Shargy: Volkswagen’s Peer-to-Peer Charging App

With Shargy, Volkswagen France aims to make life easier for motorists driving electric cars.

Although progress is being made in the right direction, the charging station network is not yet extensive enough to dispel all motorists’ worries. Faced with this issue, Volkswagen has decided to implement an alternative solution: peer-to-peer charging.

An app to rent out your charging station

Shargy is an app soon to be launched by the brand’s French subsidiary. It will enable the rental of private charging stations, or even an external socket. To do so, users will simply need to register their station on the app, specify available time slots, and set the recharge cost.

Similarly, a driver looking for a charging point can connect to the app to see available stations nearby. If they find a suitable one, they’ll need to reserve a time slot and make the payment online. An integrated messaging system will facilitate contact between users.

Launch of Shargy at the end of May

The idea may seem relevant on paper, but will it really convince electric vehicle users? Renting out your own station requires complete trust in the person using it. The member rating system will offer some guarantees, but still.

Furthermore, the process may pose some logistical problems. It will indeed be necessary to be resourceful — or at least well organized — to ensure that the “tenant” accesses the station without causing too much inconvenience to the “owner”.

The app will be open to all electric car users, regardless of whether they drive a Volkswagen group model or not. While awaiting its online launch at the end of May, you can already register on the dedicated website.

Read also: Carrefour will deploy 5,000 charging points by 2025