“Park ‘n Charge is actively involved in the operation of charging stations. You can actually compare us to a gas station owner, but for electric cars. What we mainly do is install charging stations on the street. We have contracts with municipalities in various places throughout the Netherlands. Before I started Park ‘n Charge I had a consultancy firm. About 10 years ago I worked for the municipality of The Hague as a program manager for electric transport. This was at a time when electric transport was certainly not as big as it is now. You have to imagine that Tesla was still a startup back then. There were some electric cars, but they could be counted on the fingers of one hand. We then issued a tender to realize charging infrastructure in the municipality of The Hague. That was won by Ecotap, so that’s how I met the men from Ecotap…” Speaking is Gerwin Hop, who likes to share his experiences with Ecotap.
Pleasant relationship pleasant cooperation
Gerwin continues: “The pleasant cooperation has taken shape all the more because of the good contacts with the management of Ecotap. Now you see that Ecotap has become part of a global concern. Coincidentally, I was there last week, and I noticed that nothing has changed in the familiar geniality. The human contact is very pleasant: there is mutual understanding for each other’s challenges. Challenges as we all know as growing companies. Think of the continuous further professionalization and optimization of processes. It’s nice that this can be discussed openly with each other. So that human dimension remains the norm as far as I’m concerned. That is different from when you are dealing with a huge and formal concern. Fortunately, this is not the case at Ecotap. Matters are dealt with immediately, I know from my own experience.”
Quality and does what it should do
“When it comes to the charging stations, I mainly hear that the stations are heavy,” says Gerwin when we inquire about the quality of the charging solutions. He explains: “For me, heavy means that they are of good quality. Furthermore, it is a product that always does what it should do. If there are any issues or problems, we look together at how we are going to solve them. We also do the training of the mechanics together. We ourselves do not have the knowledge to properly train the installers. It is not only the charger, but also the integration with the software is of great importance. Via the software we can check whether any charging stations are malfunctioning, and all the settings of the charging stations are still correct. Or see what is going on when a user calls if a charging station is not working properly. Those are moments when you especially notice that it is nice to work with Ecotap. At the end of last year, our operation was approaching 10,000 charging points. It is therefore logical that we encounter all sorts of things. You share that with each other and that way you are stronger together.”
Expand, together with Ecotap
“We would like to expand our portfolio in the future. We want to become the fastest installing charging station operator in the Netherlands. Ecotap can contribute to this through sufficient and timely delivery of their charging stations. Something they are already doing, and will certainly continue to do in the future”, concludes Gerwin with full conviction.