Bundling the EV: five ideas for creating additional revenue from EV sales

· Updated

The world is changing, and so must the way auto dealers sell cars. The sales strategies that once worked for ICE vehicles need to evolve as the market shifts toward electrification. 

Auto dealers now face a new reality, as you’re well aware.

There seems but one path forward:

EV bundles. A prime opportunity to add flexibility and convenience to the buyer and customer experience while creating new revenue streams for the auto dealer.

Here are our 5 top EV bundles:

1. Home EV chargepoint installation

According to recent studies, a whopping 38% of customers are looking for bundled offers. This is a chance to secure recurring revenue streams that will keep your profits flowing long after the initial sale.

One of the best places to start: adding home EV charger and setup to the deal.

Charging anxiety is still very much alive. While the rapid expansion of public chargepoints helps, it will by no means eliminate the need for a home EV charger.

That’s where you come in.

Help your buyers save time and money with a simple EV bundle that:

Comes with a smart EV charger that’s: 

  • Just right for their chosen EV
  • Is solar-compatible for future flexibility
  • Meets their preferences (such as tethered vs untethered)

**Is delivered by an experienced installer who will:
**

  • Apply for a government grant (saving customers up to 75% on chargepoint installation)
  • Audit the existing electricity system and energy supply
  • Provide all the necessary equipment
  • Perform safety checks
  • Install the charger

This will not only ease your customers’ charging worries but also position your dealership as the go-to destination for all things EV.

2. Solar panel and battery installation

Charging an EV with solar is essentially charging it for free, once the payback period is over. And the solar payback period is shorter than ever before.

That’s a clear win. But considering solar panels raises many questions.

  • How many solar panels are needed to charge my car?
  • Do I have the right type of roof?
  • Which panels should I use?
  • How much will it cost to install?
  • How long will it take?

Imagine the relief for your customers when all those questions are answered for them. No frantic Googling in the early hours, during work breaks, and late at night. No need to understand how everything works or figure out the right solution for their situation.

Instead, you give your customer answers. You tell them:

  • The type of EV they’re buying
  • The type of house they have
  • The solar system they need
  • The time it takes to set up
  • What it’s going to cost
  • What they’ll save

3. Home energy management system

An energy management system (EMS) is a software and hardware solution that helps you monitor, control, and optimise energy consumption, all through a single app. The customer can turn the heating up or schedule the washing machine with a few swipes – even when they’re not at home.

A best-in-class EMS is invaluable if you have several electric assets at home, such as electrical appliances, one or more EVs, solar panels, and batteries.

Without an EMS, you:

  • Must remember to analyse costs
  • Manually set and adjust charging times
  • Have no control over which source of energy is used
  • Don’t know how much it will cost you at the end of the month

The solar energy produced gets fed into your electricity supply and gobbled up by whatever is switched on at the time. Any leftovers are automatically sent to the National Grid.

Convenient, perhaps, but you could save more by using that extra solar power yourself.

An AI-driven EMS takes care of that. It can analyse your electricity usage patterns, tariffs, weather, availability of solar power and more to:

  • Determine the best times to run different appliances or charge your EV
  • Control which assets are using solar power and when
  • Make your energy use as cost-effective as it can be

Now how’s that for an add-on?

4. White-labelled customer platform

Why offer add-ons only at the point of sale if they can be made available to your customers year round?

Picture this:

A new customer has just paid for your bundled EV + charger + installation package. As they arrive home and sit down on the couch with a cold drink in hand to celebrate the purchase, they picture the arrival of that shiny new car, the look on the neighbours’ faces, the feeling of the first ride… Suddenly, that blissful dream is interrupted by the thought of all the calls and emails headed their way to get the home charger installed.

They take a sip of the drink and ready themselves for a long and tedious process.

Except those calls never come.

Instead, a single message with a link to a customer platform lands in their inbox. Upon login, your new customer finds their purchase details and delivery status alongside a digital survey of their home to start the home chargepoint installation. All at their fingertips. They don’t even have to complete it in one go.

They can save their answers, easily reach the installer’s tech representative with any queries, and update the survey as many times as needed before submitting it. All the while seeing no other brand than yours.

As your customer adapts to their new EV lifestyle, they return to the platform, which now doubles as an AI-powered EMS, to monitor their electricity consumption, get notified about cost-cutting opportunities, and chat to an AI assistant to solve their EV-related questions, compare the costs of energy sources, and find useful products and services to solve a current challenge, be that tariff switching or solar panel installation.

It’s a new level of customer experience.

And that’s our recommended add-on number four — a white-labelled platform that helps your customers find the solutions they need and allows you to:

  • Build trust and nurture long-term customer relationships
  • Analyse customer data and identify optimal bundles and upsells
  • Monitor KPIs and charger installation status across all deals in one place

5. End-to-end services

Have you heard? The number one reason why buyers choose EV leases and subscriptions isn’t rooted in financial considerations. It’s the all-inclusive service that comes with them.

That leads us to the final add-on recommendation — end-to-end service packages.

Build them right and you’ll not only solve your EV buyers’ biggest challenges but also deliver an unparalleled customer experience. That includes:

  • Insurance plans
  • Charging service
  • Car energy report
  • Quarterly valet service
  • Emergency charging assistance
  • Electronics and battery maintenance
  • Regular tyre checks or even Tyres as a Service plan

You can offer these services in one package deal and as separate add-ons available on the customer platform, so people can build their personalised EV bundles over time.

After all, an end-to-end service is about more than saving time and money. It is a valuable brand differentiator as you deliver the speed, convenience, and flexibility the modern customer craves.

One final tip. Whether you choose to offer one or all of the bundles we’ve covered, there’s one more thing you’ll need to make it fly: uncompromising transparency.

The reason is simple — buyers fear hidden charges and the masterfully complex small print. (Who doesn’t?) Luckily, the solution is simple: a succinct one-pager that outlines the main terms of the offer:

  • Key terms of the contract
  • What’s included
  • What’s extra
  • All charges
  • Taxes

So there you have it. Five add-ons to create your EV bundles, five additional revenue streams to speed up the EV sale and increase the lifetime value of EV customers.

At Powerverse, we help auto dealerships remove barriers to EV sales with white-label products and services that build strong client relationships, generate recurring revenue, and make your dealership a destination your customers will return to time after time.

If that sounds like something you’d like to explore, give us a shout or check out our partner page here.