Oficina de Comunicació

The Catalan company Electromaps has developed an application based on artificial intelligence algorithms to locate all electric vehicle charging points in real-time, mainly in the European Union (EU) but also worldwide. It is a collaborative platform that allows users to add and share information, such as identifying a new charging point, updating a service, or determining the payment method.

To develop this application, Electromaps has received co-financing from ACCIÓ—the agency for business competitiveness of the Department of Business and Labour—and the European Union. The project, which aims to create a favorable framework for the deployment of electric mobility in Europe, is part of the Electric Mobility Europe program under Horizon 2020, involving 15 EU countries and two regions (Catalonia and Piedmont).

The app provides precise information about the infrastructure of European charging stations, whether free or paid, public or private. It also offers recommendations to users regarding the features of electrical connectors, such as approximate charging time (fast or slow charging), the average time they will remain available or occupied, the estimated cost depending on the energy source, or the price of local energy.

The company currently has 180,000 end users and expects to reach 200,000 by the end of the year, doubling its growth since early 2021. Furthermore, the company has reached agreements with 750 charging point providers, including public administrations and corporations, electric companies, small businesses, and entities in the electric mobility sector, among others.

According to Electromaps’ Head of Marketing, Jonan Basterra, “Our application offers borderless electric mobility, which is why we’ve unified all electric vehicle charging points into a single system.” Basterra adds, “Currently, the main obstacle for electric vehicle users is knowing where the charging points are. They might know the ones installed by their local council, but not whether a small business next to their home has installed one. With our application, this problem is solved.”

For Basterra, “At Electromaps, we can offer a global service because we draw from contributions from electric vehicle users, charging point owners, roaming platforms, and charge managers.” The marketing director also points out that “electromobility is an unstoppable sector: by 2035, internal combustion engine cars will no longer be sold, and the second-best-selling car in Europe is already electric.”

The company’s business model primarily derives from two sources: on the one hand, companies, entities, and administrations that have contracted the software; and on the other, a percentage paid by users each time they charge their vehicle. Currently, the company is working to expand its services and create new ones, such as routing, which will allow users to plan a car route across Europe while highlighting all charging points along the way.

Electromaps’ platform is available on the web and for iOS and Android systems. The company was founded in 2009, is headquartered in Barcelona, and currently has 22 employees.