How the idea come

I have been doing GPS monitoring for more than ten years - this is my main business, but lately it has become a little boring: the processes are well established and are running smoothly.

A year and a half ago, I switched to an electric car and faced the question: “Where can I charge such a vehicle?”. Then I thought about how to make money on charging.

After studying the market, I started sending requests to European manufacturers. It was necessary to find a partner who would provide a complete package: software, hardware, White label cooperation model in order for TokBor to launch a business under its own brand.

We found an Ukrainian company that has been working in this area for seven years. In its country, it occupies 90% of the market, and the number of its charging stations reaches one and a half thousand.

Our first exercise appeared at the Amirsoy resort, the second - at the BeFit Pro fitness club. There are currently 15 TokBor outlets in operation. I am often asked about the station in the parking area of ​​the Makro Ecopark branch in Tashkent, but our chargers are not installed there.

Last year, there were only 200 electric vehicles in Uzbekistan. However, the global trend is such that the demand for environmentally friendly transport is steadily growing. The one who now competently builds a business at charging stations and takes interesting locations will win.

Why there are no ready-made solutions for Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan has its own specifics. There are ten connector standards in the world. Therefore, the USA has its own infrastructure, its own chargers and connectors, and, accordingly, their plug fits a car with an American socket. The same is true in Europe and China.

A striking example is Tesla, its infrastructure is the largest and most developed in the United States. The manufacturer works according to the Apple principle: other cars cannot be charged at Tesla stations, which serves as a sales driver. But when the company came to Europe, they said that they have their own standard, under which it is necessary to remake the connector.

In this connection, Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, had to build a mini-factory in the Netherlands, where another nest is installed on almost finished cars from the USA.

Last year, the company launched production in Shanghai (PRC), and the Chinese government actually forced the manufacturer to remake electric vehicles for local infrastructure.

We do not have a single standard, so we had to reinvent the wheel.

How electric charging station works

I ordered the first station with European connectors. I wanted to introduce adapters by analogy with household appliances, then changed my mind.

The fact is that not every electric car driver will agree to buy an adapter, because its cost varies from $150 to $500.

For six months, we have been working with the manufacturer to refine the product so that most of the cars can be charged directly. Moreover, at the beginning, the Europeans categorically refused to supplement their models with Chinese standard connectors.

I was very insistent, and explained that if they did not do this, then we would have to look for other partners.

Therefore, they made an AC connector in just a month, and we expect the long-awaited DC connector by the beginning of autumn.

More than $150,000 have been invested in the project, and we will not stop there — we will continue to invest in the next five to seven years, until the number of stations exceeds 1,500

It is convenient that the business does not require the cost of maintenance personnel: the station costs and earns itself.

An application has been developed for users that allows you to track the location of all charging stations, the status of ports of interest (busy or free), and remotely book them, as well as monitor the charging process.

There are two types of stations: slow and fast. In the first case, it takes two to four hours to charge an electric vehicle from 20% to 80%; in the second, it takes 15 to 50 minutes.

The battery capacity depends on the model of the car. A couple of months ago, out of interest, I went by electric car to Samarkand. I left fully charged, spent 80% on 300-350 km. By the time I got to the hotel, 13% remained. There, I did not find any electric charging station, so I had to charge from a regular socket, which takes about 28 hours.

In addition, consumption depends on speed. Each model has a cruising speed (approximately 100 km / h), above which consumption increases. Once I drove to the mountains and managed to use 50% of the battery, although the distance was only 80 km.

Business model

Legally, all electric vehicle charging stations are not ours, so after the end of the test period, each point will set its own price. TokBor's business model is as follows: the company offers additional business to the B2B segment.

The client gives the location, and we do everything on a turnkey basis. For using the software, the partner pays TokBor 20% of the turnover.

In general, it is difficult to talk about pricing, since there is no legislative framework for electric vehicle charging stations in Uzbekistan. The most logical way is to set a markup, but here it is forbidden to resell electricity for more than the cost set by the state.

We charge for the use of the equipment. For this, tariffs have been developed, which consist of the reimbursement of electricity at cost and payment for the charging service. The latter depends on the charging capacity (the greater the capacity, the faster the process goes): at a slow station - from 5 thousand soums per hour, at a fast station - 50-60 thousand.

A charging station is a matter of not only direct, but also indirect income from such a solvent audience as electric motorists. While the car is charging, they spend more than an hour and a half in a nearby location.

Therefore, the most tempting places are parks, fitness centers and so on.

Project Management

All processes so far go through me: I myself install, mount, connect, configure and check. I believe that every leader should know the business from the inside.

In any new business, with any new hardware, there is no problem. It used to happen that I disappeared for weeks at the point: either one car did not charge, then another, out of five connectors only one worked normally, and so on.

We have a chat in Telegram where electric car owners write about problems that arise. Based on the feedback received, the team refines the product.

I also run the TokBor page on Instagram, where I show how stations are mounted, how electric cars are charged. Previously, he was engaged in technical support and answered sales requests.

Until recently, TokBor did not need promotion. We delivered only the first batch of stations, set up and finalized the product, completed the software, and there was no need for extensive coverage.

In general, we plan to promote through our own website and Instagram, as well as use the most effective, in my opinion, platforms - Google and Yandex.

Energy issue

In the fall, we plan to install ten of our own stations in the cities and on the Tashkent-Samarkand, Tashkent-Fergana highways. For locations outside populated areas, fast chargers with a capacity of 60–120 kW are needed, because a person will not sit by the road for 5 hours and wait for the car to charge.

To reduce the load on the networks, TokBor plans to develop a "feed-in tariff" - to install solar canopies over the stations. The panels will collect energy and give it to the city. Thus, it will be possible to reimburse 20-25% of the consumed electricity.

In general, the fact that a boom in electric cars is starting in the country is also due to TokBor, because we are removing the main question: where to charge.

Link to the article: https://www.spot.uz/ru/2021/07/17/electrocar/

 

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