With Plug Inn for Business, Renault proved, once more, that a change in people’s behavior is possible as long as brands provide the necessary tools for a real transformation. What started as an app to expand the charging network to remote places in France, is now also a commercial tool for small businesses in need of a solution to revitalize their activity and their small villages.

Plug Inn for Businesses has not only expanded the EV charging network, but also made sustainable traveling a reality in France.

Small villages in France have been facing a desertification problem for years. People are drawn to big stores and surfaces for their convenience, especially if they have a charging spot to charge their cars while they so something else, instead of waiting in the middle of nowhere.

Giving small businesses the possibility to become a charging spot while offering their usual services not only attracts locals back to the village center, but also EV travelers who can enjoy the local charm, food, shops, and attractions while on their charging stop.

With the electric transition taking place in France, Plug Inn achieves not only a B2B solution for small businesses, but a big step forward in EV transformation and sustainable travel.

Renault, the leader in electric vehicles in France, launch Plug Inn, and it became the AirBnB for plugs: an app that connects electric vehicle drivers with private electric charger owners.

Even if this help revitalize remote villages in France, small businesses were still struggling to increase their commercial activity.

As the leader of the electric transition, Renault decided to push Plug Inn’s capabilities to find a solution to this problem. The result was Plug Inn for Business, an app that allows small business owners to install a charger and offer it to the public, to attract more customers and increase their sales. And EV travelers now have more charging spots available, and better ways to charge while they eat, sleep, shop, etc.

The goal of Plug Inn for Business is to support sustainable tourism while putting small business back on the map, repopulating and further revitalizing mall city centers.

Plug Inn’s transformation from the AirBnB of plugs to a B2B solution created a new way for small businesses everywhere to attract more customers, potentially creating new jobs, and changing the economy of small communities in France.

Whether they own an electric charger or want to install one (or more), the benefits go beyond the possibility of monetizing the charge. The fact that charging an EV’s battery takes time, worked in favor of the businesses who offer services that allow people to use that time to do something else (eating, shopping, sleeping, etc). It’s a win-win-win situation in terms of sustainability, economic growth, and EV innovation.

The automotive industry is in a race to find solutions to today’s mobility problems, especially when it comes to sustainability practices. But focusing mobility itself is not enough, and with every step forward, new challenges keep surfacing.

In this case, when an issue that affects small businesses was detected, Renault already had a different approach to mobility problems that could be adapted to be part of the solution.

That’s why Plug Inn for Business was conceived as part of a wider solution. A flexible app that can transform itself to tackle the different problematics that come with the electric revolution.