An EV charger company says it is offering dealers an easier and more lucrative way to provide charging facilities to EV buyers.
Humax is looking to enter partnerships with dealers via a choice of two business models, including one in which a charger and installation are bundled in with the purchase of the vehicle.
The company, which has this year entered partnership agreements with dealer groups CG Auto Global and Harmony Automotive, currently offers two chargers in the UK – the MX7, aimed at residential charging, and the recently launched MX22, a commercial charger which is designed for deployment at car dealerships, workplaces, depots and destinations.
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When asked by Automotive Management what benefits Humax can offer dealers, Matthew McMullan, director of automotive and energy at Humax UK, said: “When it comes to the dealerships we are targeting, most of their customers, when they purchase an electric car, their first enquiry is ‘where I can charge?’ and ‘how can I install the right charger?’.
“We can help them by setting up two different processes. One is where we provide our product and installation as a package, and let them include this package price in their payment option, such as with PCP. Then, from the customer’s point of view, they can lessen the burden for finding a charger and installation, and from the dealer’s point of view, they don’t need to worry about what happens next. We will be the ones to take care of the process after that.
“The other option is where the dealer group just put our charger in the showroom and on their website with a QR code. So, the customer visits the showroom, they scan the QR box, and it moves to the website, and the customer looks through the details of our product from the website, and that’s where the purchasing journey begins. The dealer group and the salesperson don’t need to do anything.”
According to Humax, it can offer dealers more lucrative arrangements than might be available through OEM-linked charger company partnerships.
McMullan said: “If they sell our chargers, either with finance or via referral, there’s a lucrative commission structure which we will put in place with that dealer group. So, for every Humax EV charger that they sell with those vehicles, we will pay them circa £200.”
Chargers can ID vehicles
A technical selling point for Humax’s chargers is their ability to identify individual vehicles which are plugged in and charging from them. This has a particular benefit for fleets, since when company vehicles are taken home to charge, the system can provide data to ensure that only the cost of the electricity taken on by the fleet vehicle is reimbursed.
The chargers are able to perform this vehicle identification due to their integrating the technology needed to facilitate vehicle-to-grid charging, following regulatory requirements in the company’s home market of South Korea.
The company says it will be able to offer vehicle-to-grid charging – which allows energy from vehicle batteries to flow back into the grid at peak times – to UK customers once energy suppliers and the regulatory framework are ready to accommodate this, and that it will be able to make the technology go live with already installed chargers via an over-the-air update.
Humax draws on manufacturing background
Humax found its way to the EV charger market via an unconventional route. It was founded in 1989 initially as a producer of subtitling technology for karaoke machines, before moving into television and becoming a leading name in the digital TV set-top box market. When that market then declined with the advent of streaming, Humax decided to enter another new market in EV charging.
Having got started in the market with third-party chargers, Humax quickly moved on to develop its own products with its own technology, bringing together lessons it had learned about the EV charging industry with its established electronics manufacturing methods and expertise.
McMullan said: “We were trying to get into the market as quickly as possible, to learn things. So, in 2023-24 we learned a lot of things using the OEM partner’s product.
“That’s when we decided to develop a whole new in-house product, with hardware, and software as well, because this is what we have been doing for the last 30 years. So, we developed the hardware and software, and we are working with a very strong third-party software company.
“We still have our manufacturing facility in South Korea. We have a full assembly line, where we used to produce around a million set-top boxes per year, so we built a very strong quality control process.
“We wanted to utilise that asset for new business, because it’s just changed the product item – all the process is the same.”
Challenges and opportunities with UK charger market
McMullan explained that part of the reason for entering the UK EV market was due to Humax’s existing company infrastructure here. However, he also said specific UK market factors made it suitable for Humax’s product, and meant the company could have confidence to expand into other markets if it was successful here.
He said: “The UK is a unique market, because we have a very strong demand here to save energy. The UK is the first country where energy flexibility is commercialised, where people really, really care about how we can save energy and how we can save money.
“So, there will be a huge potential opportunity to evolve technology from this area.
“When it comes to the EV business, the UK, I think, from a technology and energy perspective, is the best market in Europe. But, at the same time, the most complicated market as well. So, if we can succeed in the UK market, we believe we can easily get into other European countries.”
Established reputation billed as customer confidence boost
Humax believes its long history in electronics manufacturing gives it an edge when it comes to customer confidence, given the level of turbulence within the EV charging market.
McMullan said: “Over the last 12 months we saw many consolidations happen, and every time we talk to our customers, their first worry is that most charger brands are start-up companies.
“Business continuity wise, and sustainability wise, with so many companies just gone all of a sudden – installation partners, even manufacturers – they are all concerned about customer support.
“We have been in business for the last 30 years, and we are one of the few companies who are doing business in the retail market and at the same time in the B2B market.
“We understand how to manage all the consumers, we set up a very strong customer support organisation, and that’s why we are quite confident on the warranty – that’s one of the reasons that we offer five years’ warranty with the MX7, three years with the MX22.”