The EV market is booming, driven by government support and the growing adoption of electric vehicles. This growth signals an exciting era for the EV charging industry, especially considering Europe’s need for over 3.4 million public charge points by 2030 to accommodate the increasing number of EVs.
Currently, home charging is common among EV drivers, but to effectively support the seamless EV transition, the expansion of public charging infrastructure is essential. With the infrastructure growing, regular charge point management systems won’t be enough, not being capable of keeping up with the fast and ever-changing EV charging ecosystem.
This is why we developed Monta Hub. Built on the proven backend of Monta Portal, Monta Hub is a scalable solution designed to meet the current and future needs of EV charge management across various scenarios and demands in the EV charging industry.
The development of Monta Hub was a collaborative effort, focusing on innovation to deliver a product that anticipates and meets market demands and supports the EV transition thoroughly.
Let’s dive in.
Why we decided to build Monta Hub
At Monta, we are committed to providing high-quality software solutions for the EV charging industry.
That’s why we decided to create a technology that doesn’t just meet current and future industry needs, but also empowers our engineering teams to work seamlessly across our comprehensive product suite.
Industry research and insights
Before developing Monta Portal (our “OG” EV charge point management system), we did extensive research to better understand the market and gather insights from various industry stakeholders.
We had conversations with a wide range of companies in the EV charging ecosystem, including OEMs of Heavy Duty Vehicles, power utilities, charge point operators (CPOs), and potential users such as fleet managers and truck drivers.
90% of the people we spoke with weren’t our customers, and or might never be. Even so, we wanted to listen and learn, fueled by the desire to create a product that truly resonates with everyone in the industry.
From MVP to the ultimate EV charging command centre
In March 2021, just two months after the successful launch of Monta Charge (our software solution for EV drivers), we introduced Monta Portal as an EV charge point management solution for businesses. It was a lean, Minimum Viable Product (MVP) designed to quickly test its market potential, but just in the first month we won 10,000 customers!
“With Monta Portal, it was an MVP decision — we built it fast to quickly test and find a product-market fit. As it quickly gained attraction, we decided we needed to take this product to a completely new level.” Laura Moisset, Product Director for Monta Hub.
Recognizing the need for enhancements to better serve the evolving EV charging market, we aimed to transform our product into a future-ready EV charging solution. However, we encountered challenges related to scalability and adaptability—key aspects that Monta Portal initially lacked. As the demand for sophisticated EV charging solutions increased, the limitations of continuously refining an MVP while addressing technical issues became apparent.
This prompted a strategic pivot towards developing a more robust and flexible product, as Monta Hub, built to meet the growing needs of the EV charging market.
Connecting the dots and creating agility internally
At Monta we focus on connecting the dots in the entire EV charging ecosystem and we decided that we need to do the same among our engineering teams!
Monta Portal was created on a different technology than our other products, which meant that we couldn’t work as quickly, adapting to the market and customer needs, or integrate components seamlessly. Our engineers, separated by product, faced numerous repetitive tasks, making it challenging to work in an agile way.
Recognising these challenges, we decided to adopt a unified approach for this new project, Monta Hub, choosing Flutter for UI development, just as we had for Monta Charge.
Flutter gave us versatility, allowing us to achieve consistency across our products and foster more effective collaboration and knowledge exchange among engineering teams.
The switch to Flutter not only facilitated a more user-friendly experience for our customers but also streamlined maintenance processes, saving valuable time for our engineers to focus more on innovation!
Co-creating towards a better, user-centric product
Market opportunities and product limitations are one thing. In order to make a product that was ready to take on the demands of the ever-changing EV market, we also had to be absolutely “no nonsense” on creating a stellar user experience.
That meant creating a product with a short learning curve, and a level of adaptability so it could serve the industry needs of all the players in the field. This is where research in collaboration with our existing customers was an absolute goldmine.
Building Monta Hub through extensive research
Our main goal has always been to provide the best user experience possible. That’s why we conducted extensive research with our existing customers, prospects, and industry experts. Their insights were invaluable in guiding the transformation from Monta Portal to the more advanced Monta Hub, focusing on both current and future user demands.
The research revealed a clear need for a comprehensive solution that goes beyond just another charge point management system filled with operational tools. The findings highlighted the importance of helping our users to scale, providing future-proofed operational flexibility, assisting with fleet electrification, and navigating an evolving electricity market with better pricing setups. These insights directly influenced improvements in fleet management and sponsored charging, ensuring our software aligns with the needs of our users and facilitates intuitive use of our software with minimal need for guidance.
Dora Vagner, our Research and Insights Lead, played a key role in this phase, having in-depth discussions with users to discover not only their immediate struggles but also their long-term needs, ensuring that our users are always a step ahead in the EV charging ecosystem.
Co-creating features with users and partners
Users, partners, and teams at Monta collaboratively shaped Monta Hub. This co-creation process led us to develop prototypes for new features and functionalities, continuously testing them and gathering feedback. This collaborative effort resulted in solutions like the Tariff Creator Tool and Sponsored Charging, aiming to exceed our users’ expectations rather than merely adding another feature.
“While working on creating and improving features for Monta Hub, some of the best design decisions were made in close collaboration with our partners. Involving them in the development process and incorporating their continuous feedback enabled us to enhance our product significantly.” — Camilla Haag, Lead Product Designer
This collaboration ensured us that we are solving real problems while meeting our current and future user needs. Our iterative design process not only led us to discover new insights, but also helped us create a product that is innovative and user-friendly.
Some of these insights even led to the creation of entirely new features and functionalities.
“Rather than merely transferring functionalities, we undertook a complete redesign to ensure a seamless user experience, turning every stone to maintain our user-centric approach.” — Camilla Haag, Lead Product Designer
The team behind Monta Hub
Developing a product that has to meet a lot of demands and involves physical hardware is no easy task. It requires close collaboration between customer facing teams, engineers and design thinkers to ensure the perfect blend of insights, functionality and aesthetics.
“I’m extremely proud of the team we’ve assembled. It is very diverse in terms of background and culture and also well-gender-balanced. This is still less common in other tech companies, especially in product engineering.” — Laura Moisset, Product Director for Monta Hub
Our engineers not only possess the technical know-how, but they also share our design-thinking approach, making sure the final product meets our high standards.
“We take pride in our team’s level of design maturity. Despite being relatively new to the industry, we recognise the importance of extensive research and thoughtful design, which allows us to create products that help us meet user needs.” — Camilla Haag, Lead Product Designer
Building for tomorrow, today
Monta Hub isn’t just another EV charge point management system; it’s a true hallmark of what happens when people come together and challenge the status quo. It’s built to adapt and scale to meet the ever-changing demands of the EV charging market. And its flexibility allows us to constantly add new features and functionalities, ensuring it remains at the forefront of the industry, ready to serve businesses and enterprises of all sizes.
“All this could not have happened without our amazing customers, partners, and industry experts, who dedicated their time and were deeply involved in the process, always ready to provide feedback and brainstorm with us.” — Dora Vagner, Research and Insights Lead
Built with a user-centric approach, it provides businesses with only the relevant features needed to optimise and scale their operations.
Because we’re not just building for today; we’re building for the future. And as the EV industry continues to evolve, we are ready to anticipate and address the challenges that lie ahead.
Want to be part of this journey and build the technologies of tomorrow together with us? Check out our Engineering Careers page (we’re hiring!).
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