The agreement will enable Franklin Energy to offer e-mobility solutions to electric vehicle drivers across the UK and operate its growing electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The company has ambitious plans to use the Fortum Charge & Drive solution to further expand its charging infrastructure in the United Kingdom and develop its service, thereby providing the most user-friendly EV charging solutions in the UK. This agreement will enable the introduction of the Fortum Charge & Drive cloud solution to operate Franklin’s existing EV charging stations as well as new chargers to be installed in the future.
Franklin, based in Liverpool, currently offers charging services in multiple locations in the UK and has secured an investment to build a significant charging infrastructure of its own as well as to operate charging stations for others. In 2016 it launched the LiFe charging network, and by the end of 2017 Franklin Energy aims to have a presence in every major UK city in England, Scotland and Ireland.
“We selected Charge & Drive as our operating platform for two reasons” said Robert Byrne, CEO and Founder of Franklin Energy. “Firstly, Charge & Drive is the leading operator in the Nordic markets, which has seen mass adoption of electric vehicles, and it is experienced in all aspects of the value chain – from customer support to building new city EV charging networks. Secondly, Charge & Drive is charge point manufacturer-agnostic and has more than 15 charging manufacturers already integrated into the back end, allowing Franklin to adapt to a rapidly changing landscape and bring new emerging technologies to market before its competitors”.
Rami Syväri, Head of International Sales & Business Development, Fortum Charge & Drive, added that the UK is a fast developing market and that Fortum Charge & Drive will add value through its open standard hardware agnostic system which is also prepared to support interoperability in the market
The establishment of a complex infrastructure of EV charging points requires advanced and reliable solutions to operate the chargers, as well as customer-oriented solutions to support the increased use of electric vehicles. EV drivers expect real-time information on the accessibility and location of EV chargers, as well as straightforward payment solutions. Reliability in both the hardware and software solutions combined with a responsive customer support is crucial to the end user experience. The Fortum Charge & Drive cloud solution has been designed to meet these demands, enabling remote monitoring and upgrades and providing easy payment for the use of chargers.
Image: Fortum Charge & Drive
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