Case Study | 22 July 2025
How an EV Charging Company Transformed Constraints into Competitive Advantages?
Posted by : Sanya Mehra
There is a huge expansion going on in the electric vehicle (EV) sector, with international EV sales anticipated to reach 50 million units yearly by the end of 2037. However, despite this upliftment, various EV charging station organizations experienced risks in increasing operations and maintaining consumer satisfaction. This case study examines how a medium-sized EV charging provider experienced stagnant development, owing to customer dissatisfaction and product constraints. By integrating strategic modifications, including customer engagement initiatives, demand forecasting, and technology upgradation, the organization positioned itself for effective growth by addressing bottlenecks by the end of 2037.
An overview:
- The EV charging company was established with an initial motive to capture almost 15% of the EV charging market in North America by 2030.
- However, before achieving this, by 2022, the company’s growth diminished due to declining customer satisfaction, inconsistent service reliability, and hardware limitations.
- A 2023 industrial report denoted that an estimated 70% of users were genuinely satisfied with charging speeds, while 45% denoted that they experienced malfunctioning stations.
- With competitors swiftly employing high-speed chargers, the company undertook the risk of losing market share unless it catered to these constraints.
- The EV charging company is projected to introduce a vision and achieve approximately 18% of the EV charging market in North America by the end of 2030, and readily target highway and urban corridors.
- Primary expectations are estimated to be a 25% yearly growth rate, which is supported by a rise in the EV adoption, which in turn, is projected to reach at least 44% of latest car sales by 2030.
- The company has expanded to 5,200 charging stations across Canada and the U.S. as of 2022.
- With an increase in charging stations, consumer satisfaction has reduced by 40%, owing to poor application connectivity, frequent hardware failures, and slow charging demands.
- In 2023, only 75% of user were effectively satisfied with charging speeds, and the remaining 51% stated their encounter with malfunctioning stations.
- Superchargers gained 90% to 95% of satisfaction rates, which has effectively leveraged 360 kW ultra-fast charging technology.
- Competitors have readily implemented next-generation chargers, with over 450 kW, along with battery-infused stations to avoid grid reliance.
- As of 2024, leadership has effectively prioritized three measures, such as partnerships with automakers, AI-based maintenance to diminish station downtime by almost 50.5%, and a focus on hardware overhaul by phasing out ancient 52 kW chargers for 250 to 380 kW systems.
The Story
The EV charging station company heavily depended on second-generation chargers with an approximate range between 55 to 155 kW. Meanwhile, its competitors implemented 355 kW ultra-fast chargers. By 2022, more than 65% of the newest EVs effectively supported over 320 kW charging, eventually making the company’s network appear to be obsolete. In the same year, as per an internal audit, it was found that 23.5% of charging stations witnessed downtime every month, initially due to inadequate maintenance and software glitches. In terms of customer dissatisfaction and retention challenges, surveys demonstrated that almost 58% of users patiently waited for more than 15 minutes for a charge, especially during rush hours. In addition, CSAT scores reduced from 85% in 2020 to 68.5% in 2022. Meanwhile, the churn rate increased by 20% year-over-year (YoY) basis, since users transitioned to rapid and reliable competitors.
Moreover, the company’s dependency on old 60 to 175 kW chargers has developed an evident and competitive disadvantage since the EV market is rapidly progressing. In 2022, approximately 70% of the newest EV models supported more than 325 kW charging and effectively rendered the company’s infrastructure in comparison to competitors, integrating 360 kW ultra-fast chargers. This is considered a technological barrier since rival companies were unable to deliver 85% battery capacity within 15 minutes. Meanwhile, stations under the company undertook 50 to 65 minutes for the similar charge, which has imposed a severe limitation, particularly in highway and urban locations.
Based on the drawback, an internal audit demonstrated that 25.5% of stations were experiencing monthly downtime, initially owing to unresolved software bugs, overheating hardware, and neglected maintenance. These failures created frustration among users as well as enhanced operational expenses. Besides, there has been a surge in consumer dissatisfaction, with 60% of users denoting waiting duration to exceed by 20 minutes, especially during peak hours. This operation-based inefficiency effectively triggered a 20.5% YoY increase among consumers, since drivers are migrating towards reliable networks in comparison to the outdated ones.
Our Solution:
To revitalize its growth, the EV charging station company consulted with Research Nester executives to analyze the forecast demand and recent market trends. The key actions regarding this included the following:
- Phasing out 50.5 kW chargers, along with deploying 355 kW ultra-fast chargers at different high-traffic locations.
- AI-powered maintenance diminished the downtime by 45% within more than 1.5 years.
- Solar-implemented charging stations reduced energy costs by 30%, which enhanced profitability.
- Both peak and off-peak pricing models enhanced station utilization by 35%.
- Data-based analytics recognized that developing regions have led to approximately 17% expansion in high-income areas.
- Upgradation in mobile applications offered wait-time predictions, along with a real-time charger.
- Loyalty programs, for instance, discounted charging options for frequent users, enhanced retention by an estimated 25%.
- The existence of 24/7 customer support chatbots fixed 85% of challenges without the demand for human intervention.
Results
After integrating Research Nester’s analytical solutions, the company strategically yielded measurable improvement. This includes accelerated revenue growth from 5% in 2022 to 20% by 2037. Additionally, there has been an increase in customer satisfaction to 88%, which has surpassed the overall sector. Likewise, the market share also increased from 13% to 18%, particularly in North America. Besides, Research Nester has projected that with the continuation of implementing the strategies, the company will be successful in capturing almost 25% of North America by the end of 2037. AI-based charging networks will diminish operational expenses by an additional 22%, which will lead to expansion in Asia and Europe with a boosted international revenue by 37.5%.
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