May I? Enabling the sharing of private e-vehicle charging infrastructure

This paper investigates the feasibility and potential benefits of private charging infrastructure (CI) sharing for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in Germany as an emerging transport management and business model innovation. With the growing adoption of BEVs, the need for accessible and efficiently used CI increases, while mobility service providers, platform operators, and policy makers face the challenge of expanding charging access without relying solely on costly public infrastructure investments. Although private charging stations, or ‘wallboxes’, are abundant, they are underutilized and mostly only accessible to their owners. This presents an opportunity to increase publicly accessible CI density through private CI sharing mechanisms and to improve the utilization of privately owned transport-related assets. Therefore, we explore these mechanisms together with the preferences and perceptions of relevant stakeholders, using a mixed-methods approach. This approach includes semi-structured interviews with industry pioneers and participatory workshops with BEV owners and potential adopters. From the perspective of (potential) BEV drivers, five fundamental objectives are studied: unrestricted mobility , ease of use , profitability/costs , social well-being , and sustainability . Our analysis identifies key design principles for successful CI sharing schemes, including flexible access models, fair pricing mechanisms, digital booking systems, platform-based coordination, trust-building measures, and clear governance arrangements. These principles can improve CI availability by increasing the use of private wallboxes, while addressing user concerns such as security, billing, and reliability. The insights can guide mobility service providers, platform operators, charging infrastructure businesses, and policy makers in fostering a wallbox sharing ecosystem, thereby supporting more resource-efficient and low-carbon transport systems.