Public Charging Station for Electric Vehicles in Thailand: A Comprehensive Practical Roaming Service Model

Abstract

The electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in Thailand is currently encountering several challenges, especially in facilitating customer journeys and streaming customers across public charging stations. Given the charging service is continually growing among the shortages of EV charging stations, customers are forced to navigate through several mobile applications (apps) for service accessibility due to those charging stations being operated fragmentedly. Albeit notional entities endeavour to implement EV roaming, to integrate the fragmented charging station across the country, they face several problems on unfulfillable of the current adopted technology. This situation reflects the customer satisfaction and behavioural trend, surfacing dissatisfaction in several customer experience areas, particularly the non-extensiveness of the reservation system. This research addresses these gaps by proposing a tailored-made roaming service model that not only aligns with the Open Charge Point Interface (OCPI) framework, which is currently adopted in Thailand but also incorporates specific adjustments for the market needs. Stakeholder acceptance of the model is twofold: operators' acceptance is measured by its capacity to deliver Business, Operational, and Technical Excellence, while end-user acceptance hinges on a seamless charging experience.the target is to establish a new conceptual service model that bridges the gaps of unfulfillments and enhances the EV charging journey on customer satisfaction, technology acceptance, and operational effectiveness. In addition, key practical solutions are offered for Charge Point Operators (CPOs) and E-Mobility Service Providers (EMSPs) to deliver a seamless and user-centric charging experience.