Company Overview
Eldrive is a leading EV charging infrastructure operator in Eastern Europe, currently managing over 2,000 charging points across Bulgaria, Romania, and Lithuania. Founded with a vision to support the transition to electromobility, Eldrive has evolved into a comprehensive ecosystem provider that goes beyond simply installing charging stations.
The company operates under the umbrella of the Austria-registered Renalfa Solarpro Group GmbH, a Vienna-based clean energy and e-mobility investment group focused on renewable energy generation assets. With significant backing from institutions such as the European Investment Bank, which provided a €40 million loan for the deployment of 8,400+ EV charging stations across its operating markets, and EBRD, which provided €40 million equity financing, Eldrive is positioned for substantial growth.
Eldrive’s strategic approach combines charging infrastructure development with shared mobility services through Spark, an electric car-sharing service that began in Lithuania and expanded to Bulgaria. This synergistic business model was designed to accelerate the market adoption of electric vehicles in regions where economic considerations might otherwise slow the transition to electromobility.
“The communication with your competitors was difficult and slow. We saw too many limitations. AMPECO had a very well-structured process, conversations were quick and efficient, you were the only one to cover entirely all our requirements in terms of features.”
Stefan Spassov, CEO Eldrive
Challenges
Eldrive previously relied on another vendor’s platform, which presented significant limitations. Although some improvements were implemented, the platform eventually stagnated as the company shifted its strategic direction, leaving Eldrive without the necessary investments and updates.
As Eldrive’s network expanded rapidly, so did the need for a system capable of handling exponential growth in users, charging stations, and complex data flows across multiple markets.
Managing relationships with over 500 B2B partners across three countries created substantial operational challenges. Eldrive required an efficient system to handle revenue sharing, reporting, and partner communications, yet their previous solution necessitated extensive manual administrative work that consumed valuable resources and limited scalability.
Eldrive held an ambitious vision for business offering innovation, including subscription models, home charging integration, and enhanced user experiences..
The company also struggled with insufficient data visibility and analytical capabilities. They lacked comprehensive insights into charging behaviors, session metrics, and business performance, which were essential for making informed strategic decisions and optimizing operations effectively.
Operating across three different countries introduced additional layers of complexity, with varying currencies and payment requirements complicating both platform migration and ongoing operations. This multi-national presence demanded a flexible solution that could accommodate regional differences while maintaining consistent service quality.
Opportunities
Eldrive built unique charging hubs in Lithuania through a strategic partnership with retail conglomerate Reitan, a venture that required a sophisticated CPMS platform capable of supporting this ambitious expansion.
Significant business potential existed in broadening Eldrive’s focus beyond public charging infrastructure to include monetization of home and workplace charging solutions. This diversification would allow them to capture additional market segments and revenue opportunities. Simultaneously, the company recognized that leveraging charging data for business intelligence and operational enhancements could create meaningful competitive advantages in an increasingly data-driven industry.
Improving reliability and convenience – the two factors most valued by EV drivers – presented a clear path to increasing usage rates and strengthening customer retention. Eldrive understood that enhancing the overall user experience would directly impact their business performance. Furthermore, integrating with other charge point operators to expand their network visibility and accessibility represented substantial growth potential through roaming capabilities, allowing them to extend their service footprint without the capital expenditure of building new infrastructure.
“We were impressed with the number of teams and people AMPECO involved in making the migration happen. It was clear to us that none of the other companies we talked to would ever engage so deeply in the process and allocate such resources and care.”
Dimo Kolchev, Head Of Business Development Eldrive
Solution
After evaluating several platform providers, Eldrive selected AMPECO’s charge point management system based on its robust feature set, scalability, and superior communication and support during the evaluation process.
Key Solution Components:
- Multi-Tenant Architecture: AMPECO enabled Eldrive to create one tenant for its operations in Bulgaria, Romania, and Lithuania, with appropriate user base distribution between them.
- Payment Integration: AMPECO provides seamless integration with a leading Payment Service Provider, with proper routing of authorizations and payments to the appropriate tenants.
- Partner Portal: A comprehensive partner management system that gives B2B partners greater visibility and control over their charging stations and financial relationships.
- API Access: AMPECO’s API capabilities allowed Eldrive to integrate with their existing business systems and extract data for ongoing analysis.
- Security & Reliability: Enhanced system reliability and security standards that met Eldrive’s requirements for a mission-critical business application.
- Migration Support: AMPECO deployed significant resources to ensure a smooth migration of users, charging stations, and historical data from the previous platform.
ResultS
Improved Reliability and User Experience
The transition to AMPECO has resulted in greater stability and reliability of the charging network. The enhanced platform stability supports Eldrive’s commitment to providing a seamless charging experience. The redesigned mobile application complements these improvements with an intuitive interface that simplifies the charging process. Users can now efficiently locate available charging stations, initiate charging sessions, and process payments with fewer steps. The app’s enhanced mapping feature provides detailed station information including power output, connector types, and current availability status. Push notifications keep users informed about charging progress and completion, while the integrated payment system supports multiple options for convenient transactions. Backend improvements have enabled faster response times and more accurate charging station data, creating a more dependable ecosystem for both regular commuters and occasional EV users.
Operational Automation
Integration between AMPECO and Eldrive’s ERP modules has enabled multiple autonomous operations.
Enhanced Data Capabilities
Eldrive now leverages AMPECO’s APIs to perform sophisticated BI analysis.
Improved Partner Management
The AMPECO platform dramatically reduced the administrative burden of managing over 500 B2B partners across three countries. Partners now have direct access to their own data, eliminating the need for manual report generation and improving transparency. This has eliminated the contractual provisions for partner audits that were previously required to build trust in the revenue-sharing model.
“We have been operating for more than 7 years, and in this time we have created numerous relationships, partnerships, data points, and specifics to how we handle things and we were impressed by the dedication of AMPECO’s team to replicate this all in your system. It was a great effort we invested, but it was worth it in the end.”
Stefan Spassov, CEO, Eldrive
Strategic Positioning for Growth
With AMPECO’s scalable platform, Eldrive is well-positioned to execute on its ambitious growth plans, including:
- Expanding to 8,400+ charging stations across its operating markets
- Developing innovative charging hubs that combine charging with comprehensive amenities
- Exploring new business models like residential and corporate charging
- Building market saturation in core territories to drive business success
By migrating to AMPECO, Eldrive has not only addressed the limitations of its previous platform but has gained a technology foundation that supports its vision of going “Beyond Charging” to create a comprehensive EV ecosystem in Eastern Europe.
“Where the data is hosted and everything related to security standards was key for us. But the major point for us was the scalability that can match our ambitions and plans for users, chargers, and market growth. We planned for enormous data flows, so the platform needs to be stable and reliable. It should be ready for exponential growth!”
Dimo Kolchev, Head Of Business Development, Eldrive
“With AMPECO, working with Corporate clients (or any other b2b clients) has been hugely elevated. Now, partners have way more control and visibility over each aspect of our partnership and flexibility in the specific network setup. We eliminated a huge part of the manual labor associated with clearing our financial relationships with partners.”
Stefan Spassov
CEO, Eldrive
Request a demo
Get started with AMPECO
Book a 30-minute introductory call with our experts and learn more about our EV charging platform.
