Z Energy teams up with Europcar to charge up EVs

Z has implemented on-site charging solutions at the rental company’s locations to support e-mobility adoption.

Z Energy has teamed up with rental company Europcar to easen charging duties for their electric fleet.

The mobility company has established on-site charging solutions at Europcar's Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch airport locations. Through this collaboration, both parties aim to easen up charging operations and boost e-mobility adoption across New Zealand.

While returning a rental car is a relatively simple process and most drivers return their cars with a full tank to avoid refueling fees, the turnaround process for rented electric vehicles (EV) is slightly more complex. To fully power an EV takes longer than it does to refuel a petrol or diesel tank, and there’s also a possibility the closest public EV charger is already in use when you need to use it.

Z and Europcar partnered to solve this conundrum in order to get the vehicle ready for the next customer as quickly as possible.

“Europcar acknowledged that public EV charging wouldn’t meet their business needs effectively to enable them to provide an optimum customer experience. To do this, a significant part of their fleet electrification journey would be focused on enabling EV charging at Europcar sites,” said Andrew Bisset, Business Energy Solutions Manager at Z Energy.

Along with installing the hardware, Z also provides a software platform that lets its business customers centrally manage their charging infrastructure and collect data for reporting and billing purposes. Ongoing maintenance and 24/7 customer support is also provided as part of the offering.