BluGo expects to launch the first franchise charging points for electric cars in mid-2022, and by the end of the year their number is expected to reach approx. 350, according to board member and main shareholder of the company Paweł Kiciński.
“The first demonstration station with a capacity of approximately 150 kW will be launched in the second quarter and handed over to one of the three largest cities in Poland, while the first franchise stations should be launched in the middle of the year. The plan provides for approximately 350 charging points by the end of 2022,” said Kiciński.
As he emphasized, the adopted business model assumes that BluGo will not be the owner of the charging stations, all of them are to be owned by franchisees.
“BluGo will be the owner of the application, which will be launched at the turn of the third and fourth quarter of this year, and will incur significant expenditures on marketing. We predict that within 1.5 years these expenditures will reach PLN 7-10 million, which we will finance mainly from loans from major shareholders,” he added.
In the first period, payments for charging cars at BluGo stations are to be made with payment cards, and then also with an application that is to, for example, allow the blocking of a given station for a specific hour. All stations are to be connected to the application by the end of the year.
The company’s plan assumes that by 2026 approx. 1,500 charging points with a capacity of up to 50 kW and approx. 1,000 points with a capacity of 150-160 kW will be built.
“Slower stations will be created, among others, at the stores of one of the retail chains. We are talking with two chains, but we are close to an agreement with one of them. Generally, we want to focus on cities, we do not plan to expand by expressways,” said Kiciński.
The main shareholder of BluGo argues that now is the time for a strong entry into the electric vehicle charging infrastructure industry and announces that ultimately BluGo wants to be the largest network of charging stations in Poland.
“We will make potential franchisees aware that while the profits from charging stations may still be relatively small in the next 2-3 years, entering this market today guarantees success in the perspective of 5-10 years, when electric cars will become more and more common,” he summed up.
BluGo (formerly Yolo) in October 2021, thanks to an agreement to sell a portfolio of all loan receivables, ended its operations in the financial segment and began operating in the area of infrastructure for electric cars. The company has been listed on the main WSE market since 2011.
Source: ISBnews
