Ownership & recurring revenue

Who funds the charger, who keeps the revenue — the four ownership models, in plain numbers.

"Install and collect" is not one deal — it is four, and they differ entirely in who puts up the capital and who eats the loss when a bay sits empty. You can buy the charger and keep everything. We can fund it and split the take. An investor can fund it three ways. Or we can own it outright and you simply host it. Each one is an annuity for somebody and a risk for somebody else. This page lays out all four with one worked site so you can see exactly which seat you are sitting in before a rand moves — and why, with today's EV count, we steer most hosts toward the two options that ask nothing of your balance sheet.

See which model fits your site Talk to our team

Before the four structures — one fact decides all of them

A charger is an annuity or a capital trap, and only one thing tells them apart

The same box, two completely different businesses

A 60 kW DC charger that turns over twelve cars a day is a strong yearly cash machine. The identical unit turning over two is a slow bleed. The hardware, the install and the monthly grid demand charge are the same in both cases — what separates them is purely how many kWh flow through. So the first question is never "what charger" or "what model"; it is "how full will this bay actually be," because every structure below stands or falls on that single answer.

Why we don't pretend public charging always pays

South Africa's EV count is still small, and on a typical destination site today, funding a charger and waiting for drivers to arrive can lose money quietly, month after month, because the fixed costs land whether or not anyone plugs in. We will not sell you a model whose maths only works once there are far more EVs on the road than there are now — we would rather match the structure to the demand you can actually prove.

So the structures exist to place the risk fairly

Every ownership model is really an answer to one question: who carries the empty-bay risk until a site's real throughput is known. The sensible ones put the capital and the downside with whoever can best carry it — an investor, the host, or us where the demand is contracted or corridor-locked. That is why we lead with the two structures that put no capital and no utilisation risk on you.

The four structures, side by side

Four ways to fund one charger — what we earn, what you risk

A — CPSA-funded revenue-share (we fund, you host, we split) We put up the capital for the charger — on the order of R473,855 for a dual-gun DC60 plus any grid work — and you give the bay, the grid tap and the footfall. You take a modest slice of gross (around 12% in the worked site below); we keep the larger share to service the capital we floated. The catch is ours: we carry both the box and the monthly demand charge, so this is HIGH risk to us. We only propose it where your traffic is already proven, because on an unproven site we would be funding an empty bay on your forecourt.
B — Investor-funded, three-way (the scalable engine) A third-party investor funds the charger; we source the site, run the operation, billing and upkeep; you host. The revenue stream splits three ways — the investor takes a cash yield on their capital, you take a host share, and we earn an operating margin at ZERO capital of our own. This is LOW risk for us and the model that lets a network get rolled out across dozens of sites without anyone tying up all the money in one box. For you as host it behaves much like model A — capital-free amenity — just with the funding coming from an investor rather than our balance sheet.
C — CPSA fully owns (free charger to the host) We fund the charger, we own it, and we keep 100% of the revenue. You pay nothing and get charging on your property as a free amenity that pulls EV drivers and their dwell-time spend onto the site. This is our HIGHEST upside and our HIGHEST risk — we are exposed to every empty hour — so we will only do it on captive or corridor-guaranteed sites where we already know the throughput cold: a signed fleet depot, or a long-distance stop drivers genuinely cannot route around.
D — Host-funded turnkey (you buy it, our standard quote) You buy the charger and the install outright — this is simply our normal commercial quote. You own the asset and keep the revenue it earns. We make our install margin on the build and then an ongoing fee for the operations, maintenance and charge-management software that keep it billing and online. For us this is NO capital and NO utilisation risk: you own the box, so you own the demand risk too. It is the right call when you want the asset on your books and the upside that comes with carrying the downside yourself.

The cash splits are illustrative, modelled on one worked corridor DC site (see below). Real numbers depend on your traffic, tariff and the grid work your supply needs, and follow a site visit. ChargePointSA is not a VAT vendor — no VAT is added.

One worked site — illustrative only

The four models on a single corridor DC bay, in yearly cash

The site we are modelling One dual-gun 60 kW DC bay on a busy corridor stop — the kind of long-distance site drivers cannot skip. All-in it runs in the region of R650,000 once you add install, civils and the grid connection to the hardware. Run at roughly 200 kWh dispensed a day, after the energy cost, the fixed monthly demand charge, and the maintenance, connectivity and software opex that most quotes forget, it throws off something like R264,000 of net cash a year on around R576,000 of gross. Every split below carves up that one stream. The figures are an illustrative model, not a quote.
A — we fund, you host, we split On this site a roughly 12% host share is on the order of R69,000 a year to you, with us keeping in the region of R195,000 a year to service the capital we put up — paying our box back in roughly three and a bit years. You earn from day one with nothing out of pocket; we carry the capital and the empty-bay exposure.
B — investor funds, three-way The same stream splits three ways: the investor earns a cash yield on their capital — a healthy double-digit return — your host share sits in the same region as model A, and we earn an operating margin on the order of R62,000 a year while putting up no capital ourselves. Nobody is over-exposed, which is exactly why this is the version we can repeat across many sites.
C — we own, you host free We keep the full roughly R264,000 a year and pay the box back in around two and a half years. You pay nothing and gain the amenity. The upside is entirely ours — and so is the whole of the empty-bay risk, which is why this only goes on sites where the throughput is genuinely guaranteed.
D — you buy it, you keep it You own the asset and the full revenue it earns. We take a one-off install margin on the build and an ongoing operations-and-software fee on the order of tens of thousands a year to keep it billing, maintained and online. You carry the capital and the demand risk; you keep the upside that comes with them.
Read it as a risk ladder, not a price list From D to C the capital and the utilisation risk shift steadily off the host and onto us or an investor — and so does the upside. D asks the most of you and gives you the most; C asks nothing of you and gives you an amenity; A and B sit in between. The right rung is not the cheapest one, it is the one where the party carrying the empty-bay risk is the party that can actually afford to be wrong about the traffic.

Worked on one illustrative corridor DC site at roughly 200 kWh/day; all per-structure cash figures are indicative models on stated assumptions, not commitments. Your site's economics are computed from your real inputs on a site visit. No VAT is added — ChargePointSA is not a VAT vendor.

How to choose — which model fits your site

1

Start from the throughput, not the structure

Before any model is on the table we settle the only number that matters: how many real charges or kWh a day this site will see, and how sure we are of it. A captive depot with a contracted fleet or a corridor stop with traffic that cannot detour is a different universe to a hopeful destination bay. The structure follows that confidence level — we do not pick a model and then go hunting for the traffic to justify it.
2

Speculative or unproven site → host buys, or we wait

If the throughput is a hope rather than a near-certainty, the funded models are a trap: the fixed monthly demand charge and the opex land every month regardless, and on thin traffic they outrun the margin. Here the honest answer is model D — you buy it if you want the asset and accept the demand risk — or we simply hold off on any capital play until the site proves itself. We would rather not place a charger than place one we have to subsidise.
3

Proven captive or corridor traffic → A, B or C

Once the traffic is contracted or corridor-locked, the funded structures come alive. A signed fleet or e-hailing depot, or a long-distance forecourt drivers cannot skip, is where revenue-share (A), investor funding (B) and full ownership (C) earn their strong yearly returns. The choice among them is about whose capital and whose appetite — your balance sheet, an investor's, or ours — not whether the site works.
4

Either way, the software annuity is the quiet constant

In every one of the four, the charge-management layer — billing, access, uptime, the driver app and remote support — is a recurring per-bay fee that runs for the life of the site. South Africa has no home-grown platform for this, so whoever owns the box, we keep the asset talking and earning. It is the line that turns a one-off install into a relationship, and it is why even model D, where we take no equity, is still worth our while.

Where install-and-collect earns vs where it bleeds

A funded charger on captive traffic vs a funded charger on a hope

Funded model on captive or corridor traffic

Throughput is contracted or corridor-locked — the bay reliably fills
The fixed demand charge is comfortably cleared by the revenue
Whoever funds the box earns a strong yearly return on it
The risk sits with a party that can carry being wrong about traffic
Full ownership (C) or revenue-share (A) genuinely pays
A repeatable, investor-fundable rollout (B) across many sites

Funded model on a speculative low-traffic site

Throughput is a hope — the bay sits idle most of the day
The fixed demand charge lands every month and outruns the thin margin
Whoever funded the box is subsidising an empty asset
The risk sits with whoever was talked into the funded deal
A and C lose money slowly; payback never actually arrives
The right answer was host-buys (D) — or not yet at all

The recommendation, stated plainly

What we actually steer hosts toward right now

Most sites: you buy it (D) or an investor funds it (B) With EV numbers where they are today, the two models that fit almost every site are the ones that don't gamble on traffic that hasn't arrived yet. If you want to own the asset and keep all the revenue, you buy it and we operate and maintain it (D). If you want the charging on site without putting up the capital, an investor funds it, we run it, and you host (B). Both give you a working, maintained charger without a speculative bet.
We only fund-and-own where the traffic is proven On the models where we put up the capital (A and C), we do it only where the throughput is contracted or corridor-guaranteed — a signed fleet depot, or a long-distance stop drivers can't skip — because we can see the demand before anyone commits. Anywhere the traffic is still a hope, we won't put that risk on you or on us.
Honest, model-agnostic advice We install and run chargers under all four models, so our recommendation on which one fits you isn't skewed toward a deal we're trying to sell. We start from your site's likely traffic and your appetite for capital, and point you to the structure that actually fits — even when that's the one where we earn the least.
The model can change as your site proves itself As your site's real usage becomes known, the maths can shift — a site that starts on a no-capital model may make sense to own later. We'll revisit it with you when the numbers support it, rather than locking you into one structure up front.

Risk-led, not hype-led

The model is only as good as the bay is full.

There is no ownership structure clever enough to rescue a charger nobody uses — the fixed monthly demand charge lands the same whether the bay turns over two cars a day or twenty, and on thin traffic it is the line that quietly sinks every funded deal. That is why we settle the throughput before we settle the structure, and why we cheerfully push you toward buying the box yourself when the traffic is unproven. On contracted or corridor-locked sites the same models flip into strong yearly annuities; the discipline is knowing which world your site is in before anyone signs.

See which model fits your site's numbers

The Site Builder takes your location, traffic and supply and runs the four ownership structures against your real economics — the all-in cost, the yearly cash, and the host, investor and operator split for each — so you can see whether your site is a buy-it (D), a fund-and-share (A or B), or a we-own-it-free (C), instead of guessing. Take the costed comparison to your board or your investor.

Model the ownership options

Questions buyers ask

Can you fund the charger and we just host it?

Yes — that is two of the four models. Under our own revenue-share (model A) we put up the capital, you give the bay and the grid tap, you take a host share of the takings and we keep the larger slice to service the capital we floated. Under the investor route (model B) a third-party investor funds the box instead, we run the operation and you still host for a share, capital-free. The honest condition on both is that we only fund a charger where the traffic is genuinely proven or corridor-locked, because a funded bay on a speculative low-traffic site loses money for whoever paid for it — and on an unproven site that would be us. If your site is not yet proven, we will usually suggest you buy it (model D) or that we wait until the throughput is real.

Which model has the lowest risk for us as the host?

For you as host, the funded models carry the least downside: under our revenue-share (A) or the investor route (B) you put up no capital, you carry no demand-charge exposure, and you simply earn a share plus the footfall the amenity brings — the empty-bay risk sits with us or the investor, not you. Model C is even lighter on your side because the charger is free to you entirely, though there you earn no revenue share, only the amenity. The model that puts the most risk on you is D, where you buy the asset outright and own both the upside and the demand risk. So if your goal is minimum exposure, you want a funded structure; if your goal is owning the asset and its full upside, you accept more risk with D.

What does ChargePointSA earn in each model, and why would you ever take no equity?

In model A we keep the larger share of the takings to pay back the capital we put up. In model B we earn an operating margin while an investor earns the yield on their capital and you earn a host share — we take no equity but run the site. In model C we keep all the revenue because we own the box. In model D we earn a one-off install margin plus an ongoing operations-and-software fee. We are happy taking no equity in B and D because the recurring charge-management and maintenance layer is an annuity in its own right — South Africa has no home-grown platform for it — and that low-risk, repeatable income is worth more to us across many sites than betting our balance sheet on the utilisation of any single one.

Why do you steer most hosts away from the models where you own the charger?

Because owning a charger only pays where the bay reliably fills, and with South Africa's EV count still small, most sites today cannot promise that. The fixed monthly demand charge and the running costs land every month whether or not anyone plugs in, so on thin traffic a funded charger bleeds — and we would rather not place one than place one we have to subsidise. The operator of the country's biggest public network has said outright that public charging lacks a business case until the number of EVs on the road is far higher. So our discipline is to fund and own only on captive or corridor-locked sites where we can see the kWh first, and to lead everyone else toward buying the box (D) or hosting an investor-funded one (B).

What kind of return does an investor actually get under model B?

On a strong corridor site the kind of stream that throws off roughly R264,000 of net cash a year on around R576,000 of gross, an investor funding a box in the region of R650,000 all-in can earn a healthy double-digit cash yield on their capital, with you taking a host share and us an operating margin on top. Those are illustrative figures on one worked site, not a guarantee — the real return depends entirely on the traffic, which is why we only structure investor deals on sites where the throughput is contracted or corridor-locked. On a speculative site the same arithmetic turns negative, and we would not put an investor into it. The point of the three-way split is that no single party is over-exposed, which is what makes it repeatable across many sites.

How is this different from simply buying a charger from you?

Buying it from us is model D — the standard quote. You pay for the hardware and the install, you own the asset, and you keep every rand it earns; we make our margin on the build and then a recurring fee to operate, maintain and run the billing software. The other three models exist because not every host wants to put down the capital or carry the demand risk: in A and B someone else funds the box and you share the revenue, and in C someone else funds it and you simply host it free. Buying is the right move when you want the asset on your books and the full upside; the funded models are for when you would rather keep the capital and the risk off your side of the table.

When does it make sense for us to own the charger ourselves?

When you want the asset on your balance sheet and you are comfortable carrying the demand risk that comes with it — typically a host with steady, known traffic and a reason to want the upside and the depreciation rather than a share of someone else's revenue. Owning makes most sense on a site whose throughput you already understand, because then the fixed monthly costs are a known quantity rather than a gamble. If your traffic is still unproven, owning is the riskiest seat at the table, and we would usually suggest a funded model — or waiting — until the site proves itself. We are glad to operate and maintain a charger you own under model D either way; owning the box does not mean running it alone.

Tell us about your site and which seat you want

Share your location and traffic, your existing electrical supply, and whether you would rather own the charger or have it funded — and we will model the four ownership structures against your real numbers, showing the yearly cash and the host, investor and operator split for each so you can see which model actually fits.

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