Four charging customers a day: why EV charging could stack up sooner than garden centres think

The commercial case for EV charging does not necessarily depend on a garden centre becoming a high-volume charging destination. Modelling from destination charging specialist ElectRoad suggests that even relatively modest utilisation – just four charging sessions a day – can begin to create a meaningful new revenue stream, while also bringing customers onto site for long enough to shop, eat and browse.

For garden retailers considering EV charging, one of the biggest questions is inevitably whether the investment will actually pay for itself. There can be an assumption that chargers need to be occupied throughout the day before the numbers start to work, but ElectRoad believes this overlooks the particular advantages destination retailers already have.

Garden centres are places where customers are accustomed to spending time. A charging stop of 30 to 60 minutes therefore fits naturally with an environment that already combines retail, hospitality and leisure.

What does four charging sessions a day actually look like?

Using a £30,000 capital investment as an illustrative example, ElectRoad has modelled the revenue potential of just four charging sessions each day. Based on an average charge of 35.44kWh and a customer price of 54p/kWh, four charging sessions a day would generate approximately £27,940 in annual charging revenue, exclusive of VAT.

The significance of the figure is not that four sessions represents a target every site will immediately achieve. Rather, it demonstrates that the commercial conversation around EV charging does not need to begin with extremely high utilisation.

For ElectRoad founder Richard Seppings, that is an important distinction. “The number I keep coming back to is four,” he said. “We are not talking about trying to turn a garden centre car park into a motorway charging hub or assuming chargers are occupied continuously throughout the day. We are looking at what relatively modest usage can start to deliver.

“That changes the conversation because it allows retailers to look at EV charging as part of the wider commercial use of their site, rather than simply as a customer amenity or sustainability investment.”

The wider value of a charging customer

Charging revenue is only one part of the opportunity. Unlike a conventional fuel stop, destination charging gives customers a reason to remain on site while their vehicle charges. At a garden centre, that time can naturally translate into a café visit, a walk through the plant area, time spent browsing gifts and homeware, or an additional shopping trip that may not otherwise have taken place.

ElectRoad believes this wider customer value could ultimately prove just as important as the electricity sale itself. However, Richard is also keen that the industry does not overstate the opportunity before there is sufficient real-world data available.

“There is a very logical assumption that a customer who is on site for 30, 40 or 50 minutes has an opportunity to spend money elsewhere in the business,” he said. “But there is a difference between saying the opportunity exists and putting an arbitrary number against it.

“What we now need is better data. We want to understand what charging customers actually do while they are on site, how many visit the café or shop and whether their behaviour differs from other customers. That evidence will make the commercial case far stronger.”

The principle is already well established elsewhere in fuel retailing. UK petrol forecourts have developed substantial non-fuel retail businesses around customers who initially arrive to refuel, demonstrating that the value of a motoring visit can extend well beyond the energy being purchased.

Destination charging creates a different customer journey again. Rather than a short refuelling stop, an EV driver may remain on site for considerably longer, creating more opportunity for garden centres and farm shops to benefit from the additional dwell time.

Building a more complete commercial picture

For retailers, this means the value of EV charging should not be assessed solely by looking at electricity sales. The charging income can be modelled directly. The wider retail opportunity should then be considered as an additional commercial benefit, alongside customer convenience, dwell time, loyalty and the ability to attract EV drivers who may not otherwise have chosen to stop.

ElectRoad is increasingly interested in helping destination retailers understand that wider picture by building a stronger evidence base around real customer behaviour.

Richard added: “The next stage for us is not simply to keep producing theoretical calculations. It is to work with sites and understand what is actually happening.

“How many charging customers go into the café? How many shop? What do they spend? Do they stay longer? Do they return? Those are the questions that will give garden retailers something genuinely useful to work with.

“We already know that destination charging brings a customer onto site for a meaningful period of time. The opportunity now is to understand exactly what that visit is worth.”

A different way to think about the car park

ElectRoad believes this is where the conversation around EV charging for garden retail needs to evolve. Rather than treating charging infrastructure purely as a cost, a sustainability commitment or an amenity customers may increasingly expect, retailers can begin to consider whether part of the car park can become a productive commercial asset in its own right.

The objective is not necessarily to maximise charging volume. Instead, ElectRoad’s approach is based around matching the right level of charging infrastructure to locations where drivers already have a reason to stop.

“Garden centres already have many of the ingredients that make destination charging work,” Richard concluded. “They have dwell time, hospitality, retail and an environment where people are comfortable spending 30 minutes or an hour.

“If four charging customers a day can start creating meaningful charging revenue, anything those customers subsequently spend elsewhere on site becomes additional upside. That is a much more realistic and, I think, much more interesting way for retailers to look at the opportunity.”

Find out more

ElectRoad specialises in 50–60kW destination rapid charging designed around the natural dwell time of locations such as garden centres, farm shops and other destination retailers.

Its model focuses on matching charging infrastructure to places where drivers already want to stop, rather than simply maximising the number of vehicles passing through a charging site.

For garden centres, that means the car park has the potential to become more than somewhere customers leave their vehicle while they shop. With the right charging model in place, it can become a revenue-generating part of the business while also creating opportunities for additional customer spend elsewhere across the site.

To find out more about ElectRoad’s destination EV charging solutions for garden centres, farm shops and other retail destinations, visit www.electroad.network.

All financial figures are exclusive of VAT and are based on an illustrative ElectRoad model using the assumptions stated above. Actual utilisation, charging volumes, electricity costs and returns will vary according to individual sites and circumstances.