EV chargers are a must-have for destination landlords
June 12, 2026
Most businesses look at their car park and simply see somewhere for customers to leave their vehicles. But the truth is it’s an asset – albeit one that likely isn’t performing for you currently.
In this insights post, we examine how business owners can transform their car parks into revenue generating assets through the installation of EV chargers.
Most businesses look at their car park and simply see somewhere for customers to leave their vehicles. But the truth is it’s an asset – albeit one that likely isn’t performing for you currently. In tougher trading conditions, when every penny counts, we want to ensure that underperforming asset can, by installing our Zapgo EV chargers, start returning meaningful value to you, as well as providing a really useful and appreciated service for your customers.
But more than merely providing customers with the opportunity to charge up – valuable though this obviously is – we know that it increases customer dwell time and helps future-proof your business for an EV future.
The destination charging opportunity
The conversation around EV charging frequently focuses on motorway service stations and petrol forecourts, but the businesses best positioned to benefit from the growing number of electric vehicles are not necessarily top-up stations. Increasingly, the businesses with most to gain are the ones giving drivers somewhere worthwhile to spend their time while they charge.
That includes pubs, hotels, cafés, restaurants, sports clubs, garden centres, tourist attractions, farm shops and leisure venues across the country. In other words, it’s very likely to include your own premises.
It’s no secret that this is where the opportunity is. Government data shows that more than half of the UK’s public charging network is now made up of destination chargers, demonstrating the growing importance of building charging capacity where people actually want to spend their time rather than simply where they stop to refuel.
Drivers want to do more than just charge
As EV adoption grows, drivers are increasingly looking for places where they can combine charging with something else: in other words, a meal, a coffee, an overnight stay, a shopping trip or a great family day out. This means that charging is no longer just a means to an end, but it’s increasingly becoming an integral part of the wider customer experience.
This dramatic shift is creating tremendous opportunities for landlords.
EV charging strongly encourages people to remain on-site and to do so for longer. A driver charging up to 40 minutes is more likely to visit a café, browse a shop, order lunch or spend with a local business than someone filling up a petrol tank in five minutes. For hospitality, leisure and retail businesses, that additional dwell time can translate seamlessly into additional incremental revenue.
So the commercial case for businesses installing EV charging capability is becoming not merely attractive, but highly compelling.
Supporting local businesses
For destination locations, the benefits extend beyond just increased footfall. Many more EV drivers are now actively seeking out places where they can charge while they visit, eat, shop or stay overnight. Charging infrastructure helps businesses stand out and be more attractive to customers compared to those that don’t, and they also attract customers who might otherwise prefer to drive straight past.
For community venues, sports clubs and independent businesses, that income can strengthen investment in local facilities and support long-term sustainability. Zapgo’s partnership with The Stanley Club in Lancashire, for example, demonstrates ably how charging infrastructure can create a virtuous circle of delivering ongoing revenue that provides wider benefits for local organisations, with our £10,000 donation to support the vital renovation work required at the Club; and those improved community facilities and features drive greater footfall that means more EV charging on the landlord’s site
The beauty of developing a charging partnership with Zapgo is that a chargepoint is delivered on a landlord’s property with zero up front cost to the landlord, and with installation, maintenance, monitoring and operation all handled by us. That means businesses can benefit from EV charging without the nuisance or complexity of having to manage the infrastructure themselves.
For those who remember internet cafes, you’ll recall that free wi-fi was once considered a significant commercial advantage – whereas today customers just expect it. EV charging is heading in exactly the same direction.
Businesses that are shrewd and choose to act now have a real opportunity to attract new customers, generate additional revenue and make better use of an existing asset. Those that wait may eventually find themselves overlooked by existing and future customers as a growing number of drivers will increasingly expect to charge wherever and whenever they choose to stop.
So, maybe, the question that landlords should today be posing themselves is not “why would I install an EV charge point on my property?” but, rather, “why would I not want to have an EV charge point on my property?”
