ChargeNet

Inspiration

ChargeNet was inspired by a real incident where I saw an electric vehicle stranded on the road because its battery had completely discharged. The owner had no charging station nearby and had to tow the vehicle, which caused unexpected expense and inconvenience. This made me realize that while EV adoption is growing rapidly in India, charging accessibility — especially in emergencies — is still a major gap. I also observed that many EV owners have private chargers at home that remain idle most of the day, which sparked the idea of turning these unused chargers into a shared charging network.

What it does

ChargeNet is a platform that connects EV drivers with nearby available chargers. It aggregates peer-to-peer home chargers along with chargers listed at commercial locations like hotels, offices, hospitals, and other public spaces. Users can discover, book, and navigate to charging points easily. We also provide emergency mobile charging support when an EV is completely discharged, ensuring drivers can reach the nearest station. Additionally, the platform explores carbon credit monetization to incentivize sustainable charging behavior.

How we built it

We built ChargeNet as an asset-light digital platform focused on accessibility and scalability. The system allows charger hosts to list their chargers, manage availability, and earn income per session, while EV users can locate and book chargers through a simple interface. Our revenue model is commission-based and calculated after electricity costs to ensure fair earnings for hosts. The platform structure is inspired by two-sided marketplace models like Uber and Airbnb, utilizing existing infrastructure instead of building new charging stations.

Challenges we ran into

One of the biggest challenges was building trust with charger hosts and ensuring safety and reliability for users. We also faced difficulty in estimating realistic charging demand and utilization rates. Designing sustainable unit economics that balance host incentives and platform revenue required multiple iterations. Additionally, we had to understand regulatory considerations related to electricity usage and liability, along with creating a seamless booking and accessibility experience for diverse EV users.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of conceptualizing a scalable, capital-light solution to a rapidly growing infrastructure problem. We successfully designed a working platform model that integrates peer-to-peer charging, commercial charger aggregation, emergency support, and sustainability incentives like carbon credit trading. Building a structured revenue model and go-to-market roadmap at an early stage has been a key milestone for our team.

What we learned

Through this journey, we learned about the complexities of building two-sided marketplaces, EV charging behavior, infrastructure economics, and user trust dynamics. We also gained insights into platform monetization, host onboarding, and the importance of solving real accessibility problems rather than just building technology. The experience strengthened our skills in research, product thinking, and business model design.

What's next for ChargeNet

Our next step is to pilot the platform in focused urban clusters by onboarding initial charger hosts and validating real usage. We aim to expand charger listings across residential and commercial locations, strengthen emergency charging services, and build partnerships for carbon credit trading. Our long-term vision is to create India’s largest community-powered EV charging network by unlocking idle infrastructure and making EV charging accessible anytime, anywhere.

Built With

• express.js
• gemini
• google-maps
• javascript
• jwt
• mongodb
• node.js
• react
• socket.io
• tailwind
• typescript
• vercel
• vite