From service issues to a strategic partnership with a future
What happens when a partnership comes under pressure? When customers complain, processes creak and groan, and trust is at stake? It’s easy to walk away. But the real reward lies in persevering together. That’s exactly what Allego and Ecotap did.
What began as a crisis in 2022 has now grown into an exemplary partnership centred on mutual trust, clear agreements, and a shared vision. In this customer case study, we look back on the journey of both parties and forward to a future full of smart charging solutions.
For this story, we spoke to three people involved: Roy van Diepen (contract manager services at Allego), Emiel van Steenselen (account manager public concessions at Allego) and Joost Hagendoorn (Project Director, responsible for operational collaboration on the Ecotap side, among other things). Together, they look back and ahead at a collaboration that became much more than just a supplier-customer relationship.
The background of two EV pioneers
Allego is one of Europe’s largest operators of charging networks for electric vehicles. In the Netherlands, the company has charging points in more than 170 municipalities, with a focus on public concessions. Allego’s mission is clear: to make e-mobility accessible to everyone. The company does this by investing in a broad and reliable network, from regular AC chargers to fast charging stations along motorways.
Ecotap is a Dutch manufacturer of charging points for electric vehicles. From its head office in Boxtel, the company supplies smart, sustainable charging solutions for both public spaces and business use. Ecotap is known for its robust chargers, no-nonsense approach and service orientation. Allego and Ecotap have been working together for over ten years in various concession areas. This long-term collaboration brings together technology, policy and customer contact. That is precisely why it is important that both parties can rely on each other blindly.
2022: a partnership under pressure
However, in 2022, this collaboration came under considerable pressure. The number of malfunctions on Ecotap chargers rose sharply, repair turnaround times were too long, and customers – particularly local authorities – lost confidence. The cause: a combination of rapid growth, limited internal capacity and insufficient control over the service process. At Allego, this led to unrest, escalations and extra pressure on account managers.
Roy: ‘At one point, we had more than 500 open tickets. The customer calls, wants to charge, and simply expects it to work. If that doesn’t happen, it escalates.’ Emiel adds: ‘If a charger doesn’t work, it causes a lot of frustration for the e-driver in one place. And then the complaints end up with us. Municipalities expected answers, and we couldn’t always give them.’ Joost: ‘We had experienced tremendous growth within Ecotap, but the organisation and processes were not yet geared up for it.’
The concession structure: working together under pressure
Within the Netherlands, Allego works with concession models, among other things, in which public parties such as provinces or municipalities select market parties for the construction and management of charging infrastructure. In the case of the provinces of Gelderland and Overijssel, this involved a long-term collaboration, with Ecotap supplying both hardware and services. Emiel: “We worked according to the “pole follows car” principle. So as soon as a resident got an electric car without their own driveway, a charging point was installed nearby.
That requires flexibility and reliability.‘ Joost: ’The concession also defined numbers. If there were too few applications, we chose strategic locations. But then everything has to be just right.”
The transition: structure and cooperation
The turning point came in early 2023. Ecotap had been taken over by Legrand and had a new management team. It also had a new strategy, with more focus on scalability and professionalising service processes. Clear choices were made, both internally and in the collaboration with Allego. Roy: ‘We started meeting weekly. We identified KPIs, defined responsibilities and really worked on improvements.’ Joost: ‘We started using an external service partner. This expansion of technician capacity and improved work processes quickly gave us more control.’ Emiel: ‘Things went well almost too quickly. Then there’s a risk that you slack off again afterwards. But that didn’t happen. We stayed focused.’
Technical optimisation: tackling malfunctions structurally
Joost: ‘After a thorough analysis, several critical components were extensively tested in Legrand’s laboratories. We decided to replace a few components. This had an immediate effect on the susceptibility to malfunctions.’ Roy: ‘You can fix a malfunction, but if you don’t address the cause, it will keep coming back. This was a real structural improvement.’
The result: 99.6% uptime
Emiel: ‘In 2022, we were sometimes below 80%. Now I hardly get any complaints from local authorities. That’s a world of difference.’ Roy: ‘Our name is on that charging station. So if it doesn’t work, everyone looks to us. Thanks to Ecotap, we no longer have to worry about that.’ The commercial impact is also significant. ‘If a charger is down, you lose revenue. The business case is built on high availability. We now have that back,’ says Emiel.
Pilot in Ede and looking beyond today
Allego and Ecotap are now looking ahead together. A pilot project in the municipality of Ede is investigating whether it is possible to install a second charging point on an existing grid connection. This is interesting in the context of grid congestion. Joost: ‘We will soon be delivering the first pilot chargers. If they work satisfactorily, we can scale this up.’ Emiel: ‘We are proving that we can perform well together. That also helps us move towards new concessions.’
Continuing to perform together
Perhaps the biggest challenge for the future is maintaining this success. Mutual vigilance plays a major role in this. ‘Things went almost frighteningly well in a short period of time,’ says Emiel. ‘Then there’s a risk that you slack off. That you think: things are going well now. But we have to prevent that.’ That’s why Allego and Ecotap continue to work on monitoring, reporting and evaluation. ‘We continuously monitor performance,’ says Joost. ‘Not only when something goes wrong, but also when things are going well. Then we ask: why is this working? And how do we keep it that way?’ Roy adds: ‘Together, we have proven that it can be done. Now we have to make sure that this remains the standard.’
From project to partnership
The collaboration between Allego and Ecotap began as a project within a concession. Now it is much more than that. ‘We no longer see each other as supplier and customer, but as partners,’ says Emiel. ‘You can see that in everything.’ Roy concludes with a smile: ‘I hope this collaboration continues for a long time to come and that we continue to benefit from each other for many years to come.’
White paper: From crisis to opportunity
Are you active in the EV market, do you work with concessions, or are you looking for ways to improve the uptime of charging stations?
Download the white paper now and discover:
- How Allego and Ecotap achieved 99.6% uptime
- Which technical choices really make a difference
- How to grow from supplier-customer to partnership
Download the white paper ‘Allego x Ecotap: from crisis to opportunity’: