Chargemaster and Telefonica (O2 UK) today announced that they will be working together to electric vehicle charging services. The agreement initially sees O2 providing M2M (machine-to-machine) technology to connect Chargemaster’s UK-wide network of electric vehicle charging stations.
Launched last week, POLAR is the UK’s largest private sector-funded national charging network and has been developed by Chargemaster in close collaboration with motor manufacturers. Telefonica’s M2M offering will see Sim cards embedded into each charging point, communicating back to a central database via the mobile network, ensuring that customers can quickly authorise themselves when using a charging point.
The agreement combines Chargemaster’s experience in electric charging with O2’s mobile expertise, and will also see the two companies collaborate further in the development of services that provide simple and helpful solutions for customers to help stimulate the adoption of electric vehicle charging services. For example, services that allow customers to find their nearest charging point and pay for using it via their mobile phone.
Chargemaster Plc CEO David Martell commented: ‘We are delighted to form this relationship with Telefonica. Through its POLAR network, Chargemaster is leading the market in the expanding world of low carbon motoring. The two companies’ strengths are complementary and we very much look forward to working with Telefonica.’
Telefonica UK's head of M2M Gilli Coston said: ‘We are committed to bringing products and services to market that help our customers live more sustainable lives. Electric cars represent a huge potential growth area and working with Chargemaster we hope to develop a range of services to help our customers and to boost this fledgling market.’
Editor: James Atkinson