Share&Charge, which pairs electric vehicle drivers with charging stations through a peer-to-peer model, unveiled its mobile app this week on both Google Play and Apple's App Store. The platform operat
Share&Charge, which pairs electric vehicle drivers with charging stations through a peer-to-peer model, unveiled its mobile app this week on both Google Play and Apple's App Store. The platform operates on the Ethereum blockchain and has already signed up over 1,000 stations across Germany.
In Germany, 92 percent of the nation's 45,150 electric vehicle owners have a home charger. Share&Charge lets them monetize that equipment by renting it out to other drivers. Owners set their own rates and charging methods. Drivers use an interactive map to locate available stations.
Transactions happen in crypto-euros, a token pegged to actual euros held in escrow. The token doesn't trade on exchanges. For now it's locked to Share&Charge's network, though that could change. XTECH, a payment processor involved in the project, has applied for an e-money license that might broaden the token's use beyond the platform. Stephan Tual, founder of Slock.it, the blockchain company that helped build Share&Charge, described the vision: "Once the smart contract system proves stable and free of bugs, Share&Charge can create a market for EV charging that's controlled by neither company nor government." He added that the team plans to "apply this model to other mobility services, allowing operators to lease or share their assets, from power supplies to parking space to eventually the vehicles themselves."
Share&Charge is the first release from MotionWerk, an Innogy Innovation Hub startup. Innogy operates as a division of RWE, Germany's second-biggest energy company. "Share&Charge embodies a future where cars are electric, self-driving, and shared," Dietrich Sümmermann, co-founder of Share&Charge and leader of B2C enablement at RWE's Smart and Connected Lighthouse unit, said in a statement. "The auto sector and the energy industry are in the middle of a shift. Petrol vehicles need centralized service stations. But electric cars change that calculation. You get hundreds of chargers instead of monopolized gas stations. That's what we're building toward."
The company aims to capture a place in Germany's top five charging networks within a year.
Innogy also backs a separate blockchain project, Car eWallet, which it showed off at CES in January alongside partners ZF and UBS. The system lets drivers pay for tolls, parking, and charging on the go, while also collecting payments for car-sharing or delivery jobs. Both projects fit into RWE's strategy to deploy blockchain technology across its e-mobility business, using it to cut costs through better authentication and billing.
Slock.it, which played a key role in developing Share&Charge, gained prominence through The DAO, an ambitious Ethereum-based venture fund that closed its fundraising round last year after collecting $162 million. A hacker exploited a smart contract vulnerability to extract $60 million in ether. The community restored the funds by rolling back the Ethereum network, a move that drew fierce debate. Slock.it pressed forward despite The DAO's failure. In March the company closed a $2 million seed round to build the Universal Sharing Network, or USN. The platform aims to shake up the sharing economy by letting companies and consumers trade ownership of internet-connected objects.
