Green utility group Good Energy has invested a further £1m into the parent company of Bristol-based Zap-Map, the electric vehicle mapping service, to accelerate its growth.
Good Energy already majority owns Next Green Car Ltd following two previous investments, which have helped make Zap-Map a major player in the drive towards zero carbon mobility.
Zap-Map subscribers pay to use it to plan routes, locate charge points and check their availability via their smartphones – factors seen as crucial to persuade drivers to ditch petrol and diesel cars in favour of electric vehicles (EVs).
Spike Island-based Zap-Map is also looking to integrate its Zap-Pay scheme with the widely used Allstar payment platform under an agreement with Fleetcor UK, part of Fleetcor, the worldwide leader in business payments.
Allstar will be able to provide commercial fleet operators and drivers with access to more than 4,277 charging points across 1,700 locations throughout the UK.
Chippenham-headquartered Good Energy, which supplies 100% renewable electricity supplier along with a range of innovative energy services, described Zap-Map as “the voice of the EV driver” by enabling them to search, plan and pay for EV charging in one app while receiving real time updates in car.
Good Energy’s latest investment is being made via a convertible loan note. Its first investment in Zap-Map, also for £1m, took place two years ago. A year later it took up an option to increase its holding to a majority stake.
Good Energy founder and chief executive officer Juliet Davenport, pictured, who is also chair of Zap-Map, said: “This investment in Zap-Map will allow them to accelerate their proven products and provide much-needed services for the growing number of EV drivers in the UK and beyond.
“With a strong pipeline of opportunities we are excited about what the future holds for Zap.”
She said the partnership with Fleetcor was a great example of two leaders in their fields collaborating to solve and simplify a complex problem for businesses as they transition to electric motoring.
“The solution will help to make charging simple for business EV drivers at scale, increase adoption and help drive the UK towards zero emission motoring,” she added.
Zap-Map currently has more than 95% of the UK’s public charging points on its network, with live dynamic data for 70-plus per cent of the UK EV charging network is. Over 75% of the UK EV drivers have downloaded Zap-Map, which grew by more than 60% last year in line with the UK EV market. The firm now has more than 180,000 registered users, 140,000 cross platform users, 130,000 saved route plans and 12,000-plus user comments a month.
Good Energy was launched by Ms Davenport more than 20 years ago with a clear purpose to give consumers the power to tackle climate change by choosing renewable power.
Last year it increased revenues by 5.1% to £130.6m, driven by growth in business supply and FIT (feed in tariff) customers, which more than offset a decline in domestic supply customers.
