaus – anticipating and managing this is key

Early sites that launched with 75 kW felt fast versus the old 50 kW norm. Now 120–300 kW is the bar, and overall charging capacity has increased faster than demand in some corridors. The result: site utilisation typically ramps over ~12 months, then flattens.

• The most resilient strategy right now: smaller, modular hubs (5 – 10 high-power DC chargers) in strong, high traffic locations tend to show peak utilisation currently, and can be extended gradually as demand grows.
• Higher power isn’t always necessary for every vehicle, but customers often filter for 150kW+.

Implication: This phase is less about adding dots to maps and more about quality, throughput, and reliability per site.

Fleets are the next S-curve

The clock to 2030 is ticking loudly in fleet circles. Many organisations tackled the “easy” vehicles first; the harder use cases (awkward routes, towing, rural depots) are now unavoidable.

Help is here:

• The depot charging fund is covering up to 75% of infrastructure capex. for some fleets, unlocking projects that were previously shelved. This is currently underutilised by fleet companies making the transition.
• Common pitfalls remain: companies order vehicles first and only then think about charging; some buy the wrong spec (e.g., AC-only for vehicles that need DC turnaround).
  

Implication: The winners serving the fleet segment will act as trusted advisors, designing around dwell times, grid constraints, shifts, and route reality – not just counting chargers.

Plug & Charge is a bigger deal for fleets than for public charging

ISO 15118 “Plug & Charge” often gets framed as a public-fast-charging perk, but the killer use case is fleet:

• Vehicle-based authorisation removes RFID and reimbursement headaches.
• It’s the difference between drivers “just plugging in” and back-office teams sifting through four apps and a shoebox of receipts.

There are politics (OEM token control) and dependencies (vehicle + charger readiness), but auto-auth experiences – Plug & Charge or AutoCharge – are maturing and starting to influence hardware selection.

Implication: If you sell into fleets, spec hardware for Plug & Charge readiness now. The savings in admin and downtime are material.

In addition, the next wave of fleets to enter UK roads will be the ones pushing innovations like Plug and Charge, payments and security requirements the hardest.

Reliability is a system problem (not just a charger problem)

The panel was blunt: CPOs don’t control the full payment chain or the bank authorisation logic. A single failed session can involve seven interdependent systems. Add in cable thermal throttling and module failures, and you get the reality behind “uptime”.

• 99.9% uptime targets are now regulatory, but OCPI data remains uneven across networks for proving compliance.
• Hardware reliability has improved after a choppy period (long lead times, defects), yet proactive comms is still missing for events like pre-authorisation holds that infuriate drivers.

Implication: Treat reliability as data + process + communication. Invest in telemetry (down to the cable), granular error codes, and automatic customer messaging when payments fail or pre-authorisations stack up.

Europe is in different innings – consolidation is accelerating

• Netherlands/Belgium: crowding gave way to consolidation; a handful of winners are emerging.
• UK: mid-game; consolidation is picking up after a burst of new entrants.
• Southern Europe (Spain/Italy): utility-led, earlier-stage markets; growth will look different and slower at first.
  

Implication: Expect M&A to define the next 24 months. Play to regional realities: in some countries, you partner with incumbents before you compete.

Where would insiders invest right now?

Three consistent answers from the panel:

• Skilled services
  Installers, civils crews, permitting pros, HV specialists, and maintenance teams are in short supply. Without them, capital is stranded.
• Education
  Mis-spec’d vehicles, AC/DC confusion, unrealistic timelines – these aren’t bad actors; they’re information gaps. Education reduces expensive rework.
• Flexibility markets and grid services
  Smart charging, demand response, and V2X turn chargers from pure cost centres into grid assets. Software that orchestrates these services across fragmented stakeholders will be valuable.