Plug Inn (case study)

By 2022, there were 1 million electric cars in France, but the infrastructure couldn’t keep up and there were only 80.000 charging stations available. That meant that driving long distances was still a problem for electric car owners, especially when driving through remote places where there were zero charging stations. This generated range anxiety and made the switch from thermic to electric more difficult. The challenge for Renault was to find a solution that would make the charging network grow fast, without having to deal with the constraints and bureaucracy of building public charging stations, while still making it available to everyone.

INSIGHT
With 1 million electric cars in the streets of France and only 80.000 charging spots available, battery range was a main concern for consumers to switch from thermic to electric vehicles. In 2020, Village Electrique thought us that people are more than willing to make the switch when they have a charging network that supports it, especially in remote locations where the charging stations amounted down to zero. By making home chargers available to everyone, we expanded the charging network to those places where it seemed impossible. People quickly engaged in being part of something that would bring a solution to electric car drivers, turning a business problem into a new business model.

IDEA
Renault Plug Inn is a peer-to-peer app that connects electric car drivers to home charger owners. Drivers can find and book the home chargers available wherever and whenever they need it, and charger owners can make money by renting them out. It’s like an Airbnb for charging spots that solves the problem of driving long distances through remote places where there used to be zero charging stations for electric cars while creating a new business model.

RESULTS
In only 2 weeks after it was launched, the application had 16.000 users, and had reached 107 million impressions and over 500.000€ in earned media. Plug Inn is designed to create the largest charging network in Europe by connecting electric drivers with home charger owners. The objective is to make 480.000 charging spots available in France and make electric driving possible no matter how far or how remote the destination is. In only 2 weeks after it was launched, the application had 16.000 users, and had reached 107 million impressions and over 500.000€ in earned media. In the future, this model can be expended to other countries, removing all constraints from electric driving forever. The project has been fully financed by Renault. The service should be profitable by the end of 2023. The ambition is to expand the service to several European countries in 2024 and 2025.