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* CMO Today
EV CHARGING-STATION OPERATORS SET TO BATTLE FOR AD DOLLARS
CHARGEPOINT, THE LARGEST U.S. PRODUCER OF EV CHARGING STATIONS, IS ROLLING OUT
AN ADVERTISING DISPLAY BUSINESS
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A MOCK-UP OF CHARGEPOINT'S AD-POWERED EV CHARGING STATIONS, WHICH ARE SET TO
ROLL OUT LATER THIS YEAR.
Photo: Destination Media Inc.
By
Patrick Coffee
Aug. 25, 2022 6:00 am ET
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The next battleground in the fight for U.S. marketers’ advertising dollars may
be charging stations used by the growing number of Americans who own electric or
hybrid plug-in vehicles.
ChargePoint Holdings Inc., the largest operator of EV charging stations in the
U.S. by number of stations, will create a nationwide advertising network in
partnership with digital display company Ara Labs Inc. and Destination Media
Inc., which does business as GSTV and produces video ads at gas stations and
other retailers. ChargePoint currently operates 28,753 charging stations out of
a total 50,063 in the U.S., according to Department of Energy data.
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The first ChargePoint ad displays will be live before the end of the year, and
the company plans to install approximately 1,000 screens across 10 key markets
in the year following the launch, said Sean McCaffrey, president and chief
executive of GSTV. These displays will run ads in and around original, three- to
five-minute videos with news, weather and pop-culture content, Mr. McCaffrey
said. Advertising will be optional for businesses that buy and install
ChargePoint chargers.
The pitch from EV-station makers to marketers focuses on helping them target
upper-income consumers immediately before they enter a given retail location,
where many charging stations are located.
“We’re at the places where you’re already going [and] spending your time and
resources,” said Brandt Hastings, chief commercial officer at Volta Inc., a
maker of ad-powered EV charging stations.
Ads on Volta displays have “ensured that we are reaching a premium audience of
EV and non-EV drivers at point-of-purchase for retail, grocery, entertainment
and many more,” said Stephanie Tarbet, vice president of communication, brands
and government affairs at tire maker Michelin North America Inc.
Taking Apart an EV Battery Illustrates Why ‘Made in America’ Will Be Tough
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Taking Apart an EV Battery Illustrates Why ‘Made in America’ Will Be ToughPlay
video: Taking Apart an EV Battery Illustrates Why ‘Made in America’ Will Be
Tough
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President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act calls for at least 50% of an electric
vehicle’s battery to be made in the U.S. to qualify for a federal discount.
WSJ’s George Downs breaks down a battery to explain why that’s going to be a
challenge. Illustration: George Downs
The number of stations that include display ads remains small at the moment, but
analysts believe it will grow in coming years as EV businesses look for new
revenue sources and both federal and state governments deploy billions of
dollars to subsidize renewable fuel providers under the Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.
“In the next five to seven years in the U.S., there are going to be lots of runs
at different business models to try to make the charging service profitable,”
said Nick Nigro, founder of tech consultancy Atlas Public Policy. “[Advertising]
could add some much-needed revenue to a business that doesn’t easily break even
just selling electrons.”
ChargePoint’s revenue for the quarter ended April 30 grew 102% year-over-year to
$81.6 million, with $89.3 million in net losses. The company is expected to
report earnings for its second fiscal quarter next week. Volta reported $15.3
million in revenue for the second quarter, with nearly 75% of that total coming
from ad sales, but also lost $37.4 million.
Kevin Fournier, director of marketing and advertising at tire retail chain
Discount Tire, said he has begun preliminary talks with GSTV about the new
product.
“We want to make sure that our current customer base knows that we can service
electric vehicles as well as their everyday vehicles across the board,” said Mr.
Fournier, whose company has advertised on GSTV displays for several years along
with brands such as PepsiCo Inc.
Volta, which launched a media network in late 2021 after going public via a
merger with blank-check firm Tortoise Acquisition Corp. II, will be
ChargePoint’s most immediate competitor for ad dollars. Volta has always based
its business model around ad sales, and a spokesman said its network currently
includes 5,400 screens and 2,920 individual charging ports across 28 U.S. states
and territories.
A VOLTA CHARGING STATION AND DIGITAL AD DISPLAY OUTSIDE AN ATLANTA-AREA KROGER.
Photo: Volta Inc.
Charging stations are a natural fit for automotive, packaged goods and
entertainment brands, said Volta’s Mr. Hastings, citing recent campaigns from
Coca-Cola Co. , Netflix Inc. and FedEx Corp. that ran on Volta screens.
Volta also encourages marketers to use its eight- or 15-second video ads to
focus on sustainability messages, said Mr. Hastings. A Michelin campaign that
ran earlier this year led to a 70% increase in consumer awareness of the
company’s EV-specific tires, according to Ms. Tarbet.
The industry’s growth relies on deals with large retailers. Earlier this year,
ChargePoint announced that it would install roughly 60 direct-current “fast
chargers” at Starbucks locations, and Volta signed contracts to build stations
in partnership with supermarket conglomerate Kroger Co. and the city of Hoboken,
N.J.
Mr. McCaffrey, of GSTV, said that a key question for the shopping malls, movie
theaters and fast-food chains that ChargePoint and GSTV plan to pitch is, “How
do I begin to offer EV as an amenity to my consumers in a way that becomes
affordable and scalable?”
ChargePoint and Volta’s business models differ in several ways. Both say they
can target consumers by geography, demographics and behavioral data, but GSTV
says its units will not directly collect any consumer data, while Volta draws
first-party data from its mobile app and combines that with retail partners’
customer-loyalty databases. Sensors at Volta stations can also target consumers
by the model of vehicle they drive.
Both firms primarily make and install Level 2 stations, which let owners charge
their vehicles while parked for extended periods of time, though they also
operate a small number of far faster direct-current stations. Tesla Inc.
dominates the latter market with 14,840 individual ports out of a total of
25,324 in the U.S., per Department of Energy data, and plans to open its
charging network to other automakers in order to apply for public grants.
MORE FROM CMO TODAY
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August 24, 2022
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* Large Ad Agency Networks Have Resisted the Economic Downturn—So Far August
22, 2022
The biggest challenge ahead for these businesses may be building enough stations
to keep up with demand. The Inflation Reduction Act, which provides twice the
amount of public funding made available to EV charging companies over the past
12 years, will create a “sugar high” as they rush to expand beyond major urban
areas, said Mr. Nigro of Atlas Public Policy.
At this time, it is unclear how many more charging-station operators will create
supplemental ad businesses.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has long decried advertising, but Mr. Nigro
called the company’s charging-station network “the best form of advertisement
that any [EV] manufacturer did in the 2010s” for giving consumers more
confidence in the practicality of owning an electric vehicle. Tesla did not
respond to requests for comment.
Corrections & Amplifications
GSTV has run ads from brands including PepsiCo and Discount Tire. An earlier
version of this article incorrectly said Chipotle Mexican Grill had also run ads
on GSTV displays. (Corrected on Aug. 25)
Write to Patrick Coffee at patrick.coffee@wsj.com
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the August 26, 2022, print edition as 'Battle for Charging-Station
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