Clean energy group Good Energy has taken effective control of Zap-Map, the popular app for the UK’s 300,000 electric vehicle (EV) drivers in which it bought a minority stake last year.
Chippenham-based Good Energy snapped up a 12.9% share in Zap-Map’s parent company Next Green Car in March last year for just over £1m with an option to increase to a majority stake within two years at a maximum investment of £1.8m. 
At the time of Good Energy’s first investment Bristol-based Zap-Map had 70,000 registered monthly users. That has now grown to more than 100,000, meaning the vast majority of electric vehicle (EV) drivers use it to find chargers, plan routes and use the community features such as reporting charger functionality.
The app features more than 95% of public charge points across the UK – 70% of which have live status updates.
Zap-Map draws its users from the UK’s rapidly growing fleet of around 130,000 pure-EVs (Zap-Map’s core user group) and 170,000 plug-in hybrids.
It also provides up-to-date information on the status and availability of chargers, vital for drivers looking for a reliable place to charge their vehicle and attracts thousands of comments and photos a month.
With Good Energy’s 50.1%, Zap-Map is looking to drive the shift to electric vehicles as a key part of creating a low-carbon future through digital, innovative yet simple-to-use services for EV drivers.
Good Energy said it would now work closely with Zap-Map on the development and roll-out of new products and services, including:
• A simple-to-use, single payment solution for EV drivers and charge point operators, providing drivers with a single point of access to a range of public charging networks through the Zap-Map app
• A comprehensive data insights platform, providing unique insights drawn from Zap-Map’s rich database and long-standing experience combined into a server-based platform
• Significantly increased in-car functionality for EV drivers through partnerships with auto manufacturers, critical to the user experience and encouraging adoption
Zap-Map already licenses its live mapping service to Nissan for use on its customer portal and has a partnership with Go Ultra Low, the government and car industry-backed campaign designed to encourage EV-adoption.
Good Energy founder and chief executive officer Juliet Davenport said: “The opportunity for Zap-Map to play an important role in the green economic recovery is obvious.
“With electric vehicles playing a key role in the future government strategy, and commitments to phase out petrol and diesel new vehicle by 2030, Zap-Map is perfectly placed to take advantage of future growth in the EV marketplace.
“For Good Energy, the strategic investment brings synergies across our new propositions including One Point, our business EV proposition, and One Home, our strategic development for householders. We are really exited take the next step in supporting Zap-Map on its strategic journey.”
Zap-Map co-founder Melanie Shufflebotham added: “Our relationship with Good Energy has been a vital strategic partnership in what has been a key period in the development of Zap-Map, and will continue to be as we look to launch of number of innovative products.
“Electric vehicles are taking record market share, but we remain at a critical inflection point as Government and businesses look to provide the products and services for drivers to encourage adoption of EVs.
“This investment ensures that we will remain at the forefront of the EV market delivering products to make charging simple for to both drivers and businesses.”
Next Green Car was set up in 2007 to launch nextgreencar.com as the UK’s No.1 green car website with a mission to help car buyers find, compare and buy a greener, more economical car.
Good Energy supplies homes and businesses with 100% renewable electricity from a community of more than 1,400 UK generators along with its own two wind farms and six solar farms.
