Nearly 6% of new cars sold in the US in 2022 will be electric vehicles, up from 3.1% the year before, and that number will continue to grow in the years to come. EVs are still a new industry, but the ecosystem surrounding EVs, from EV charging and installation to insurance products and parking, is becoming disconnected and somewhat complex.
So says the founder of Bluedot, a banking and rewards platform for EV owners aimed at improving the aftersales experience. Here’s how it works: Individual owners or fleet managers sign up for a Bluedot debit card. This is used for all car-related purchases, but primarily for charging EVs. Bluedot is currently offering customers a flat rate of $0.30 per kilowatt-hour at participating EV charging stations and a 20% cash back at nonparticipating charging networks. Customers find stations and pay partner charging companies directly through Bluedot’s app, eliminating the need to download multiple apps.
Bluedot users receive 5% cash back on all car expenses, plus an additional 2% cash back on all other expenses. In addition, the company rewards users at nearby shopping and dining locations: while waiting for their car to charge, customers can go to a nearby Starbucks for a cup of coffee and pay for their purchases. He can get 10% cashback. You can also shop at Whole Foods and get an extra 15% cash back.
The startup, which joined Y Combinator’s Winter 2023 cohort and recently closed a $2 million pre-seed, will initially focus on charging stations. The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in August 2022, will make available to all states his $1.5 billion-plus funding to boost EV charging projects. That might seem like a big push to install disorganized infrastructure.
Bluedot’s app aggregates nearby EV charging stations and offers rewards for charging. Image credit: blue dot
Bluedot did not disclose which charging companies it has partnered with to offer the flat rate, but the startup says customers charge through the Bluedot app at about 60% of all charging stations in the US. He said he could start. New billing companies that may not have the resources to create their own app and payment platform.
Bluedot co-founder and COO Selinay Filiz Parlak told TechCrunch: “Bluedot is committed to integrating financial technology to help these companies make charging stations more viable and accessible to drivers.”
“Currently, most charging station networks are in the 5% to 8% utilization range. Bluedot aims to increase this rate to 15% or higher. , our goal is to connect all brands with financial technology for the benefit of users,” Parlac continues.
Bluedot’s main customers today are individual drivers who found the startup through partnerships with car dealers and ride-sharing companies. According to Parlak, Bluedot’s next target is fleets, which help it manage costs and billing processes and get better deals.
“For example, one of our partners is a leasing company that rents out cars to dozens of delivery drivers managed by a fleet manager,” says Parlak. “They want to offer a larger ecosystem of charging stations with the ease of billing and reimbursement that we offer. Also, they want to get a better deal on electrification.”
Bluedot also manually pulls data on customer charging habits, consumption, power usage, charging locations, carbon footprint prevented by EV use, and more. In the future, we hope to automate this task to make it smarter and more scalable.
During YC, Bluedot wants to focus on growth and product development.
Bluedot CEO and co-founder Ferhat Babacan told TechCrunch: “Specifically, we aim to secure partnerships in the areas of car dealerships, charging networks and car-related costs.In addition, we plan to begin piloting his testing of the Bluedot Fleet Card.”
