T+E Q&A: Qwello UK’s Martin Hale

Transport + Energy speaks to the managing director of Qwello UK, Martin Hale, about the chargepoint operator’s plans for the future.

Tell us about Qwello and your ambitions for the future, as well as the work you are currently undertaking.

As a fully funded pan-European Charge Point Operator (CPO), Qwello focuses on securing contracts with local authorities and landlords to deploy driver-focused charge points where public charging infrastructure is needed. This is especially true in locations where drivers cannot charge at home and at key destinations. This is because the most efficient charging occurs when you are engaged in another activity, particularly when you reach your destination.

Current Work & Ambitions:

• Expansion: Qwello currently operates over 15,000 public charge points across Europe, in major cities such as London, Berlin, Hamburg, and Stockholm.
• UK Focus: In the UK, Qwello has recently won contracts for over 2,700 charging points with The Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, Cheshire East, the London Borough of Hounslow, Essex County Council, Chelmsford City, Braintree, Nuneaton & Bedworth; more will be announced soon.
• Ambitions: The company aims to become a “household name” for EV charging across Europe, renowned for providing the best possible charging experience. Qwello seeks to remove the final barrier to mass e-mobility adoption—the lack of accessible public charging infrastructure—by building dense, user-friendly networks in urban areas.

Can you tell us more about the challenges and opportunities around public charging?

Challenges:

• The “Chicken-and-Egg” Problem: Consumers are hesitant to purchase Electric Vehicles (EVs) without accessible charging, yet infrastructure development often lags due to insufficient existing vehicle demand.
• Urban Access: Over 50% of city and town residents rely on on-street parking, lacking access to private home charging. This disparity is precisely what Qwello is addressing.
• User Experience: Common pain points include overly complex authentication, complicated payment systems, and charging bays blocked by non-EVs (“ICEing”). Our unique bay sensor alerts us when a bay is blocked, allowing us to report this immediately to enforcement agencies.
• Grid Constraints: Urban electricity grids are frequently not designed to provide the required power, especially in car parks. This means the distance to the nearest connection can sometimes render a potential location unfeasible.

Opportunities:

• Government and Local Authorities: The commitment from government and local authorities to roll out public charging infrastructure is encouraging. Additionally, the announcement that existing government consultants will be employed for the next four years to review future strategy is highly positive. We are lobbying for the Dutch Open Model, which successfully allows residents in the Netherlands to request a public charge point near their home.
• Destination Charging: Shifting the focus to locations where cars are already parked for extended periods (e.g., leisure centres, high streets) facilitates convenient, slower charging, which is beneficial for battery health and grid stability. To reiterate: the fastest charging occurs when you are engaged in another activity.
• Smart Charging: We are trialling a feature that enables utility companies to dynamically throttle our charge points and balance the grid when necessary. This system incentivises drivers to charge when power is abundant and to refrain when it is not, a benefit currently available to those who charge at home.

What are your decarbonisation goals or targets as a company?

Qwello is committed to environmental stewardship, outlined by several key targets:

• Net Zero Operations: Qwello UK has committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions across all operations by 2035.
• Interim Goals: The company aligns its strategy with broader local authority targets, such as carbon neutrality by 2030 in specific regions.
• Carbon Prevented: Qwello saves over 44,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. To put this into perspective, this is equivalent to planting approximately 2 million trees and allowing them to grow for a year, or removing around 20,000 average petrol cars from the road entirely.
• Product Performance: In its recent Greenly Carbon Footprint Report, Qwello ranked within the top 15% of assessed companies for its greenhouse gas emissions.

In what ways have you collaborated with others – whether transport or energy companies, or the public or private sector – to facilitate the transition?

• Public Sector: Qwello works closely with local authorities (e.g., Solihull, Cheshire East, Essex, the Metropolitan London Borough of Hounslow, and the City of London) through concession models, whereby Qwello funds, installs, and operates the infrastructure at zero cost to the council.
• Energy Sector: Qwello partners with Unify Energy to source 100% REGO-certified renewable energy for all its UK operations.
• Transport Sector: Collaborations include working with car-sharing providers, such as the BMW Group, to facilitate shared electric mobility solutions.
• Technical Partners: In the UK, Qwello collaborates with Radius Charging Ltd for installation and maintenance services, and utilises Independent Connection Providers (ICPs) and iDNOs like Last Mile to streamline essential grid connections.

What is your biggest overall challenge as a company when it comes to transport and energy, specifically regarding the implementation of charging infrastructure?

The electrical grid remains the most significant hurdle. Qwello has observed that projects can stall for months due to unverified cable runs or unexpected reinforcement requirements from Distribution Network Operators (DNOs). Furthermore, DNO quotes expiring within 30 days, necessitating a re-application, can cause a viable site to become unviable, forcing us to go through the lengthy process of finding an alternative. Other major challenges include:

• Permitting and Approvals: Delays in obtaining Section 50 licenses, public consultations, and Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) can significantly slow down infrastructure rollouts.
• Bay Misuse: “ICEing” (non-electric vehicles blocking charging spaces) remains a significant operational challenge. Qwello addresses this with integrated parking sensors, but the TROs designed to prevent this require effective enforcement.

What policy changes or support would you like from the UK Government – and what are the challenges for local authorities regarding charging?

1. Statutory Rights for Civil and Electrical Works

Currently, Electric Vehicle Charging Operators (EVCOs) often lack the same “statutory undertaker” status that is held by traditional utility providers (such as water, gas, and telecommunications companies) under the New Roads and Street Works Act (NRSWA).

• The Challenge: Without these rights, Qwello and other providers must apply for individual Section 50 licenses from local authorities for every installation project. This process is frequently slow, inconsistent across different councils, and costly. It imposes lengthy notice periods and administrative hurdles that can delay a project by several months.
• The Desired Change: Granting EV infrastructure providers statutory rights would allow them to “permit” their own works. This would significantly streamline the deployment of chargers by:
  • Reducing Bureaucracy: Eliminating the need for repetitive license applications.
  • Standardising Costs: Removing the varying application fees currently charged by different local authorities.
  • Speeding up Deployment: Enabling operators to coordinate works more efficiently with other utilities, which is critical for meeting the UK’s 2030 and 2035 electrification targets.

B. Combined Energy and Time-Based Tariffs

In the UK, the “overstay fee” is the current standard method used to prevent “ICEing” (non-EVs parking in bays) or “bay hogging” (EVs staying long after charging is complete). However, Qwello advocates for a more nuanced European-style model.

• How it Works: Instead of a flat £10 or £20 penalty for staying too long, the tariff is split. The driver pays for the kilowatt-hours (kWh) consumed, plus a small time-based fee (e.g., 2p per minute) while connected to the charge point.
• The Benefits for Drivers:
  • Fairness: A small per-minute fee is often considerably cheaper than a heavy punitive fine. It functions as a gentle “nudge” towards compliance rather than a severe financial penalty.
  • Transparency: Drivers know precisely the cost of staying an extra 30 minutes, allowing them to finish a meal or meeting without anxiously rushing back to avoid a massive fine.
• The Benefits for the Network:
  • Increased Utilisation: By incentivising drivers to move their cars once fully charged, more drivers can access the charge point throughout the day.
  • Grid Management: It encourages “active” charging sessions rather than using charging bays for long-term parking, ensuring the infrastructure is used for its primary purpose: energy delivery.
• Policy Hurdles: To implement this widely, there needs to be clear regulatory acceptance from bodies like OPSS (Office for Product Safety and Standards) and HMRC to ensure that time-based billing is treated fairly and transparently alongside energy-based billing.

How do you see, and what would you like to see, the charging sector changing and progressing in the next 5, 10, and 15 years?

• Dynamic Pricing and Intelligent Grid Integration: A critical component of the future charging landscape is the move from static, fixed-rate pricing to a Dynamic Demand Side Response (DSR) framework. Qwello is actively working towards a future where charging infrastructure acts as a flexible asset for the electrical grid.
  • OpenADR Control: Qwello is advocating for the adoption of protocols like OpenADR 2.0b, which allow energy providers to communicate directly with charge points. This “Price-to-Device” control loop enables suppliers to influence site load in real-time, based on wholesale market fluctuations and grid stability.
  • Renewable Alignment: By utilising machine-readable price signals, charging can be automatically incentivised when there is an abundance of renewable energy (e.g., high wind or solar output). Conversely, during periods of grid stress or high carbon intensity, the system can apply power caps or price adjustments to disincentivise non-essential charging.
  • Proving the Technology in The Netherlands: Qwello is currently conducting trials in the Netherlands to test these dynamic load management and price signal integrations. These trials are proving the technical capacity for automated load-shedding and boosting, ensuring that the technology is refined to benefit both the grid and the end-user by maximising the use of “green electrons” and enhancing overall grid resilience. This evolution will transform public charging from a simple utility into a smart, grid-aligned service that supports the broader transition to a decarbonised transport system.