With the vast majority of EV charging expected to take place at home or the workplace, home charging is one of the hottest topics in e-mobility today. In Finland, Fortum Charge & Drive offers "Charging as a Service" for housing associations and homeowners. The model is based on a monthly subscription including the electricity necessary for charging the electric vehicle, as well as the charger device, installation, and maintenance costs.
"Our objective is to make EV charging as simple as possible for our customers," comments Tuomas Hyrkäs, responsible for Fortum Charge & Drive home and destination charging services in Finland. "We understand that in today's housing landscape and vehicle market, EV charging is not necessary for everyone, but for those who do, it is seen as high-priority. We have lowered the bar for housing associations to support the adoption of EV chargers for their residents by ensuring that the housing association is not burdened with the cost of charger installation, maintenance, or load balancing between vehicles charging simultaneously, and the estate managers do not need to spend time working out the billing or settlement of the electricity consumed by the EV chargers. We take care of all of it all."
The only cost for the housing association is the preliminary EV site survey. This survey is necessary to get an understanding of the location and its current capacity, and the report is a useful planning tool for housing associations even if they do not decide to order anything further from Fortum Charge & Drive.
"If the housing association wants to proceed with us after the site survey, they just order the site "modem" from us, after which each resident can order the subscription package they want directly from Fortum Charge & Drive," continues Hyrkäs. "We install the necessary equipment and we reimburse the housing association for the electricity consumed by the EV chargers. The service is extremely flexible and the subscription can be upgraded, downgraded, or cancelled at any time, making the decision to order our home charging services virtually risk-free. If the resident changes cars and needs a new charger, they just let us know and we will make the necessary changes - all included in the subscription with no additional costs to the housing association. Same thing if the resident moves homes - all they have to do is inform us that they are moving and we handle the rest. The simplicity of the service and its value has been greatly appreciated by both housing associations and individual residents."
The same service is available for private homeowners; the only difference being that the site survey is handled remotely for private homeowners. The service has been warmly received by homeowners and housing associations around Finland.
