Bosch has launched an app – Charge My EV – that provides electric vehicle drivers with access to “150,000 electric vehicle charging spots in 16 European countries”.
The company says this makes it one of the biggest pan-European recharging networks.
Bosch says it has set itself the goal of putting an end to the “recharging muddle” where drivers of electric cars have an average of six recharging apps on their smartphones, and have to juggle as many as five recharging access cards.
With its new app, Bosch says, it takes just a few clicks to register, recharge, and pay – and it includes cost transparency.
Elmar Pritsch, president of the connected mobility solutions division of Bosch, says: “With our recharging services, we are developing a universal key to one of the biggest pan-European recharging networks. In doing so, we are making electromobility even more viable.”
Pritsch adds: “Recharging has to be simple and smooth for everyone. Bosch’s smart recharging services are crucial for the widespread acceptance of electromobility.”
Bosch says its solution makes payment simpler – the app pays using the credit card details uploaded to it, and provides users with a monthly statement of recharging costs.
Nearly one in two (45 percent) of all electric-car drivers use two to four different cards to access charge spots, and 15 percent of them use at least five cards, according to NewMotion.
To use the Bosch recharging services, by contrast, a single sign-on in the smartphone app is all that is needed.
A closely knit network of charge spots is regarded as a crucial factor in the decision to buy an electric car. The energy association BDEW puts the number of public and semi-public charge spots across Germany at 27,730 (figure at the end of March 2020).
Respectable though this figure may be, the recharging access cards of the nearly 200 providers and operators frequently only work at certain charge spots. Added to this, there is a mishmash of terms and conditions, plug types, and charge-spot ratings.
Bosch’s Europe-wide recharging network currently counts more than 150,000 charge spots, which drivers can access from one central app platform.
The company has built the network by concluding contracts with operators and using methods such as roaming to connect the charge spots. As a result, more than 27,500 charge spots in Germany are now part of the network.
For the drivers of electric cars, this means that they can use the proprietary Bosch app “Charge My EV” or affiliated providers such as “Clever Laden” to find vacant charge spots round the clock – whether in the neighborhood or when traveling.
Moreover, the Bosch recharging network is constantly growing: by the end of 2020, it is expected to include some 200,000 charge spots across Europe.
Pritsch says: “In the future, recharging will be more than just filling up with electricity. The key for us here is a new personalization of the entire recharging process.”
