How to solve the 5 big challenges of servicing EV stations

The growth in popularity for Electric Vehicles (EV) has been a big win for businesses who want to go green. It’s also been a very rewarding time for skilled technicians charged with the task of servicing EV stations.

The extra demand for their services and the scarcity of people with the skills required to maintain this equipment has given Field Service businesses in this sector some unique challenges. 

Here’s how to solve the 5 big challenges of servicing EV stations.

1. Meeting Demand for EV Charge Point Servicing

There’s not enough hours in the day. More accurately, the hours of the day aren’t managed well.

In the UK new EV registrations in 2021 were 76% higher than the year before. Despite only accounting for 11% of all cars sold in the UK and the complications of part availability brought on by Covid-19, the EV market shows now signs of slowing.

By 2030 the UK government is on course to ban the sale of petrol or diesel cars and vans. This will have a big impact on the refuelling infrastructure of countries in Europe, the US and Asia. 

The United States has around 43,000 public EV charging stations and around 120,000 charging ports according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Of the 300 EV charging companies globally around 100 of these are in North American. 

It’s a very fast growing market that investors have poured more than $2 billion into. 

People and businesses are already getting ahead of this push for cleaner energy solutions by installing EV charging stations within their homes or places of work and this has put pressure on EV charge station servicing businesses.

Installation and Aftercare are the key focuses. This requires a great deal of organisation and time management for field service teams.

How to manage demand:

Visibility. This is the key to success for EV charging station servicing businesses. They need to be able to schedule installation jobs, manage the aftercare programmes and respond when their customers call them out for an emergency repair.

Successful Field Service businesses use Klipboard to instantly see at a glance who is available for a job. Real time visibility and faster scheduling will mean their team uses every hour of the day more effectively and their customers needs are met.

• Avoid double bookings
• Ensure all jobs are completed
• Remove confusion or miscommunication
• Klipboard is simple and easy to use

You can find out how to achieve complete oversight of your business and meet one of the challenges of servicing EV stations by reading more on Klipboard’s Job dispatch and scheduler. Learn more.

2. Global Supply Chain issues are affecting part availability

The global chip shortage is putting a real strain on EV charging station manufacturers and servicing businesses. Their ability to build new units or replace parts has been significantly effected by Covid-19 and it’s affect on the global supply chain.

In a recent earnings report Ford accounted that chip shortages are expected to reduce profits by $2.5 billion. 

Delays for parts can stretch for more than 12 months. It’s vitally important for EV Field Service businesses to maintain their inventory effectively and improve how organised their teams are in allocating parts to jobs. 

Are you being affected by Global Supply Chain issues? If not you may do sooner than you think, here’s our article on how bottlenecks and part availability is affecting service engineering businesses in the UK, US and Australian markets. Learn more.

How to improve inventory usage:

Your team needs to know what’s available to them. Your business needs to know when stock items reach a level where the quality of your service could be affected.

This requires two things:

1. A centralised location to view part availability
2. Visibility of low stock levels

Klipboard offers a solution to these challenges with our Inventory Management Tool. Not only will your team be able to see when quantities reach low levels, they can also see in real time and the exact location of those parts – what warehouse, customer site, storage centre or even vehicle.

Your Field Service team from the office to the those on the road can have greater visibility of the parts that are available to them. As acquiring chips, parts and replacement units becomes more challenging, having a robust Inventory Management system will be even more important. 

Connecting your Inventory Management to your Job Management Software means when your team allocates parts to a job you can get a clear picture of the cost of that job and budget accordingly. Learn more.

3. Communication with EV Charge point customers

A breakdown in communication is the reason you get no-shows on your jobs. This is why your customer may get frustrated when a technician doesn’t arrive on a job or goes to the wrong address.

People expect an ‘Uber-like’ experience from their Field Service providers. The modern customer expects to be able to view when a job will take place, who will be coming and when they will get there.

EV charging servicing businesses are expected to provide this service and without it you’re leaving your customer in the dark. 

How to provide an ‘Uber-Like’ experience:

Customer service in 2022 is all about delivering transparency. 

Your customer wants to know what’s happening with their service. They want to know when you’re arriving, the location, who will be there and lastly when the job is complete. It puts their mind at ease and it shows you’re able to meet their expectations.

The challenge is this can be costly to develop into a service business. It would require app development, complex communication tools, integration into your current job scheduling processes.

Klipboard has solved this issue by doing the hard work for you. Our Job Management Software seamlessly integrates ‘Uber-like’ communication into your job scheduling.

When you book a job, both the technician and the customer are fully informed with everything they need to know in real time.

You can find out more on why you need to offer an ‘Uber-like’ experience and how Klipboard is your shortcut to get there by reading our article. Learn more.

4. The location of EV Charge Point Servicing jobs

The nature of working in the EV charging station industry means service jobs are very likely to cover a wide geographical area. Service technicians might be expected to do a lot of travelling and every hour in the van is one that’s not on the job.

To efficiently schedule jobs you need to be able to have complete oversight of who’s currently on a job and won’t be available for sometime. That way if a call-out is required you know exactly who to book on the job.

How to track and anticipate engineer availability:

Don’t work blindly. To effectively manage a team of Field Service technicians you need to be able to respond quickly with the right person for the job.

Klipboard offers GPS visibility of your team allowing you to schedule smarter. A range of map filters allows you to get the information you need quickly. This is a fast and efficient way to schedule your team and your field engineers will receive a notification with all the details they need for the job via their Klipboard mobile app.

You can learn more about why you should have GPS tracking with your job management here. Learn more. 

5. Managing After-care Programmes

Aftercare servicing plays a big role within most EV Charging Station servicing businesses. 

An ongoing relationship with the client can play a huge part in your growth. It shows a long term commitment with the customer and if managed correctly, it will increase revenue as equipment is replaced or new units are added to the customer’s locations or sites.

The challenge is managing the administration. 

Organising the scheduled maintenance of hundreds or units can be time intensive and the risk of human error, leading to missed services is very real.

How to manage your after-care programme:

As with most things in field service the key is communication.

Your ability to meet every required service and ensure your customers’ equipment meets compliance regulations comes down to your ability to schedule jobs and communicate that with both the technicians and your customers.

Klipboard’ Asset Serving Reminders allow you to streamline your process for booking jobs and automate your customer communications.

Klipboard will inform you when you have an asset that requires servicing. Our automated service reminders send out notifications to your customer without you needing to do anything. They are easy to set up and run hands-free in the background of your business, allowing you to focus on getting the work complete.

Each asset can be put on its own schedule and even the communications themselves can be bespoke for each customer.

One of the biggest benefits of using Klipboard for asset management is your ability to press one button and see all your assets, what’s overdue and when they have been last serviced. Instant access to this information can save you hours each month.

Solving the 5 big challenges of servicing EV stations

To solve the 5 big challenges of servicing EV stations you need to have the right tools for the job. In the same way you need the right parts to repair an EV charging unit, you need the right software to give your technicians and the back office team what they need to get you running at your optimum level.

The EV market is a growing market. New challenges will arise and demands on your business will increase as you grow, that’s why you need Field Service Management Software that you can grow into.

Improve how well you can meet demand, get better visibility of your inventory, provide your customers with an ‘Uber-like’ experience, schedule the right technician for the job and never miss an after-care appointment with Klipboard.

You can find out more on why EV Charging Station Servicing businesses use Klipboard here. Learn more.