Wallbox, a Spanish charger company listed on Wall Street, continues its strategic agreements to conquer the electricity market. If in the United States and Canada, the brand has reached an agreement with Uber to promote the electric car, as well as to achieve the goals of the mobility unicorn, in Spain have chosen their competition in the taxi industry. Specially free now.
The agreement, which both companies announced today, has the same goal as Uber on the other side of the Atlantic. Increase the share of electric vehicles in the taxi ordering application portfolio. In this case, Wallbox will offer taxi drivers a discount for installing the brand’s chargers. In particular, a charger suitable for all electric models on the market, device installation and Power Boost, an energy management tool to avoid overloading the household power supply. In addition to the discount agreed upon by Wallbox and Free Now, the charger company also indicates that it will manage the government’s MOVES III plan to help receive the announced government aid.
In parallel, Wallbox charger users will also have access to the Electromaps public charger search platform. A platform that has been part of its ecosystem since September 2020 after its acquisition. Since then, the company has added more than 120,000 mapped charging points and its own that it added after those two years of work.
Fine print agreement with Free Now
FreeNow is present in almost all major cities in Spain. Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and Malaga in particular. But the new deal signed with Wallbox is limited to its star region: Madrid. “This is an offer for taxi drivers who are currently working with Free Now in Madrid”, Isabelle Garcia, CEO of the company, notes. The possibility of expanding the agreement to other regions is on the horizon, but with no plans on the table.
For now, according to the directive, “the agreement is available for taxi drivers in Madrid who already have an electric car and for those who want to switch to an electric car.” However, they don’t talk about the number of EVs they currently drive or the ones they want to achieve within a year. They point to a 73% growth in their fleet in 2022. to bring it up to 85%. Of course, without public figures. A strategy similar to that used by Uber with its Uber Green and Cabify model for its Cabify Eco business unit; no one gives data on the electric car fleet, which, although growing, remains poor in the mobility sector.
In total, Free Now will cover 14% of the cost of installing these electric chargers. Costing from 2000 to 3000 euros, depending on the model, vehicle and location.
Wallbox, unlimited growth
Wallbox has come a long way since it announced its IPO with one of the buzzwords in the startup world. Through SPAC, it was the first Spanish brand to gain access to this select group. Since then, the company, founded by Enric Asunción and Edouard Castañeda, has grown rapidly. Both geographically and vertically.
At the same time, Wallbox entered into an agreement with Uber to become its partner in the management of its platform for electric vehicles. Also launched an application that sought to automate the installation of electric chargers. This gave them a wider market opening and covered the entire charger installation cycle. Despite all this, the company has already announced that it will use almost 200 million euros after its SPAC in 2021 to guarantee the success of its international expansion.
In addition, Wallbox has focused its efforts on the manufacturing division. With the world under stress from international exports and problems with China due to a supply crisis, the Spanish firm has focused on local operations – in addition to China due to its strategic position. It has two operating plants located in Barcelona, another in China and a fourth under construction in Texas to supply the entire continent.
Source: Hiper Textual
