TotalEnergies has the ambition to be a major player in the energy transition and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. They use Chargeplanner for the optimal roll-out of their EV charging network.

We interviewed Tom Depauw, Strategic Account Manager Network at TotalEnergies Belgium, responsible for the development of a national EV-hub in this country.

How many charging points has TotalEnergies deployed already, and what´s the plan for the future?

"For the moment, TotalEnergies has 10,000 operational charging points in Belgium, 3,000 charging points in public spaces – both fastcharging and slowchargers - and 7,000 at B2B customers. By the end of 2024, we aim to have 20 EV-hubs operational. And besides that, we are active in Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Germany, France, the UK and of recently, also in Spain."

How did you find out about Chargeplanner?

"Well, we are always actively seeking good locations with high potential for our EV hubs. It was the EV department of our headquarters in Paris that had a first test phase with RetailSonar’s ChargePlanner and the results were very positive. RetailSonar made the tool available for us soon, and since then, we use it with the entire team."

How would you describe Chargeplanner and how do you use it in your business?

"Chargeplanner is a location analysis tool, it enables us to quickly analyse the fast and ultrafast charging market. It provides us with the best locations with the highest EV potential.
Not only for a single location, but also for more complex projects, such as multi-site projects."

What specific features of Chargeplanner do you find most valuable?

"For me personally, the biggest added value are the various data layers. We can project a lot of data on a lot of layers, that helps us identify which projects have the highest potential. Besides that, the tool is very intuitive."

How did Chargeplanner affect your daily operations and business?

"Before RetailSonar, our approach was based on our gut feeling and our experiences. Today, we use it as a team, for a data driven model, which is much more effective. We can now challenge our assumptions with the predictions that Chargeplanner has made. 

TotalEnergies has a lot of business units, and each business unit gives us lots of leads. It is important to have a tool that can help us identify those sites that have the most potential and help us prioritize one site before another."

What is the biggest achievement since you are using Chargeplanner?

"We are using Chargeplanner since a couple of months now. Building an EV-hub takes a lot of months as you know. But what we can already see it that it helps us a lot, identifying the number of chargers, the potential and the channel data. 

We have one site operational now in Axis Parc, Mont-Saint-Guibert, where we can see that the data generated and predicted by RetailSonars Chargeplanner and our own assumptions are perfectly aligned with what we see on a day to day basis in reality today. So that is great to see."

How does Chargeplanner affect your way of working?

"Beforehand, we worked on an experienced-based approach. Now it’s data-driven. We use all the data sources that RetailSonar can provide. They are kept up-to-date. And it’s really important for us to check our own assumptions with the reality on one hand, and on the other hand, the predictions of Chargeplanner."

What would you advise other companies?

"Chargeplanner is a very easy to use tool. It’s very intuitive and very worthful when you build a nationwide network. But it can also give you enormous detail and enormous data on a single location. The data is kept up-to-date all the time. You can really rely and build on it. Not only for a single location, but also for a wider network."