Parking connectivity operator Parkopedia is collaborating with U.S. electric vehicle (EV) charging vendor Blink Charging are collaborating to expand park and charge services in North America.
Under the deal, Parkopedia users can access 12,000 Blink public chargers across 4,000 U.S. locations. Users access the EV charging points through a vehicle head unit where drivers can find accurate parking and charging availability as part of the overall EV charging experience.
According to Parkopedia, one of the main concerns of EV drivers and potential EV drivers is finding a charging service away from home. Additionally, charging a vehicle has been problematic due to unavailability of chargers due to maintenance or being occupied by other vehicles.
In a Parkopedia survey, about 92% of drivers would be more likely to buy an EV if it had park and charge functionality to simplify the process.
Why it matters
Park and charge is supported by existing technologies like parking data, indoor mapping services and payment platforms into one user interface.
This allows for multiple services to be bundled together to make the experience of EV charging simplified. Finding a parking spot is hard enough in some cases like cities but finding one that has EV charging may be even more of a challenge.
The idea here is to simplify both to promote the switch to electrified models, which the automotive sector is quickly doing. In fact, most automotive OEMs plan to have most of their fleet electrified in the next 10 to 15 years.
This has been labeled as the largest transition in automotive history and automotive vendors are looking to accelerate demand for EVs by making the recharging process as quick as possible to compete with current gasoline refueling times.
Blink Charging puts it EV stations in a variety of sectors where consumers would normally visit such as shopping maps, retail businesses, parking garages and street charging.
What is park and charge?
The service will allow EV owners to be able to find, authorize, pay and manage charging sessions and parking from one place inside their vehicles. Parking and charging are inherently an interconnected experience to begin with. A car must be parked to charge.
Parkopedia has 70 million parking spaces available in its database and the park and charge service allows automakers a way to resolve current issues with public charge such as:
- Finding an EV charger including those inside indoor facilities without GPS.
- Enabling in-vehicle EV charger activation, regardless of service provider.
- Enabling in-vehicle EV charging payments, regardless of provider.
“We recognize that parking and charging are increasingly interlinked and we are continuing to simplify the charging experience for EV drivers, as seen in this new collaboration with Blink,” said Adam Woolway, head of EV at Parkopedia. “We also recognize the significant challenges facing U.S. EV drivers, highlighted in our 2023 Global Driver Survey with the U.S. topping the table for the majority of charging-related issues—from failing to find chargers to running out of charge. We strongly believe that our connected car services and new integration with Blink will further support drivers and help prevent them from experiencing such issues in the future.”
