Charging ahead in race for EV owners’ spend

Electric vehicle charging-station operators set to battle for ad dollars.

ChargePoint says it has the world's largest network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in North America and Europe. Image via chargepoint.com.

The next battleground in the fight for US marketers’ advertising dollars may be charging stations used by the growing number of Americans who own electric or hybrid plug-in vehicles.

ChargePoint Holdings, the largest operator of EV charging stations in the US by number of stations, will create a nationwide advertising network in partnership with digital display company Ara Labs and Destination Media, which does business as GSTV and produces video ads at gas stations and other retailers. ChargePoint currently operates 28,753 charging stations out of a total 50,063 in the US, according to Department of Energy data.

The first ChargePoint ad displays will be live before the end of the year, and the company plans to install approximately 1000 screens across 10 key markets in the year following the launch, said Sean McCaffrey, president and chief executive of GSTV. These displays will run ads in and around original, three- to five-minute videos with news, weather and pop-culture content, Mr McCaffrey said. Advertising will be optional for businesses that buy and install ChargePoint chargers.

The pitch from EV-station makers to marketers focuses on helping them target upper-­income consumers immediately before they enter a given retail location, where many charging stations are located.

“We’re at the places where you’re already going [and] spending your time and resources,” said Brandt Hastings, chief commercial officer at Volta, a maker of ad-powered EV charging stations.

Ads on Volta displays have “ensured that we are reaching a premium audience of EV and non-EV drivers at point-of-­purchase for retail, grocery, entertainment and many more,” said Stephanie Tarbet, vice-president of communication, brands and government affairs at tyre maker Michelin North America.

The number of stations that include display ads remains small at the moment, but analysts believe it will grow in coming years as EV businesses look for new revenue sources and both federal and state governments deploy billions of dollars to subsidise renewable fuel providers under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

“In the next five to seven years in the US, there are going to be lots of runs at different business models to try to make the charging service profitable,” said Nick Nigro, founder of tech consultancy Atlas Public Policy. “[Advertising] could add some much-needed revenue to a business that doesn’t easily break even just selling electrons.” ChargePoint’s revenue for the quarter ended April 30 grew 102 per cent year-over-year to $US81.6m ($120m), with $US89.3m in net losses. The company is expected to report earnings for its second fiscal quarter next week. Volta reported $US15.3m in revenue for the second quarter, with nearly 75 per cent of that total coming from ad sales, but also lost $US37.4m.

Kevin Fournier, director of marketing and advertising at tyre retail chain Discount Tire, said he has begun preliminary talks with GSTV about the new product.

“We want to make sure that our current customer base knows that we can service electric vehicles as well as their everyday vehicles across the board,” said Mr Fournier, whose company has advertised on GSTV displays for several years along with brands such as PepsiCo and Chipotle Mexican Grill.

Volta, which launched a media network in late 2021 after going public via a merger with blank-check firm Tortoise Acquisition Corp II, will be ChargePoint’s most immediate competitor for ad dollars. Volta has always based its business model around ad sales, and a spokesman said its network currently includes 5400 screens and 2920 individual charging ports across 28 US states and territories.

Charging stations are a natural fit for automotive, packaged goods and entertainment brands, said Volta’s Mr Hastings, citing recent campaigns from Coca-Cola, Netflix and FedEx that ran on Volta screens.

Volta also encourages marketers to use its eight- or 15-second video ads to focus on sustainability messages, said Mr Hastings. A Michelin campaign that ran earlier this year led to a 70 per cent increase in consumer awareness of the company’s EV-specific tyres, according to Ms Tarbet.

The industry’s growth relies on deals with large retailers. Earlier this year, ChargePoint announced that it would install roughly 60 direct-current “fast chargers” at Starbucks locations, and Volta signed contracts to build stations in partnership with supermarket conglomerate Kroger and the city of Hoboken, New Jersey.

Both ChargePoint and Volta primarily make and install Level 2 stations, which let owners charge their vehicles while parked for extended periods of time, though they also operate a small number of far faster direct-current stations. Tesla dominates the latter market with 14,840 individual ports out of a US total of 25,324.

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