During the International Mobility Portal Summit organized by Mobility Portal Europe, Glenn L’Heveder, Head of Business Development and Sales for Europe at AMPECO, explains the current state of eMobility in France and how the company helps boosting the sector forward with its solutions.
“France is one of the countries that has created the highest amount of subsidies for electric mobility in Europe because President Emmanuel Macron has always had the topic on the agenda,” notes L’Heveder.
He continues: “We have a government that strongly supports this sector. Additionally, we have public financial institutions that are also investing a lot of money in startups and growing companies.”
Every day, The country advances further in the electromobility industry.
By the end of 2023, over 114,000 public charging points were reported, representing a 48 per cent increase compared to 2022.
Furthermore, it currently holds more than 100 charging point operators (CPOs) nationwide.
This data reflects the diversification of the French market, unlike the duopoly that prevailed in 2020.
What benefits does AMPECO bring with its solutions?
AMPECO is a software reading company that enables electric vehicle (EV) charging.
The software solution offers unlimited flexibility to integrate with existing systems and build custom charging solutions for zero-emission units.
“What we do is really focus on enabling transparent operators and electric mobility service providers to scale their charging operations,” says Glenn L’Heveder.
The company’s main strength lies in its ability to support a diverse range of clients, whether in home, destination, or predictive charging.
The corporation exhibits a certain level of flexibility as it operates in over 150 countries worldwide, taking into account their respective regulations or use cases.
“We are extremely experienced at this point. Probably, we are the most mature software business in the industry,” the executive states.
Regarding upcoming projects, on one hand, the firm is working on an issue that challenges the simplicity of charging points: the payment method.
“In both France and most of Europe, we noticed that many chargers do not have payment terminals,” emphasizes L’Heveder.
“So, you can’t pay for a charging session as easily as you would with fuel. Payments should be effortless, but that’s not the case,” he adds.
The executive also mentions the issue of roaming.
The ability to “open up” devices to different EV service providers in the market is a situation that can be complex.
As a solution, the executive proposes: “We have to make sure all these integrations work, and that you can make use of any network with the charging card.”
Another obstacle that the corporation currently notices is that device reliability is still “somewhat poor.”
“Things are improving, but the quality and maintenance behind them are not great,” says the Head of Development and Sales.
Once these aspects are resolved, AMPECO will focus on artificial intelligence as a tool.
In other words, they aim to build algorithms that handle predictive maintenance on chargers.
What does the US have to learn from Europe?
The current President of the United States (US), Joe Biden, pushed for the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) legislation to improve economic competitiveness, innovation, and industrial productivity.
This law offers benefits for the development of electromobility.
“Europe doesn’t have the financial power that the US does, which is doing the right thing by investing enough money. But Europe isn’t doing enough,” says L’Heveder.
And he clarifies: “But we also have to be clear that the United States is behind Europe when it comes to EV charging. I mean, we’ve been subsidizing for years, while the US is just getting started.”
The truth is that European companies have acquired the ability to find the best location for their charging networks to have as many transactions as possible.
“This knowledge needs to be transferred to America,” he adds.
Below, the participation of Glenn L’Heveder, Head of Business Development and Sales for Europe at AMPECO, during the International Mobility Portal Summit:
