If there's no charging station, why not just build one yourself / RENAULT "PLUG-INN"

The problem

In France in 2022, there were 1 million electric cars on the road, but only 80,000 charging stations. In rural areas it wasn't unusual to find zero charging spots at all, and this nagging worry of "will I even be able to charge?" was what kept people from switching to EVs.

The insight

Renault had already learned something from an earlier trial called "Village Electrique": if people can just charge their car, they'll happily switch to EVs. And the effect was strongest in exactly the areas that had no charging spots at all. So the solution was simple: connect people whose home chargers sit unused with drivers who need to charge. It took the idea of the sharing economy and pointed it straight at a gap in infrastructure.

The idea

What they actually did was simple: build a peer-to-peer app connecting owners of home chargers with EV drivers. Think of it as Airbnb for charging. Owners can earn money by renting out their charger, and drivers can book a place to charge even in unfamiliar areas. Working with Publicis Sapient, they went from business case to MVP in just eight weeks, which is impressively fast.

What happened

Within two weeks of launch, the app had 16,000 users, 107 million impressions, and earned media worth over 500,000 euros. The goal is to make 480,000 locations across France available for charging. Beyond the Cannes Grand Prix, it also won Fast Company's World Changing Ideas Award, as well as honors at Clio, Eurobest, and D&AD.

Afterthought

The head of the jury apparently said that every winning piece of work this year actually changed something in the real world. Forget copywriting, forget art direction, this is a case of designing an entire business model that becomes an ad and ends up solving a real social problem. This one's still got a long way to run.

Awards

• Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2023

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