I’ve noticed an interesting trend lately; many charge point operators are visiting each other’s sites, trying to understand what excellence looks like. It’s encouraging to see this curiosity, but is it enough?
True benchmarking isn’t just about looking at what your direct competitors are doing. Some of the best innovations come from stepping outside the industry and studying what excellence looks like elsewhere.
Think about how airports manage peak flows, how hotels build customer loyalty, or how retail creates seamless payment experiences. These industries have spent decades refining their approach to customer experience, operational efficiency, and reliability. There’s a lot we can learn.
The challenge?
EV charging is different. The customer journey isn’t as predictable as booking a hotel or navigating an airport. Drivers arrive with varying expectations, different levels of knowledge, and a need for reliability that simply has to be met. Copy and pasting solutions from other industries won’t work, but learning from them will.
We need to go beyond the basics. Payment should be seamless. Chargers should be operational when drivers need them. Support should be there before frustration sets in. And preventative remote checks should be carried out regularly to ensure chargers don’t fail in the first place, because waiting for drivers to report problems isn’t a strategy, it’s a failure point.
The best networks won’t just meet regulatory requirements; they’ll anticipate customer needs, build trust, and set new standards. Instead of asking, “Who’s the best CPO?”, we should be asking, “What could the best possible charging experience look like?”
At Full Circle CI, we help charge point operators turn data into action. Our “Charge Up Your Success” diagnostic provides clear insights into where improvements can be made, giving you a real-time view of your network’s strengths and weaknesses. But insights alone aren’t enough. That’s where our “4-day deep dive” takes things further, elevating insights into a structured plan of action. We prioritise the most critical improvements, helping you move beyond compliance to deliver a network that drivers trust and return to.
And we don’t stop there.
Our “Charge Point Evolution Framework” provides a structured, step-by-step approach that helps charge point operators:
✅ Increase charge point utilisation by ensuring drivers can access reliable, well-maintained infrastructure.
✅ Improve return on investment by optimising operational efficiency and ensuring sites are commercially viable.
✅ Build trust not only with EV drivers but also with direct customers, especially in cases where a concession agreement means that landowners, local authorities, or other stakeholders also expect a financial return.
By working alongside charge point operators, we help them move beyond ‘good enough’ to set new industry standards, enhancing reliability, customer satisfaction, and long-term business sustainability.
If you’re ready to future-proof your charging network and take the lead in delivering exceptional EV charging experiences, let’s have a conversation.
Contact me at liz@fullcircleci.co.uk or book a 30-minute call here: TidyCal
