By Rich Mohr, CEO, InCharge Energy
In EV charging, uptime has become the industry’s favorite metric. We track it, report it, market it, and debate it endlessly. And to be clear — uptime matters. A charger that isn’t available can’t serve drivers, fleets, or businesses.
But focusing on uptime alone is a mistake.
As EV adoption accelerates, the industry needs to mature beyond a binary definition of success. A charger isn’t successful because it’s technically “online.” It’s successful because it works — consistently, predictably, and effortlessly — for the people who rely on it.
That distinction is where the future of EV charging will be won or lost.
Availability Is the Baseline, Not the Finish Line
Uptime is a starting point. It tells you whether a charger is connected to a network. It does not tell you whether a driver can actually charge.
A charger can be “up” while a cable is damaged. While payment fails. While software glitches interrupt sessions. While performance degrades just enough to create friction that drivers won’t tolerate.
From a driver’s perspective, none of that counts as uptime. It counts as failure.
If we want EVs to scale — especially for fleets, transit, and mission‑critical operations — we have to measure and deliver something more meaningful: operational readiness.
Service Excellence Is a System, Not a Reaction
True service excellence isn’t about how fast you respond when something breaks. It’s about how rarely things break in the first place — and how little disruption customers experience when they do.
That requires a fundamentally different mindset. One that prioritizes proactive maintenance over reactive fixes. One that treats service as a core operating function, not a downstream cost center.
The reality of this industry is complex. Hardware varies. Software stacks don’t always play nicely together. Supply chains remain constrained. None of that is an excuse. It’s the environment we operate in — and it demands operational discipline.
At InCharge Energy, we built our service model for that reality. Our technicians are trained across manufacturers. Our chargers are managed through a unified platform. We maintain inventory so service doesn’t stall waiting for parts. Not because it’s easy — but because it’s necessary.
Why In‑House Service Changes the Equation
One of the clearest lessons we’ve learned is that service quality follows accountability.
An in‑house technician network creates faster response times, deeper expertise, and clearer ownership. More importantly, it creates feedback loops that most service models simply don’t have. Field insights inform product decisions. Patterns drive process improvements. Accountability isn’t abstract — it’s built into the system.
That’s how operational maturity develops. Not through dashboards alone, but through people who understand the asset, the customer, and the stakes.
Operational Efficiency Is About Resilience
Operational efficiency is often misunderstood as speed. But speed without resilience doesn’t scale.
Efficiency in EV charging means fewer faults. Smarter diagnostics. Issues identified before drivers notice them. Maintenance that extends asset life instead of just restoring it.
It’s about chargers that are ready when they’re needed — not just connected, but capable.
Rethinking How We Measure Success
This is why we introduced the Charger Maintenance Index.
The industry has spent years optimizing for whether a charger is online. The Charger Maintenance Index shifts the focus to how well an asset is maintained over time. Because maintenance quality is what determines real‑world performance.
A well‑maintained charger is a charger that drivers trust. Fleets depend on. And operators don’t have to explain.
That’s the metric that matters as EV charging moves from early adoption to critical infrastructure.
The Road Ahead
As EVs become mainstream, expectations will rise — quickly. Drivers won’t tolerate unreliable charging. Fleets won’t plan around uncertainty. Businesses won’t invest in infrastructure that creates friction.
The companies that lead this next phase won’t be the ones talking the loudest about uptime. They’ll be the ones delivering consistent, invisible reliability — the kind customers only notice when it’s missing.
At InCharge Energy, our focus is simple: keep chargers ready, empower the people who maintain them, and earn trust through performance.
Because in the future of EV charging, uptime isn’t the goal. Reliability is.
