Electric car: renting chargers becomes a business – 08/06/2023 – Market

Faced with the increase in licensing of hybrid and electric cars, companies began to offer subscription services for chargers used to supply these vehicles. Customers are both companies and residential condominiums and individuals interested in the business model.

São Paulo is in the sights of equipment rental companies. With buildings still lacking the structure to accommodate the arrival of large volumes of electrified vehicles, tenants have to resort to the service to obtain better cost-effectiveness and solve problems related to the building’s electrical system.

Pedro Schaan, CEO of Zletric, a company that also leases equipment, explains that the brand’s device is capable of balancing vehicles currently being recharged. In order not to exceed the capacity of the condominium’s electrical system, it is possible to leave some cars in a queue or divide the energy that is being spent between them, like an internet router.

Monthly fees for residents range from R$99 to R$299, depending on the requested power.

“We’ve already seen the most diverse condominium meetings – hot, including – on this subject. That’s why the leasing model started to make sense. In São Paulo condominiums, the first or second car is not arriving [elétrico], but the tenth. We’re strong there,” says Schaan.

Obstetrician Paula Kraide, 40, had to adapt the garage of her building, in the south zone of São Paulo, to charge her car, a Volvo XC40 hybrid. It was not easy. She says that she needed to convince the neighbors to approve the changes and even talked to some of them individually to present her arguments.

“It was a war. I threatened to sue the building. The neighbors got upset because they couldn’t understand how it worked,” he says. In the end, Kraide claims to have shouldered all costs to avoid fighting.

She hired an engineer to carry out a study, which cost around R$2,500, in order to find out what the electrical capacity of the building was. She also had to add an outlet to her garage space so she could install the Zletric charger.

In the opinion of economist Vera Carletti, 53, owner of a Volvo XC60, the biggest advantage in renting the equipment is that, with the system installed by the company, she can measure how much energy is spent on recharging. The value is added to the condominium rate, located in the south zone of the capital of São Paulo.

“If you put it on paper, the value of such a device would be the equivalent of a little over a year’s rent. But technology changes and it becomes outdated, it becomes a mess”, he says.

For the house she owns in the interior of the state, however, she plans to have her own charger, as she does not need to account for the energy used by other neighbors.

The rental of the device is not only used by individuals. This was the most viable option for UCorp, a vehicle sharing company – a service also known as carsharing. In the business model, the company provides a fleet of cars at various bases around the city, and the customer can use the cars after registering their data on a brand platform. Payment is made according to usage time.

According to Guilherme Cavalcante, CEO and founder of UCorp, renting chargers is more advantageous, since the package also includes maintenance, replacement with new models and the possibility of return, if the company does not go ahead.

Thiago Castilha, marketing director for the manufacturer of charging stations E-Wolf, explains that leasing still represents around 10% of revenues, but has been growing at a good pace. For fleet loading, the market, both for rent and for sales, is stronger in the states of the South and Southeast, he says.

In the case of residential models, the monthly price charged by E-Wolf is around R$ 350. The customer is responsible for paying for energy costs. The value is more salty, however, when the devices used are fast recharge, which can cost more than R$ 7,000 per month.

Founder of Rinno Energy, another company in the market for chargers for electric vehicles, Fabrizio Romanzini says that his company entered the leasing business a little less than a year ago. The model, according to him, is still new and, for it to work, it is necessary to analyze other segments, such as vehicle rental or even coffee machines and photocopiers, in relation to maintenance rules and lease time, for example.

“The loader is a new system. We take these successful rental cases, such as Localiza or the xerox machine, and apply it. We have all the equipment and installation and design expertise”, he says.