Why growth is not a strategy and what charging point operators should do instead
Table of contents
Introduction: From the Growth Question to Responsibility
In charging infrastructure, a simple logic dominates: More locations. More stations. More coverage. But growth is not a strategy. It is an outcome—or a risk.
The real strategic question is not: „How do we grow?“ but: „What obligation do we have to the customers who trust us?“
Because growth is not a right. It is an obligation to the customers who, through their return visits, signal that capacity is lacking. It is therefore the responsibility to grow only where we can deliver predictability, reliability, and stability.
In a market driven by fixed costs, trust, and utilization, unreflected growth is not expansion. It is vulnerability.
Why „more locations“ is not the answer
In the first three parts, we saw: Trust → Return visits → Usage → Utilization → Profitability.
- Growth without this chain is blind. Because:
- More locations increase fixed costs.
- More charging points increase idle costs.
More coverage increases complexity. None of this automatically increases trust. A provider with few locations and high return rates is economically stronger than a provider with widespread presence and an empty network.
Growth without differentiation dilutes quality. And diluted quality destroys return visits.
The structural vulnerability
The market is reaching a tipping point. Fixed costs remain, even if prices fall. Users no longer compare just tariffs, but systems. Capital is not interested in charging points, but in utilization. The central question is: „Can we build trust faster than our fixed costs rise?“ Those who cannot answer this question will not fail because they are too small, but because they have become too broad, too fragmented, and too unclear.
Commodity or infrastructure
A central misconception is: „Electricity is a commodity. Therefore, price decides.“ This is only half true. Electricity is a commodity. Charging is not. Because no one buys electricity to manually pour it into their car. No one trades in kilowatt-hours. They trade in:
- Accessibility
- Availability
- Reliability
- System integration
- Predictability
Charging is already a service. It is an infrastructural provision for direct use. If charging were a commodity, everyone would strive purely for margin increases. The fact that everyone is seeking utilization is proof to me: It is not a commodity market. It is an infrastructure system.
Differentiation in the supposed commodity market
Even in classic commodity markets, price is never the only deciding factor. Two prominent examples:
- Gas is not only evaluated by its molecules, but also by origin, security, contract, and delivery stability.
- Cobalt is not only judged by purity, but also by ethics, availability, and supply chain risk.
Wherever supply becomes critical, differentiation features emerge that can be monetized. In charging, some of these features are obvious, others need to be developed. Here is a list of obvious features:
| Differentiation feature | Monetization potential |
|---|---|
| Start guarantee | Premium rates for reliability |
| Seamless operation | Higher utilization, lower support costs |
| Location quality | Partnerships (e.g., supermarkets, employers) |
| Vehicle integration | Plug & Charge, subscription models |
| Price consistency | Customer loyalty |
| System availability under load | Grid stability as a unique selling point |
A low-cost strategy would also be possible. But only with: A radically different cost structure, A radically reduced performance promise, Deliberate simplification, Extreme utilization.
As long as this path does not exist, only one strategy remains viable: Differentiation through trust.
The obligation to grow, not the right
This is the actual strategic core. Growth is not a goal. Growth is an obligation. This obligation applies to:
- Users who show return visits
- Customers who expect predictability
- Partners who need system stability
- Investors who demand sustainable cash flows
The real question is not: „How do we grow faster?“ but: „Where are we allowed to grow without destroying trust?“ Because every new location multiplies:
- Quality variation
- Troubleshooting effort
- System complexity
- Probability of friction
Growth without system maturity is not progress. It is an accelerator for instability.
The direct lever
It is a rather sobering truth. You cannot directly optimize utilization. You can:
- Change prices
- Do marketing
- Build locations
- Develop apps
But: The only way to directly increase utilization is if you drive there yourself and plug in. Everything else only works indirectly through trust, through return visits, through usage. This is not an opinion. This is system logic.
Bridge to the conclusion of the series
Charging infrastructure does not scale through technology. Not through price. Not through expansion. It scales through trust.
The market will sort itself out and defragment in the coming years. Not by size, not by capital, not by speed. But by one single question:
„Who deserves that users return?“
Key statements
- Growth is not a right, but a responsibility to trusting customers.
- „More locations“ is not a strategy – it is a risk without a moat.
- Charging is not a commodity, but an infrastructural service with differentiation potential.
- The fact that everyone talks about utilization proves: Margin is not the lever – trust is.
- Low cost is only possible with a radically different structure – currently, there is no viable path.
- The only direct lever for utilization is physical use – everything else works through trust.
- Differentiation through trust is the only sustainable protection against price wars and fragmentation.
- Growth must be earned – through system maturity, not through speed.