The insights: Electric vehicle owners are ideal targets for out-of-home (OOH) advertising and foot traffic.

During downtime while consumers charge their EVs, brands have multiple ad opportunities.

• Chargers bring in foot traffic to surrounding areas. Half (50%) of EV drivers go grocery shopping while waiting for their vehicles to charge, per a JOLT Audience Insights survey in Australia.
• “Me time” opens avenues for geotargeted ads. Almost as many (47%) use that time to relax on their phones or tablets.

Walk-ins welcome: Proximity to retail shops, salons, grocery stores, and restaurants are key for EV drivers, and those businesses should take advantage of nearby charging stations with on-charger ads.

• 7 in 10 people shop in surrounding businesses while charging their vehicles, and 80% of those made a purchase, per JOLT.
• Customers spend an average of $29 while shopping.

Key stat: 23% of drivers in Europe and the US want reward programs and incentives in EV charging apps, per Smartcar. Those options could extend to the chargers themselves.

Captive audience: Those same businesses can also geotarget their ads to EV owners as they wait to encourage store visits.

• Social and streaming are ideal channels. Among those who prefer to wait in/near their vehicle while charging, 60% listen to music, 57% watch streaming videos, and 38% listen to podcasts or music, per JOLT.
• Ads on chargers will get noticed. JOLT found that 75% of EV owners rated its free, ad-supported charging model an 8 out of 10 or higher.

Our take: EV owners need to occupy their time while they’re charging, whether that takes a half hour or several hours.

Here’s how retailers, brands, and advertisers can get ahead in this space:

• Install charging stations outside brick-and-mortar locations to capitalize on both foot traffic and OOH ads.
• Add QR codes to EV charger advertising that provide discounts to nearby or online businesses.
• Offer store credits or gift cards that cover the cost of charging fees to boost loyalty and word-of-mouth referrals.