Most of the conversation about customer service right now is about replacing people with AI. We think that's the wrong frame. The operators who win the next few years in EV charging won't be the ones who take humans out of support — they'll be the ones who combine Human + AI to deliver a better customer experience, and get the balance right.

Why EV charging raises the bar

EV charging is unusual on two fronts. The technical side is far more specific than most markets: the right answer often depends on live session data, the state of the charge point, roaming between networks, the driver's charge card, and billing logic a generalist support team has never seen. At the same time, the human side has never mattered more. A driver stuck at a charge point at night doesn't want a scripted deflection — they want someone, or something, that actually understands the problem and fixes it.

As the hardware becomes more commoditised, the driver experience is what sets operators apart.

What AI does best, and what only people can do

The evidence from across customer service is consistent: AI and people are good at different things. AI is unbeatable for speed, availability and volume — instant answers, 24/7, in any language, for the predictable questions that make up most of the queue. But around 59% of customers still say they'd rather reach a human for complex issues, and for good reason. People bring empathy, judgement, and the ability to calm a frustrated driver and handle the case that fits no script. As Booking.com recently put it, "AI will help simplify transactional queries, but what's left is really emotional things, complex cases" — and that human connection is exactly where loyalty is won. The best model isn't AI instead of people; it's AI carrying the scale so people can focus on the moments that matter.

How we facilitate hybrid support

This is why we built our support model as a partnership. Together with Salesupply, we combine two kinds of experience that rarely sit under one roof: their 15 years of running customer service operations, and our 5 years of deep EV charging technical expertise. AI resolves the high-volume, data-driven questions instantly. Salesupply's experienced agents step in for the complex, human moments. And underneath both sits the EV-specific technical knowledge that keeps every answer accurate. We facilitate this because neither pure AI nor pure human support delivers the driver experience this market now demands — but the combination does.

The takeaway

AI customer support is quickly becoming table stakes. The real advantage in EV charging will go to the operators who pair it with real people and real technical depth. Human + AI isn't a compromise — it's how you give every driver a better experience, on every interaction.