What a mall actually wants from a charging partner

Operators pitch site owners with power ratings, connector types and app screenshots. The site owner is thinking about parking bays they are giving up, an electrical connection they are responsible for, and a tenant who will complain if it looks bad. Almost none of the pitch addresses any of that.

What they are actually weighing

1. 01How many bays do I lose, and were they earning anything? Usually the answer is "the far corner ones", which makes the whole conversation easier.
2. 02What does this cost me? If the answer is nothing beyond the electricity — and the electricity is paid for — the risk is small.
3. 03What if it looks terrible or breaks? A dead charger with a plastic bag on it in a premium car park is a reputational problem for them, not you.
4. 04What if you disappear? Half-finished infrastructure and no one to remove it. This is the fear they will not say out loud.
5. 05Does it bring people in? Some believe it strongly. Most are politely sceptical and would rather you did not overclaim.

The pitch that works

Lead with the risk transfer, not the technology. You fund it, you install it, you maintain it, you carry the compliance. They provide bays and a connection, and they receive a share of what it earns with a statement they can check themselves.

Be specific about the ugly cases

Say what happens when a charger breaks — the response time, who comes, what they see. Say what happens at the end of the term, including who removes the equipment and who makes good the ground. Say what happens if a driver blocks a bay and who enforces it.

Operators avoid these because they feel like objections. They are the opposite: raising them first is the strongest available signal that you have done this before.

On footfall claims

Charging does bring some incremental visits, and a driver waiting thirty minutes does spend money. But the effect is modest, hard to attribute and easy to overclaim. Present it as a secondary benefit with whatever evidence you actually have, and let the revenue share carry the case. Site owners have heard the footfall pitch from everyone, and the ones worth partnering with discount it heavily.