Sonepar and ChargePoint have announced a strategic partnership in France. This will concern the deployment of over 1,400 charging stations in Sonepar’s France network, which covers over 500 branches and six distribution centres and HQs by mid-2022
Paris, France – Sonepar, the worldwide leader in the distribution of electrical products, solutions, and related services for electricians, installers, and end-users, and ChargePoint Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CHPT), a leading Electric Vehicle (EV) charging network operating in Europe and North America, have announced a strategic partnership in France. This will concern the deployment of over 1,400 charging stations in Sonepar’s France network, which covers over 500 branches and six distribution centers and HQs by mid-2022.
As of 31st December 2021, there are 53,667 places to charge open to the public in France. Through this partnership and the addition of 1,400 places to charge, Sonepar and ChargePoint will significantly increase public access across the country. Thanks to this partnership, ChargePoint has become the exclusive EV Charging software partner for all charging hardware installed in the Sonepar network in France.
Based on this partnership, Sonepar will now be in a position to offer to all its French customers a complete EV charging solution and will reinforce its position on a growing market, which is estimated to be worth €1BN in 2025 with 50 percent installed in private companies.
In addition, this partnership will contribute to the electrification efforts of Sonepar’s own corporate fleet. It has already committed to a sustainable target of having a 25% battery EV and 75% plug-in hybrid EV by 2023, with a move to 50-50 by 2025.
This will reduce Sonepar’s greenhouse emissions scope 1&2 in France by 50% by 2025. It is also a clear indication to its partners and customers that vehicle electrification is the future of transportation and that connected networks will become the new standard – up to 50% of companies’ EV chargers (those sold for commercial use) will be connected with the cloud in 2025 providing users ChargePoint’s leading service.
Jérôme Malassigne, President Sonepar France and Sonepar International Services said: “By giving access to over 1,400 EV charging stations, Sonepar proposes an innovative service to its 100,000 customers as well as its 5,000 associates. Sonepar’s French network represents a major opportunity to make a significant contribution to achieving France’s national in terms of electric charging station capacity. This sustainable service available 24/7 will significantly reduce carbon emissions.” Jérôme Malassigne added, “We thank the Group for making this partnership with Chargepoint, one of the innovation leaders in this domain, available to the Sonepar France network.”
ChargePoint’s CEO, Pasquale Romano, stated “We have an established partnership agreement with the Sonepar Group globally and we are thrilled to extend EV charging in France with our partner Sonepar. This partnership indicates the commitment between ChargePoint and Sonepar to drive the future of transportation and to progress the electrification efforts of thousands of businesses throughout France.”
ChargePoint’s leading open software solution will be used to operate all the charging stations sold by Sonepar in France, offering customers a choice of familiar hardware brands with a host of software-enabled features to make charging an easy and streamlined process. This includes streamlined billing set-up, access control, centralized reporting, and real-time data on energy used and greenhouse gasses saved.
Through the ChargePoint App, as well as data on their own energy consumption, costs, and greenhouse gas savings, drivers and businesses have direct access to around 95 percent of the public charging ports in France and hundreds of thousands of other ports across Europe.
