Jolt - New free charging network based on advertising

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jarledb

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#302379 18-Nov-2022 21:28

Interesting. Jolt has opened a few free chargers in Auckland at various Mitre10 stores.

They are saying they will build a network of 500 ad supported free EV charges across New Zealand.

They give out free 7kWh and the chargers are paid via advertising at a billboard at the charger.

There is an article about them behind a paywall at NZ Herald. But you can actually watch the video that is part of the article for more info.

Press release.

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#2998249 18-Nov-2022 21:54

Discussed back here https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=162&topicid=197896&page_no=473#2915762

jarledb

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#2998256 18-Nov-2022 22:27

In the interview he says that EV owners can save $1000 a year. I wonder how someone would manage that. I pay 12 cents per kWh to charge my car, and that would mean I would have to charge at a Jolt station 1190 times a year. Or about 3 1/2 times a day.

Their charges are 25kWh chargers. So will take about 17 minutes to get that charge. Which means I would have to use about an hour a day at 3 1/2 different locations to save that.

Given I am usually not in need of a charge day to day, and that if I am on a long trip - I would much rather pay for the charge and get an actual fast charge. The whole concept seems strange to me.

freitasm

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#2998274 19-Nov-2022 03:19

I think they are overestimating ad price and how long people stick around while charging.

I mean real life ad blocking is just walking away from the charging station.

everettpsycho

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#2998292 19-Nov-2022 08:56

jarledb:
In the interview he says that EV owners can save $1000 a year. I wonder how someone would manage that. I pay 12 cents per kWh to charge my car, and that would mean I would have to charge at a Jolt station 1190 times a year. Or about 3 1/2 times a day.

Their charges are 25kWh chargers. So will take about 17 minutes to get that charge. Which means I would have to use about an hour a day at 3 1/2 different locations to save that.

Given I am usually not in need of a charge day to day, and that if I am on a long trip - I would much rather pay for the charge and get an actual fast charge. The whole concept seems strange to me.

The flaw in your maths is they won't have calculated a stat like that from 12c power pricing. If they compare to home use it'll probably be the most expensive rate they can find, or I'd suspect they will actually be comparing to other fast charging networks.

If you took 69c/kWh as a price it works as just under 4kWh a day which their free offering more than covers, and at say 6.5km/kWh average is only 26km of distance a day which is very doable.

I'll probably end up signing up and using if at a mitre 10 anyway, free is free. It's always handy to have some free top up quick charging on offer to bail you out if a situation. When we go to hornby we'd likely just park at mitre 10 if it meant enough free power to cover the round trip.

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#2998293 19-Nov-2022 08:59

I suspect the EV driver is not so much the target of the ads - much like bus stop advertising is targeting everyone who walks/drives past. Would be a pretty poor model to think you're going to hold a single person's attention for that long.

stick

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#2998321 19-Nov-2022 11:02

Can't even search a postcode on their website lol

RunningMan

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#2998325 19-Nov-2022 11:14

These guys still haven't worked out the difference between power and energy (i.e. kW and kWh). They got this wrong back in May, and there's another release on 10th November where they've got it wrong again. https://joltcharge.co.nz/jolt-to-roll-out-free-and-fast-electric-vehicle-charging-network-to-cities-across-new-zealand

EV drivers will have access to 7kW of free charging per day at JOLT fast chargers, providing about 40 to 50 kilometres of range depending on the type of vehicle.

Most EVs would be able to charge to 100% if plugged into a 7kW supply all day - not many with a battery capacity bigger than 168 kWh. That's a lot more than 40-50 km of range.

Given EV charging and advertising are their 2 core products, the inability to get this right paints a poor picture of quality control.

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Scott3

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#2999013 20-Nov-2022 23:06

The advertising screen's based on the Adelaide image below are set up to be visible by people passing by, rather than facing the vehicle being charged.

Just downloaded the app, and signed up. Crashed and needed to restart a couple of times, but got it done.

Fees (after the free 7kWh) are 50c/kWh (50c min), and an idle fee of 50c/min after 15 mins of idle time.

While this is an increase on the 42c/kWh in may, this is still very reasonable, compared to operators (i.e. charge.net is 80 - 85c / kWh). Obviously no hope of competing with vector who gives away power for free at the moment. When I first read about the business model, my assumption was that they would burn people with very high fees for continuing to charge after the first 7kWh, but I am glad to see this is not the case.

App seems to be the only way to activate the charger (no fob or similar), so working mobile data will be essential.

My Comment from back in may:

Scott3:

It's 25kW DC. For comparison most DC charging in NZ is 50kW, with a few 350kW "Hyperchargers" now up and running.

Here is a photo of a jolt charger from Adelaide. Interestingly in Sydney all their charges seem to be integrated with those big green power transformer things you see on the roadside.

All their Aussie charger installs seem to be single bay, and their Albany Miter 10 render is as well, so no opportunity to reserve bay's here.

Their business model is interesting. Primary revenue stream will be from advertising as a little roadside billboard. I think the DC fast EV charging is just the carrot to get business to host their units.

Upside for EV owners is that business model allows for cheaper rates than the industry norm (ignoring the free lines company DC chargers). 7kWh free, then a very reasonable 42c/kwh with no time charge.

Downside for EV owners, is that the focus largely appears to be pleasing the host business. That fee structure will lead to high utilization, which looks both from green cred, and driving potential customers to their door point of view for host businesses. EV owners are quite likely to plug in, and take their bite of free power, even if they don't need charge. But for EV owners who actually need to charge (as opposed to those looking to get $1.40 free power), low utilization chargers (or multi bay chargers) are ideal to reduce the odds of needing to wait for a charge. Combines with the low speed, will make these chargers more like a destination / opportunity charger, and less like the fast chargers we know today. (and frankly I think much cheaper AC chargers which often have multiple bays are adequate as destination chargers)

But all up, I welcome the new market entrant. The more competitors and the more business models the better, even if I am not a big fan of this one. I will still get my account, and take my free power if I happen to be shopping at one of those locations anyway. Also having more chargers around is good diversity for outages etc. (my local charge.net fast charger is currently faulted, and out of service)

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#2999057 21-Nov-2022 09:49

Scott3:

The advertising screen's based on the Adelaide image below are set up to be visible by people passing by, rather than facing the vehicle being charged.

Local councils ( and NZTA) are gonna have a field day throwing "resource consent" compliance at these guys,

Pretty sure the standard rule of thumb is that you can advertise your own business without too much hassle, but hiring out space to advertise things not provided on the site can require gobs of paperwork

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#2999159 21-Nov-2022 13:19

The days of free fast charging by power companies should stop too as prevents others from entering market.

Once the single free council charger in Dunedin stopped we gained four charge net chargers.

And once the free charger at Hampton went fee paying, Chargenet put a unit in Palmerton when enabled me to get to ranfurly.

wellygary

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#2999195 21-Nov-2022 14:53

afe66: The days of free fast charging by power companies should stop too as prevents others from entering market.

Once the single free council charger in Dunedin stopped we gained four charge net chargers.

And once the free charger at Hampton went fee paying, Chargenet put a unit in Palmerton when enabled me to get to ranfurly.

This brings back memories of "Free" Dial up ISP providers in the 90s when everyone was gaming the call termination market...

They provided a crappy service that was always slammed.... I really doubt there is enough advertising spend to cover the cost of these....

gareth41

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#2999197 21-Nov-2022 15:03

wellygary:

Scott3:

The advertising screen's based on the Adelaide image below are set up to be visible by people passing by, rather than facing the vehicle being charged.

Local councils ( and NZTA) are gonna have a field day throwing "resource consent" compliance at these guys,

Pretty sure the standard rule of thumb is that you can advertise your own business without too much hassle, but hiring out space to advertise things not provided on the site can require gobs of paperwork

They would be better off doing away with the billboards and moving the advertising in-app. The chargers are free and could be activated in-app, only after user has viewed add's in the app. If they wanted to go a step further, they could notify the user every 10min or so to view in-app add's to keep the charging session going - it may annoy a few people but at the end of the day a free service has to be paid for somehow... probably a much cheaper option for them than installing and maintaining billboards. If users want to get rid of the add's they simply pay for the charging session at market rate

RunningMan

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#2999203 21-Nov-2022 15:10

But then the add is targeted at 1 person, not the hundreds that are passing the site in the same time - it simply wouldn't be worth that much effort to target a single user. Their revenue stream is from all the people passing the advertising, not the percentage of people that will take more the the first free 7kWh.

wellygary

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#2999312 21-Nov-2022 15:56

RunningMan:

Their revenue stream is from all the people passing the advertising, not the percentage of people that will take more the the first free 7kWh.

Yip, they are just a vector to allow a digital billboard to sprout up...

Its the same as Adshell giving free "bus shelters" to councils... when in fact they are really just billboard location spots..

RunningMan

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#2999313 21-Nov-2022 15:59

Precisely. It's just another electronic billboard, and since they already have the electricity connection to it, may as well offer another use of it, especially if it makes it easier / less compliance issues to get the thing installed in the first place.

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