How to choose an EV charging station brand? These 6 practical guidelines you should know.
When it comes to EV charging stations, we will certainly think of new energy vehicles. In recent years, as countries continue to promote the concept of environmental protection coupled with the improvement of environmental protection awareness, new energy vehicles are more and more popular among the public, and the development of new energy vehicles can not be separated from the support of charging facilities.
At the same time, the competition in the EV charging stations industry is also more and more intense, in the face of so many EV charging pile brands and types that capture the hearts of consumers who can win the market!
So when choosing a charging pile, what are customers most concerned about?
1. Major classifications of EV charging stations in the market
Among the existing EV charging station companies, there are basically three types. The first type is a pile enterprise, mainly producing charging piles, such as SCU, green energy, bull, etc. The second type is a pure platform company, mainly for the charging pile upstream and downstream industry chain to provide support services, and does not produce charging piles, for example, small orange, cloud fast charging, fast power, and so on. The third type is the pile enterprise + platform company, such as special call and start charging, which is both the production of piles and their own platform company.
2. Consider post-operation and maintenance services
In addition to considering the attachment platform, you also need to consider the later operation and maintenance of the EV charging pile.
Purchasing managers from well-known European photovoltaic companies have said: “In the low electric vehicle ownership in the region, many people just contact with the charging station industry, there is no experience in building stations, most of the reference to the city or neighboring cities of the existing station, and some of the head of the EV charging stations in these areas of the layout of the early enterprises, such as my city, the charging pile used in the public transport station is SCU. There is no other brand in sight. So the first manufacturer I contacted was SCU, and I eventually chose it with the factor of preconception, due to the large number of SCU’s equipment in my city, and also considering that their operation and maintenance team can cover it.”
3. Examining local market share
In addition, it is also necessary to consider the market share of the charging pile at that time.
Lin, a Chinese charging station investment and construction operator, said, “At present, Shandong and Northeast are mostly Tercel, while in Hebei, it is SCU, Tesla is mostly.”
These large enterprises entered the market earlier; the technology has long been mature, the offer is more reasonable, in addition to the local market share is high, and maintenance is convenient. Taking into account the use habits of customers in the local market. Of course, if the driver’s phone app or applet can be used directly, it will increase the utilization rate.
SCU, for example, owns this technology.
4. Focus on brand strength and quality
When considering the purchase of a charging post, the strength and quality of the charging post brand should not be underestimated.
A charging pile practitioner from Hainan, China, said, “In most people’s perception, like SCU, a listed company, a large company’s product quality, after-sales service, of course, will be more guaranteed. So most people will still consider the company’s strength and product quality.”
When considering the strength and quality of a brand, one of the important factors is the technology of the product.
SCU belongs to the leading company in China, with the best product quality and technology, and is very recognized by private car users. With the development of new energy vehicles, there will be more and more private car customers and the proportion of first-charging will be higher and higher in the future.
Therefore, before purchasing the EV charger, you also need to research and compare the EV charger brands in the market and make an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of different brands of charging stations to choose the EV charger that you are satisfied with.
5. Value for money is also important
“We do not need to pay out of the case, I try as much as possible to just use the better things, I would not be too much to think about the price, so the main thing is still cost-effective.” Mr. Yang from the Sichuan area said.
Mr. Deng from the Guizhou area said, “I mainly consider the cost-effective, first of all, the price, followed by the quality, and after-sales service, and then combined with the local situation, I chose a better quality charging pile, and then use the third-party platform service, so it’s most suitable for me.”
6. Multi-faceted considerations
In summary, the brand for the EV charger is not one-sided but needs to be tailored to your own situation, from person to person and from place to place. Here are six suggestions:
(1) Don’t buy a small brand or no brand of charging pile products.
Because this can not guarantee after-sales and quality and will also cause damage to the vehicle in the use process.
(2) Don’t just care about the price; choose the cost-effective.
You can make a comparative analysis table of EV charger brands to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of different brands of EV chargers.
(3) Read more product reviews and evaluations.
Choose the brand to pay attention to and see the product evaluation. If there are a lot of bad reviews, don’t choose.
(4) Try to choose a big brand of EV charging stations.
Because of the big brand of charging pile equipment exchange, after-sales warranty, and technical guarantee, the most important thing is that large scale of large companies does not have to worry about the late run and other issues to facilitate the operation of the later stage.
(5) Seek reference information from many sources.
You can consult other charging station practitioners can exchange discussions with more industry practitioners. At the same time, docking with manufacturers to match their needs and budget for the most suitable charging pile.
(6) Finally, it is important to choose the right charging station according to your situation.