Your EV chargers are online. So why aren’t drivers using them?
For CPOs, the next growth opportunity might not be another charging location. It could be getting more from the locations they already have.
For a long time, the main mission for CPOs has been to build. More chargers. More locations. More dots on the map.
And as EV adoption increases, this needs to continue. But once you've built a charging network, another challenge appears: getting more drivers to actually use it. Because a charger can be online, reliable and ready to go... and still be underused.
So what’s going on?
Being online doesn't mean being busy
A technically healthy charger is obviously important. But uptime alone doesn't bring drivers through the charging bay. They need to find the location, trust it and have a reason to choose it over somewhere else.
That could come down to pricing, visibility on maps and charging apps, nearby amenities, competing chargers or simply whether there is enough demand in the area.
A very revealing 2026 report from Electric Era, Paren and the Transportation Energy Institute gives us some fascinating insight into what makes a charging location busy. Looking at more than 4,000 US fast-charging locations, it found that a typical site recorded around 9 charging sessions per day. A site next to a grocery store? That got an average of 42 sessions.
Turns out, EV drivers really like to combine shopping with charging.
Give drivers a reason to choose you
IImagine there are three charging locations that are ten minutes apart. Why choose yours?
This is where CPOs need to think beyond the charger itself. Amenities matter. Price matters. Convenience matters. Discoverability matters. Previous experience matters.
Take GRIDSERVE and Moto’s Sawtry Services on the UK’s always busy A1. The site offers 24/7 amenities including M&S Food, Pret and Burger King. Its six high-power charging bays proved popular enough that, less than a year after opening, GRIDSERVE and Moto doubled the number to 12, citing growing popularity and charger utilization.
That doesn't prove the Pret is responsible for all those extra charging sessions, of course. But it does illustrate something important: drivers aren't choosing a charger in isolation. They're choosing a place to stop.
And the Electric Era report suggests the more choice they have when they get there, the better. Stations with no amenities within 0.1 miles recorded a median of just 3 sessions per day. Those with 11 or more? 28 sessions per day.
For CPOs, understanding what makes one location more attractive than another is what will decide its success.
Don't just shout louder
An underperforming location doesn't automatically need an advertising campaign.
Low charge point utilization can have very different causes. Drivers might struggle to find the location on the platforms they use. The pricing might be uncompetitive for the local market. There could be fleets operating nearby that have never been approached, or businesses and destinations that could become valuable local partners.
The important thing is not to jump straight to a solution. Understand why drivers aren't choosing a location first, then decide what could realistically change that.
The opportunity isn't always obvious from network-level performance. Two locations with similar utilization can be underperforming for completely different reasons, which means the same growth tactic won't necessarily work for both.
The real opportunity comes from looking at each location individually and understanding what could realistically make more drivers choose it.
Could your existing charging locations be working harder?
Our Location Growth Framework helps uncover what's holding individual sites back and where additional utilzation could realistically come from. Download the Nexxt Location Growth Framework for CPOs to discover how we diagnose challenges and activate growth opportunities across your network.
Who actually owns this problem?
Here's an awkward question.
If a charging location is online, reliable and working exactly as it should, but isn't attracting enough drivers, whose job is it to change that?
Operations is focused on keeping chargers running. Marketing is often looking at the brand or network as a whole. Commercial teams are pursuing partnerships and new opportunities. Finance can see the numbers, but identifying an underperforming location isn't the same as knowing how to grow it.
That creates a gap.
A technically successful location can still be a commercially underperforming one, and improving it can require work that sits across several different functions.
Someone needs to look at the location individually, understand the local market and driver behaviour, identify what's holding utilization back and then actually do something about it.
As networks mature, location growth needs to become an active discipline, not simply something that gets noticed when the numbers are reviewed.
Forget 100 more sessions. What about one?
When we talk about increasing charge point utilization, it's easy to imagine that the numbers need to change dramatically for the effort to be worthwhile. They don't.
Take 10 charging locations and assume an illustrative €15 charging revenue per session. If each location attracted just one additional charging session per day, that would represent:
€54,750 in additional annual charging revenue.
From just one extra session per day!
Of course, that's an illustrative example rather than a forecast. Actual revenue will depend on pricing, charging volumes and the characteristics of each location. But it demonstrates something important.
Location growth doesn't always need to mean transforming an underperforming site into one of your network's busiest. Small, achievable improvements can become significant when they're repeated every day and across multiple locations.
The real opportunity is finding the locations where that extra session is realistically within reach, and understanding what would persuade that next driver to stop.
One more driver
EV charging networks still need to expand. New infrastructure will remain an important part of that growth.
But as networks get bigger, CPOs also have another growth opportunity sitting right in front of them: the locations they've already built.
Some may need greater visibility. Others may need a stronger local proposition, different pricing, a fleet relationship or a partnership that gives drivers another reason to visit. The answer won't be the same everywhere.
And that's why the starting point shouldn't be “How do we market this location?”
It should be: “What would it take to get one more driver here today?”
Because across a network, one more driver per location, per day, can become a total game-changer.
Ready to take your CPO marketing to the Nexxt Level?
EV charging is more than just plugging in - it’s about visibility, engagement, and smart monetization. At Nexxt Industry, we help CPOs drive success with cutting-edge marketing strategies that boost utilization and revenue.
At Nexxt Industry, we offer eMobility marketing services with a decade of industry experience, including expertise in marketing for companies who work in the charging infrastructure sector. With us, you instantly add years of eMobility marketing experience to your eMobility marketing team.
If you would like to learn more about the strategies mentioned in this article and discover how they can help boost your business, download our free eBook: Advanced marketing strategies for Charge Point Operators.
Are you ready to bring in an experienced team to work on location growth? Check out our Nexxt location growth framework and managed service.
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