In a public charging concession, a public owner grants an operator the right to build and run chargers on public land or in public car parks. Who pays for the hardware and installation, who owns the equipment, who sets the price drivers pay, and who carries the loss when a site stays quiet — those four answers change from one concession model to the next. The tender’s label tells you little; its money clauses tell you everything.
Key Takeaways
- Four answers define a concession: who funds, who owns, who earns, and who carries the utilisation risk.
- The same word “concession” covers owner-funded operation and fully operator-funded builds — only the documents say which.
- Price control, inter-party payments and the end-of-term clause do most of the financial work.
- A hardware supplier prices equipment, evidence and warranty — not the site’s revenue risk, unless its own contract says otherwise.
Four Questions That Define Any Concession
Read a concession tender by finding the four answers below. Treat the table as a reading map, not as any real tender’s terms — those are always set by the tender’s own documents.
| Model shape | Who funds hardware and install | Who owns the equipment | Who earns the charging revenue | Who carries utilisation risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner-funded, operator-run | The public owner | The public owner | Split per the documents; the operator may simply be paid to run the network | Mainly the owner; the operator risks its service fee, not the sites |
| Operator-funded concession | The operator | The operator during the term | The operator, after any fee owed to the owner | The operator — quiet sites are its problem |
| Build, operate, transfer | The operator | The operator, passing to the owner at the end of the term | The operator during the term | The operator, including end-of-term asset condition |
| Grant-supported build | Shared — a funding programme covers part, the operator funds the rest | Per the programme and contract terms | The operator | The operator for its share; programme conditions (uptime, reporting, opening hours) bind the sites |
How the Money Moves Inside Each Shape
Beyond the table, three clauses do most of the work. Price control: in some concessions the owner caps or approves the price per kWh, so the operator’s earning power is limited by the documents, not the market — how public prices are usually built is covered in how EV charging stations set prices. Payments between the parties: money may flow as a fee from operator to owner for the right to operate, as a service payment from owner to operator for keeping the network available, or both in different years of the term. End of term: the documents decide whether equipment is removed, bought by the owner, or handed over in a stated condition — a clause to read before choosing what to supply.
Reading a Concession Tender as a Hardware Supplier
A supplier’s slice of a concession is narrower than the concessionaire’s, and it should be priced that way. You sell equipment, evidence and warranty into the project; you do not take the site’s utilisation risk unless your own contract says so in writing. Two checks protect that boundary. First, whose name is on the performance promises: uptime and service duties belong to the party operating the network, so your supply terms should speak to hardware delivery, documentation and the 3-year standard warranty behind units such as the EV-AC03201T dual-connector AC station (two Type 2 connectors, up to 43 kW shared, OCPP 1.6J, RFID, IP54). Second, when the payment reaches you: in a concession chain you may be paid by the operator rather than the public owner, so the credit risk you are actually taking is the operator’s. Our commercial charging page outlines the range these projects draw from, and supplier conversations for tender projects run through the distributor programme or contact us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a concession the same as a franchise?
No. A franchise is a private deal: a brand licenses its name and model to an operator, as our guide to charging station franchises explains. A concession starts with a public owner granting rights over public sites through a competitive tender; the public owner stays a party to the deal.
Does the public owner guarantee a minimum number of charging sessions?
Not by default. In operator-funded shapes the utilisation risk sits with the operator; if a particular tender offers any minimum-revenue or exclusivity protection, it will be written in the documents — and priced by every bidder who reads it. Assume nothing that is not written.
Who owns the chargers when the concession ends?
Whichever party the end-of-term clause names. In transfer shapes the equipment passes to the owner, with a condition standard attached; in others the operator removes it. Bidders should cost that clause at bid time, not discover it in the final year.
Related Reading
- How to Get an EV Charging Station Franchise (and What to Check)
- How Much Do EV Charging Stations Charge? Pricing Models Explained
- Is an EV Charging Station Business Profitable?
- How to Open an EV Charging Station: Step by Step
