Starting in spring 2020, umlaut and connect extended their scope of testing to the area of e-mobility. One of the reasons why we decided to do this, is that we found many similarities between the world of mobile communications and that of electric driving: There are players on the market which serve the role of a network operator (or charge point operator respectively, in short CPO) – and others who act as a service provider (or electric mobility provider, in short EMP). Network coverage and quality play an important role. They are amended by aspects such as convenience and compatibility, which we still know from the early days of mobile communications. In the matured marked of telecommunications, in the course of 30 years, many original differences levelled out to a large degree – but in the relatively young are of charging stations for electric cars, we see many challenges and obstacles that remind us of the early days of telecommunications.

constantly extending our focus to additional countries

In order to give a reliable assessment of the quality and performance of CPOs and EMPs, umlaut and connect conduct regular test drives with a number of e-vehicles, visiting the charging stations of the most relevant providers. We started with a focus on Germany in spring 2020, extended this scope to Austria and Switzerland in late 2020, and at the end of 2021 also included the Benelux countries to our area of consideration. In 2023, France was added to the scope of this yearly test.

You can find the full reports of these regular and ongoing charging network tests in the download section linked below.