Green home tech firm Hive and electric vehicle (EV) charger mapping company Zapmap have announced they have formed a strategic partnership to drive innovation in EV charging solutions.
The strategic partnership seeks to help a million Hive customers switch to an EV in the next three years, which the firms plan to encourage through several phases of development.
The first phase of the partnership, beginning in 2025, will see new Hive EV customers granted £20 of free EV charging credit to use at Zap-Pay enabled EV chargers, which can be found at thousands of locations across the UK.
Looking to the future, the two companies will explore bringing the Hive home management app and Zapmap’s digital platform to give users of both services a smoother EV charging experience. One service currently being considered is a solution allowing Hive customers to track their at-home and public EV charging through the Hive app, as well as providing multiple payment options for public EV charging for Hive customers, including through their home energy bills.
Hive, owned by British Gas parent company Centrica, has had EV charging solutions for home users built into its app since 2022, when the Hive SmartCharge tariff add-on was launched. SmartCharge gives users a 4p/kWh saving on their EV charging, credited to their energy bill, and also uses smart charging technology to automatically charge user vehicles when energy is at its cheapest.
Dan Rosenfield, managing director of Hive, commented: “We’re on a mission to help make EV charging simple and affordable. Through our strategic partnership with Zapmap and our investments in the Hive app, we are empowering EV drivers to have complete control over their electric driving experience.
“EVs have continued to increase their market share since the start of the year as more drivers reap the benefits of going electric. To support this, we want to give drivers the confidence to charge whenever and wherever they want and save money in the process.”
Melanie Shufflebotham, co-founder and COO of Zapmap, added: “By combining simple home and public charging, we can give EV drivers everything they need to find and pay for charging and help the next generation of EV drivers build confidence charging, wherever they go. Hive customers can enjoy the benefits of EVs, stress-free, and we’re really excited to continue to expand the service to give them access to the best-priced charging, within the simplest experience, across the broadest range of locations.”
Hive and Zapmap on the rise
Meanwhile, Zapmap has received significant investment from Good Energy Group, who are now Zapmap’s largest shareholder. In June, Zapmap received a £1.7 million strategic investment from Good Energy Group in the form of a convertible loan note, bringing Good Energy’s investment into Zapmap to a grand total of £7.5 million since 2019.
Commenting on the new strategic partnership between Zapmap and Hive, Nigel Pocklington, CEO of Good Energy, said: “This strategic partnership reinforces the significant role that Zapmap plays in making it simple for EV drivers to charge their vehicles. EVs and related products such as home charging are a major gateway for customer adoption of renewable energy solutions that can help accelerate decentralised clean power.”
In May, Hive announced it had partnered with heat pump manufacturer Daikin to bring Daikin’s Altherma 3 heat pumps into Hive’s energy management ecosystem, allowing users to control their Altherma 3 heat pump from the Hive app.
