The community at the service of electric charging, such is the credo of Shargy launched by Volkswagen France. This app connects owners of private charging stations with users of electric vehicles.
According to the latest census carried out by Avere, on February 28, 2022, France had 55,515 charging points or sockets (+53% in one year) accessible to the public for a car fleet of 786,274 electric and rechargeable hybrid vehicles (PHEV) . However, not everyone is in the same boat. Indeed, with 10,210 charging points, Île-de-France is far ahead of all the other regions.
On the other hand, there are many more private charging points, 446,198 identified at the end of 2021, according to Enedis. Nearly 90% of recharges are made at home and in the office.
Based on this observation, Volkswagen France will launch Shargy from May 2022. This is a free mobile app (iOS, Android) on which it will be possible to geolocate a charging station, but not just any charging station.
Shargy lists all the private charging stations made available by individuals. The latter register their charging station or external socket and “define the available slots and the charging rate” . Volkswagen France specifies that “each terminal owner will be free to set the price they want. However, the application will display as an indication a minimum recommended rate based on the public electricity rate, the declared power of the terminal when it is added to the application and the charging time.“.
The German manufacturer indicates “that to the price set by the owner of the charging station will be added a commission not yet defined to cover the operating costs of the app. This commission will be paid by the lessee of the terminal at the same time as the recharge. The owner will not have to pay anything to make his terminal available“.
Thus, the owners of an electrified vehicle will be able to see the available terminals close to their position, reserve a time slot and pay online. Like any good community service, a messaging and rating service will complement the app.
This service is reminiscent of Wattpark, a network of collaborative and monetizable charging stations whose leaders we interviewed.