Co-charger (the Air B&B of car charging)

Caillte

Hi everyone. I Just wanted to bring your attention to a new app called co-charger. www.co-charger.com

Its like Air B&B for your home wall chargers. You can rent it out to people who may want to use it. You set the price/kWh etc. and they can book in all via the app for them to use it when its free and vice versa. Its not working fully for Ireland yet as it doesn't accept Irish mobile numbers (i put in a fake UK one) but the potential here is huge I think.

jhegarty

Given the margin between the ESB chargers and home rates you would struggle to make €1 an hour. I don't see it taking off.

slave1

Well it’s no harm, location and speed obviously the key points

ELM327

If you had 22kW at home this may be worthwhile.

kanuseeme

I doubt if it will take off at some ones home, last thing you want is some unknown parking in your drive, maybe for commercial premises but then your giving up your charger for some one who might never be a customer.

zg3409

Caillte wrote: »

Hi everyone. I Just wanted to bring your attention to a new app called co-charger. www.co-charger.com

Its like Air B&B for your home wall chargers. You can rent it out to people who may want to use it. You set the price/kWh etc. and they can book in all via the app for them to use it when its free and vice versa. Its not working fully for Ireland yet as it doesn't accept Irish mobile numbers (i put in a fake UK one) but the potential here is huge I think.

Plugshare app already does this, its in use, and it also covers all public chargers in Ireland. If you filter by private homes you can see some already listed in Ireland. While its not perfect it allows you to contact those offering to share their home chargers. It would be great if hundreds took up this system and offered their home charger.

I heard from one person who has offered their charger for years and they had one person contact them, and no-one ever used it.

Some down sides (and why I don't have mine listed)
Billing, you need a seamless billing system compatible with your existing home charger. Most home chargers don't have this.

Need, you need to be in a location with real demand such as city centre or wild Atlantic way, or next to apartments or a town with no public chargers.

You need to not have good local public charging, near me is a 50kW and a few 22kW, people would only try mine if very stuck.

People can be #icks. What would I do if I arrived home and my charger was in use by a stranger and my spot blocked and car empty? Or worse still my own car blocked in, by someone who hooked up overnight and I wanted to leave for work.

If I was in an in-demand area I might list my charger but I would mark the pin slightly off, so people would need to contact me before use, to ensure my needs are met first and they are gone before I need the parking spot and charger. I can set up a pin on the charger to prevent use too. I don't feel for my use case its worth the risk.

JohnC.

kanuseeme wrote: »

I doubt if it will take off at some ones home, last thing you want is some unknown parking in your drive, maybe for commercial premises but then your giving up your charger for some one who might never be a customer.

People can already rent out their drives on ParkPNP, so some are happy to do it.

JohnC.

zg3409 wrote: »

Plugshare app already does this, its in use, and it also covers all public chargers in Ireland. If you filter by private homes you can see some already listed in Ireland. While its not perfect it allows you to contact those offering to share their home chargers. It would be great if hundreds took up this system and offered their home charger.

I heard from one person who has offered their charger for years and they had one person contact them, and no-one ever used it.

Some down sides (and why I don't have mine listed)
Billing, you need a seamless billing system compatible with your existing home charger. Most home chargers don't have this.

Need, you need to be in a location with real demand such as city centre or wild Atlantic way, or next to apartments or a town with no public chargers.

You need to not have good local public charging, near me is a 50kW and a few 22kW, people would only try mine if very stuck.

People can be #icks. What would I do if I arrived home and my charger was in use by a stranger and my spot blocked and car empty? Or worse still my own car blocked in, by someone who hooked up overnight and I wanted to leave for work.

If I was in an in-demand area I might list my charger but I would mark the pin slightly off, so people would need to contact me before use, to ensure my needs are met first and they are gone before I need the parking spot and charger. I can set up a pin on the charger to prevent use too. I don't feel for my use case its worth the risk.

Looks like people book times so you don't have to take bookings when you don't want someone else using it.