With the rapid growth of the EV industry, buyers now have many more options for EV charging than they did five years ago. Several players have emerged in the market, ranging from pure hardware to pure software to all-in-one vendors. Still, the common incumbents that multifamily operators first hear of are the oldest, most established companies in the space: ChargePoint and Blink.
Now, with a more evolved landscape and competitive pricing, it’s important for buyers to stay open-minded and evaluate other options. Incumbent providers tend to have a more dated user interface, higher pricing, and lower flexibility compared to modern options. This is because many of them are closed ecosystem, meaning only their proprietary tools can communicate with their equipment (imagine if you could only connect Apple-brand headphones to your iPhone.)
Below, we’ll dive into what closed ecosystem means, as well as the key differences between Flipturn vs. closed ecosystem vendors for multifamily EV charging. Whether you’re an asset manager planning for your properties’ first EV chargers, or an experienced property owner refreshing your first-gen hardware, it’s important to understand how modern charging can be more cost-effective and offer better functionality.
Flipturn key differentiators
Our platform prioritizes high-touch support, easy configuration, and illustrative reporting. In doing so, we can unlock larger financial and sustainability gains from EV charging for multifamily owners.
Operational experience: high configurability & quick customer support
Customizability is essential for the multifamily operator — every property is different, and each operator has unique needs when it comes to charger access management, pricing, and maintenance.
Many closed ecosystem incumbents have dated software that limits configuration. Simple setup of resident-exclusive access and pricing is possible, but the customization typically needed at most multifamily deployments (e.g. different resident groups, varying rules based on time-of-day, more complex pricing tiers) often requires contacting customer support.
Flipturn’s platform is designed for easy customization. Operators can limit charging to specific groups (e.g. residents, visitors, maintenance employees), customize pricing for each group by the hour, and even set up PIN codes for temporary visitors.
If issues arise for operators, Flipturn’s real-time charger dashboard and 15-minute average customer support response time allow them to easily pinpoint which charger is experiencing issues, and which resident is actively trying to charge. Meanwhile, users of older solutions frequently express frustration with long customer support delays (days to weeks for issue resolution), and charger visibility may be limited to retrospective reporting.
Hardware compatibility
In a closed ecosystem, the vendor’s chargers are only compatible with their own proprietary software. In contrast, an open ecosystem allows the operator to connect their hardware of choice to their software of choice.
It’s important to note that closed ecosystem does not immediately mean bad. One reason why older incumbent providers tend to be closed ecosystem is because they were founded before the EV industry took off, meaning 1) the market was less competitive and 2) everyone wanted to procure their entire EV solution from one vendor, since they had no existing infrastructure.
However, with today’s competitive market, the cost of technology has decreased > 5-fold and operators can choose their preferred provider in each part of the stack (often through one contract, thanks to distribution channels). Today, a closed ecosystem actually creates more problems for an operator down the line, namely:
- Operators cannot benefit from technology that is more advanced and cost-effective on the competitive market. They are limited to the vendor’s pace of innovation in each part of the stack.
- Switching costs rise dramatically as the deployment grows, because if the operator wants to end their contract, they must rip up all of their existing charging infrastructure.
Flipturn operates in an open ecosystem and is compatible with most chargers, allowing operators to monitor and control all charger brands in one dashboard. This is especially important for teams who are expanding infrastructure over time, and possibly diversifying across vendors.
Buyers still procure their entire EV charging solution through one package, thanks to our installer and distribution partnerships.
By specializing in software, we can focus solely on improving the modern driver and operator experience; we leave hardware manufacturing and install to partners who are the best in their fields.
The open ecosystem also enables Flipturn to offer competitive pricing compared to closed ecosystem incumbents.
Resident experience: no-app plug & charge
Most EV charging providers, including ChargePoint, require drivers to download an app to pay for charging. EV drivers often experience app fatigue (having to download multiple apps just to charge at different stations at home / in public), and guests cannot simply access restricted chargers without contacting support.
Using Flipturn, drivers get seamless, no-app charging with flexible payment options (Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.) A no-app interface creates a better driving experience as residents don’t need to worry about app updates or managing payments across several apps just to be able to charge both at home and in public (possibly with another provider.)
If drivers experience issues, navigating to customer support is simple and intuitive, and your maintenance teams can immediately spot where issues occur to proactively help tenants.
At the end of the day, while older, closed ecosystem providers have a strong reputation, multifamily owner-operators should evaluate their options before over-investing. Choose solutions that provide long-term flexibility and a great experience for drivers as EV adoption continues to rise.Have a particular pain point with your existing provider we didn’t address above? Want to learn how you can modernize your EV charging? Let’s chat!
About Flipturn
Flipturn is a leading EV charging and energy management platform, helping organizations maximize charger uptime, process charging payments, and scale operations efficiently. Backed by leading investors including CRV and Accel, Flipturn serves Fortune 500 companies, commercial property owners, and major fleet operators across North America.
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