• Swindon & Wiltshire Eco
• Wednesday December 13 2023
• Author Name: Peter Davison

EV charging pioneer Zapmap expands into Europe

Bristol-based EV charging location app Zapmap is expanding into mainland Europe.

Electric car drivers travelling to Europe can now use Zapmap’s app and desktop map to search and filter for certain charge points in France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg to help UK drivers charge their electric vehicles quickly and easily while travelling.

These charge points have a power rating of 60kW or more, offering a variety of payment options.

Zapmap will offer displays at 15,000 charging locations in mainland Europe – marking a 50 per cent increase in its overall number of charging locations for its 700,000 customers.

The company said the move marks a key milestone in the Zapmap plan and forms part of its ambitious growth strategy to help serve close to 20 per cent of Zapmap users that travel abroad, with the past year seeing a 28 per cent increase in people travelling to Europe in their EV.

Zapmap already offers its services to over 95 per cent of the UK’s public points on its network, more than 70 per cent of which show live availability data. In 2023 Zapmap has recorded an increase of more than 50 per cent in registered users.

The coming months will also see Zapmap open up additional features such as EV route planning and charging payments for drivers in France, Germany and Benelux, in line with its comprehensive offering for drivers in the UK and Ireland.

The company also has plans to add charge points and more charging networks in further European countries, such as Spain, Switzerland, Austria and Italy in 2024. This is in line with Zapmap’s expansion plans as outlined during its Series A fundraising in September 2022.

Nigel Pocklington, CEO of Zapmap’s owner, Chippenham-based renewable energy supplier Good Energy, and chairman of the tech firm, said: “Zapmap has made significant progress over the last year as it continues to broaden and deepen its market presence in the UK and now across Europe.

“It continues to track with the rapidly growing electric vehicle market, which has expanded by 40 per cent in the UK last year with the share of electric vehicles new car registrations increasing in almost all EU countries.

“Today’s announcement demonstrates our commitment to addressing the increasing demand for more accessible electric vehicle charging.

“It also reinforces Good Energy’s goal of becoming a one-stop company for all clean energy services, delivering on our objective to support one million homes and businesses cut carbon from their energy and transport use by 2025.”