At 6 p.m., your staff head home. Your chargers, however, stay plugged into the car park, accessible and unused. From 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. on weekdays, all weekend, during holidays: infrastructure already paid for that generates nothing. In the neighbourhood, drivers are looking for exactly those slots. Here is how a company charger works in automatic self-service with PotatoCharge.
Chargers already there, already paid for
You invested in chargers for your staff, for your image or to meet a regulatory obligation. The investment is done. Outside office hours, those chargers sleep. PotatoCharge opens those windows to the public, without installing anything more.
Self-service, fully automatic
On a compatible, connected charger (Wallbox, Easee, Zaptec and others), the whole journey runs with no human intervention:
- Identification: the driver identifies via the app. No badge to hand out, no key to entrust.
- Prepayment: a prepayment or pre-authorisation is placed before unlocking.
- Unlocking: the charger unlocks automatically, and the charge starts from a button in the app.
- Metering: consumption is read directly from the charger, over the OCPP protocol, to the kilowatt-hour.
- Payment: at the end of the session, payment triggers automatically, then the charger locks again.
None of your staff has to open a barrier, validate a photo or collect anything. The charger does it all, on its own. This journey rests on the charger's ability to speak OCPP, the language of connected chargers, detailed in turning a silent home charger into a connected one.
Your teams see no change
You define public access windows that end before your teams arrive, for example 6 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. on weekdays and the full weekend. Sessions cannot spill over into your internal hours: by design, no charger is occupied by an outside driver when your staff arrive. The guarantee rests on the platform, not on the goodwill of drivers.
No management, a monthly transfer
The platform handles booking, secure access, validation of each session, collection and the monthly transfer to your account. Your team handles no request, no complaint. You set the per-kilowatt-hour tariff and the number of chargers opened; the rest runs by itself.
What it can earn
The orders of magnitude are concrete. On a company car park in Wallonia opened in the evening and at the weekend, at a conservative tariff:
| Chargers opened | Indicative annual revenue |
|---|---|
| 2 chargers | at least €2,040 |
| 6 chargers | at least €6,120 |
These amounts land on infrastructure that is already paid off, with no staff involved. As the car park gains visibility on the platform, occupancy climbs, and revenue with it.
Beyond the revenue
- Corporate responsibility: your company becomes a concrete actor of sustainable mobility in its neighbourhood, daily, not in a press release.
- Faster payback: chargers used more pay for themselves faster.
- Local relations: opening your car park to residents builds local goodwill, useful for any extension project or permit application.
Put your chargers to work in the evening
Setting up a professional host profile takes about thirty minutes, with a contact who manages physical access to the car park. The first partners in an area enjoy enhanced visibility at launch.
Open my business chargers to the public.
Frequently asked questions
Do our staff keep their access as usual?
Yes. PotatoCharge only manages the slots outside your internal hours. Your teams see no change and find their chargers free on arrival.
Can a driver occupy a charger when my teams arrive?
No. Sessions end before your opening hours. No overflow is possible by design.
Do you need to install extra hardware?
Automatic mode requires a compatible, connected charger (Wallbox, Easee, Zaptec and others), possibly reconfigured. No other installation is required.
Who handles payments and disputes?
The platform. Collection, monthly transfer and support are handled by PotatoCharge; your team does not step in.
