ChargePoint is spending millions to boost station reliability to ‘nearly 100 percent’

ChargePoint, which bills itself as the world’s “largest and most open” charging network for electric vehicles, is announcing a series of new initiatives to improve the reliability of its 245,000-strong network of chargers. “We expect these multimillion dollar investments to deliver network reliability of nearly 100 percent once fully implemented,” the company writes in a press release.

The announcement comes as US drivers of electric vehicles continue to have issues finding reliable places to charge their cars when away from home. One study from last year found that one in five respondents were not able to charge their vehicle after arriving at a station, with the majority blaming chargers that are malfunctioning or out of service.

To achieve its reliability goal, ChargePoint is setting up a new Network Operations Center that will draw from “several big data feeds” in an attempt to respond quickly to issues with its chargers, and even spot problems before they arise using predictive analytics. It’s also making changes to its app to offer more visibility about the status and readiness of charging stations, and allow users to provide feedback on issues like vandalism. 

Finally, ChargePoint is also introducing a new decommissioning process to incentivize landlords who are no longer interested in hosting their public chargers to give them up for ChargePoint to repurpose. The hope is that this will reduce confusion for drivers who can see a charging station in the real world that’s no longer available for use or listed in the app. 

Earlier this year, rival charging network EVgo announced a program of its own to improve the reliability of its network. Its ReNew program aims to replace, upgrade, or retire hundreds of the company’s chargers over the course of 2023.