EV charging is one of the most complex and demanding industries today. Broken chargers, unreliable networks, and razor-thin margins for charge point operators (CPOs) are just the tip of the iceberg. But for those who understand how to harness this complexity, the rewards will be transformative.
But what makes building a profitable EV charging so uniquely challenging? More importantly, why is this complexity actually good news for committed EV charging network operators? Let’s explore how today’s biggest hurdles become tomorrow’s competitive advantages, through the lens of AMPECO’s experience with 160+ CPOs and over 120,000 charge points worldwide.
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The complexity is built into the foundation
Failed connections, dozens of applications, convoluted payment methods, and unexplained interruptions – EV drivers have all experienced this firsthand. Despite the industry’s continuous development, the numbers tell us that these fundamental challenges persist. In Germany, according to EcoG, charging reliability stands at just 68%. In the US, over a third of chargers in major networks are non-functional, and 18% of charging sessions end in failure. These statistics reflect the inherent complexity of building and operating EV charging infrastructure. While we expect close to 100% uptime in other industries, such as telecommunications and banking systems, EV charging infrastructure continues to struggle with basic reliability.
Let’s look at the key operational challenges that contribute to this complexity:
- Hardware-software integrations across multiple vendors
- Remote monitoring and maintenance across vast networks
- The seemingly simple but elusive ability to detect issues before customers complain
- Providing rapid maintenance across wide geographic areas
This complexity isn’t a bug – it’s a feature of our industry’s foundation. And just solving reliability alone isn’t enough. Even if we achieved 100% uptime across all stations worldwide tomorrow, we’d still face significant challenges in creating a sustainable, profitable charging business.
Multiple stakeholders, multiple challenges
Another layer of complexity emerges from interoperability and ease of use. The EV charging ecosystem is a complex web of interconnected stakeholders, each with distinct but equally crucial needs. Drivers demand simplicity above all – they want easy access to charging, clear pricing, flexible payment options, and reliable service. Yet delivering this seamless experience requires intricate backend operations from EV charging network operators: managing roaming partnerships, ensuring hardware works together smoothly, maintaining consistent experiences across locations, and monitoring everything in real-time.
The complexity multiplies when we consider an EV charging network operator’s enterprise partners and business customers. These customers need sophisticated integrations with their own systems, customized reporting and billing solutions, and careful maintenance of their brand standards.
Each of these requirements is essential – you can’t simply ignore or minimize any of them. Success means orchestrating all these moving parts into a smoothly functioning system that serves everyone’s needs while remaining profitable and scalable. At the end of the day, whoever wins the battle of convenience and simplicity will have the highest rate of satisfied, returning clients. And this is just one of the many key factors needed to win in the long run.
Every market adds new layers of complexity
The regulatory landscape adds yet another dimension of complexity. Municipal installation requirements, national payment regulations, data security standards, grid connection rules, tax reporting laws, and building codes shape every aspect of EV charging operations.
Keeping up with the regulatory landscape is a constant challenge. But without these standards, we couldn’t ensure proper market operation and consumer protection. So while challenging, this complexity is important in building a sustainable industry.
The long game: Understanding EV charging economics
The financial reality of EV charging is demanding. Building charging infrastructure requires significant upfront costs, while energy sales often operate on thin margins. Even the basics of financial management prove challenging – many networks struggle to estimate their total monthly cost per charge port accurately. When you factor in the complexities of optimizing utilization at new locations, managing ongoing maintenance, and the extended runway to profitability, it becomes clear why this isn’t a business for those seeking quick returns.
But this isn’t a weakness – it’s a natural characteristic of infrastructure businesses that create lasting value. Those who understand this and plan accordingly will be positioned to become the market winners and consolidators in the years ahead.
Why this complexity is actually good news
All this complexity creates real opportunities for serious EV charging network operators. High barriers to entry protect committed players willing to invest in sophisticated operations. The business’s multifaceted nature enables operators to differentiate themselves through operational excellence and innovative solutions.
The extended timeline to profitability and substantial investment requirements favor those with a long-term focus, enabling them to build sustainable businesses. As the market matures, this complexity will naturally lead to consolidation that benefits strong operators who have successfully navigated these challenges.
These challenges aren’t obstacles to success – they’re the very things that make success meaningful and sustainable. The winners in this space will be those who embrace this complexity and build their businesses with the right foundation to manage it effectively.
Managing complexity through the right software foundation
The path to success in EV charging requires sophisticated software infrastructure. As we’ve seen from working with 160+ CPOs across 60 markets, technology choices fundamentally impact how effectively operators can manage industry complexity.
For EV charging businesses, software shouldn’t be a constraint – it should be an enabler that provides a wide and solid foundation. Your software stack determines how well you can handle the fundamental challenges we’ve discussed: managing multiple hardware types and vendors, ensuring reliable operations across locations, handling complex payment scenarios, adapting to regulatory requirements, and scaling across markets efficiently.
Most importantly, the right software foundation allows you to focus on areas where you can truly differentiate your business and create unique value for your customers. This is how successful operators manage the complexity we’ve discussed while still maintaining the freedom and capacity to innovate.
Strategic approaches to building your software foundation
When considering their software needs, EV charging network operators typically face a crucial decision between two traditional approaches. Building in-house offers complete control over the solution, but demands significant development resources, extends time to market, creates an ongoing maintenance burden, and makes it challenging to keep pace with rapid industry changes.
The alternative – buying off-the-shelf solutions – promises faster deployment and proven functionality. However, it often comes with limited customization options, less potential for differentiation, and dependency on the vendor’s roadmap and priorities.
Neither approach fully addresses the complex reality of today’s EV charging operations. This is why leading operators are increasingly looking for a more nuanced solution that combines the best of both worlds.
The Hybrid Approach: Enabling market winners
The most successful operators in our industry have found a powerful middle ground – the so-called hybrid approach that combines proven infrastructure with the freedom to innovate on top of it. Instead of building everything from scratch or being constrained by off-the-shelf solutions, they leverage established platform capabilities for core operations while maintaining the flexibility to build what makes them unique.
This hybrid approach means operators can focus their energy and resources on creating distinctive customer experiences and solving market-specific challenges rather than reinventing fundamental capabilities like hardware management, payment processing, and compliance. Through an API-first architecture, they maintain the agility to adapt and innovate while building on a solid, proven foundation.
This hybrid approach transforms how operators launch and scale their businesses. Rather than spending months building basic functionality, they can deploy immediately and progressively add custom features. Multi-vendor hardware integration, regulatory compliance, and complex payment scenarios become manageable challenges rather than roadblocks.
The real value emerges in how operators can focus their energy: creating unique customer experiences, developing market differentiators, and designing solutions for specific market needs. And when it’s time to grow, they can confidently expand into new markets, add hardware types, and integrate with partners – all while maintaining their unique market position.
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Real success stories from leading EV charging network operators
The true test of any strategy lies in its real-world application. Three very different EV charging operators: a fleet specialist, a luxury automaker, and a major European network, show how embracing complexity with the right foundation leads to market leadership.
Fleet operations leader
One of Europe’s leading fleet charging providers came to us with a challenge, they were attempting to manage everything in-house – from customer interfaces and backend systems to charger communication and fleet functionalities. A major opportunity with Amazon pushed them to rethink this approach. They needed to integrate third-party hardware and implement advanced features like load balancing and remote troubleshooting to serve the e-commerce giant’s extensive delivery fleet.
Initially estimating 12 months of development to build these capabilities, they chose instead to leverage our platform’s APIs. This decision proved transformative. Within just 3 months, they had closed their technical gaps and secured Amazon as a customer – an opportunity they would have missed under their original timeline.
By building on our platform’s core capabilities, their development team could focus entirely on what mattered most: creating a comprehensive fleet management solution. This strategy has powered their growth into serving some of Europe’s most recognized logistics providers, including DHL and other major delivery fleets. Today, they’re helping these industry giants electrify thousands of vehicles across Europe, proving that the right foundation can accelerate innovation and market success.
Premium automotive manufacturer
Like many premium car manufacturers, they watched Tesla transform the EV charging experience. But for this leading luxury car manufacturer, mere imitation wasn’t an option – their customers expected excellence across every touchpoint. They needed to orchestrate a seamless charging experience spanning home installations, dealership networks, and fleet services, all while navigating a maze of regulations across their markets.
The turning point came when they realized they were asking the wrong question. Instead of “How do we catch up to Tesla?”, they asked “Where can we create truly distinctive value for our customers?” This shift in thinking led them to the hybrid approach: leverage our platform for the complex behind-the-scenes operations while channeling their energy into crafting uniquely premium charging experiences.
Their solution spans multiple continents yet maintains the refined touch their brand demands. Refining a seamless home charging strategy across different markets is becoming an increasingly critical challenge for large-scale OEMs. Those who do this well will maintain a considerable advantage by providing a great experience to their customers when charging their cars at home.
One of the biggest European public EV charging networks
When you’re operating 6,000 charging points across 11 countries, every decision becomes magnified. For EDRI, one of Europe’s leading charging networks, this meant managing a labyrinth of tax laws, regulations, and payment methods while processing hundreds of thousands of daily transactions. Yet they faced an even bigger challenge: scaling to 30,000 chargers by 2030.
Such ambitious growth demanded a pivotal decision. Migrating their entire network to a new software platform was a massive undertaking – one they would only consider if staying with their existing solution meant limiting their future potential. In their evaluation, they needed a platform that could not only handle their current complexity but support their bold expansion plans.
The solution came through leveraging out-of-the-box integrations while maintaining the flexibility to build custom features for each market. This combination has enabled them to focus on operational excellence while scaling efficiently – proving that with the right foundation, even the most complex charging networks can maintain agility while growing.
Embracing complexity as a winning strategy
The future of EV charging won’t be built by those who try to eliminate complexity, but by those who learn to master it. When reliable networks earn driver trust, when seamless experiences drive higher utilization, when operations achieve sustainable profitability – that’s when we truly accelerate our transition to electric mobility.
This isn’t just about building EV charging infrastructure. It’s about creating an ecosystem where every charging session strengthens driver confidence, where every new location expands possibilities, and where every operator’s success propels the industry forward. By embracing complexity with the right foundation, we’re not just scaling networks – we’re scaling the future of transportation.
The dream of abundant, accessible, and reliable charging infrastructure isn’t just achievable, it’s inevitable. But it will be built by those who understand that in EV charging, complexity isn’t the enemy – it’s the opportunity.
Ready to turn EV charging complexity into your competitive advantage? Schedule a consultation to learn how AMPECO’s platform can help you build a sustainable, profitable charging business.
