Monta launches Charging Point Benchmark

Monta, the company behind a rapidly expanding software platform that manages electric vehicle charging infrastructure for both individual and corporate users, has launched a new industry benchmark. The benchmark measures the real-world performance of EV Chargers across Europe, including the UK.

There are two separate indexes, the top fifty DC charge points and the top fifty AC charge points by performance data in Q1 2025. The inference is that it will release the index every quarter, which will help. It is also aiming to evaluate models installed in North America where it opened operations last year.

Casper Rasmussen, CEO & Co-Founder of Monta, commented, “The electrification of mobility will only succeed if trust in the charging experience becomes absolute.

“Hardware availability is not enough; what matters is how chargers perform in the real world, every day, for every driver. This ranking is our way of anchoring the industry around shared performance standards, grounded in data and designed to improve outcomes for all stakeholders: manufacturers, operators and users.”

What is the new Benchmark?

The benchmark intends to provide hardware manufacturers, charge point operators and policymakers with insights into how charge points perform. The benchmark is based on three key factors:

• Charge Success Rate – The percentage of sessions completed without interruption.
• Uptime Rate – The availability of a charger when needed.
• User Satisfaction Rate – Post-session feedback, scored directly by EV drivers.

These factors are combined to present a total performance score. The uptime rate is approximated as if a device is registered as up after 3 successful charges of over 1kWh and then registered as down after 14 days of no charging. That does not necessarily mean it is down, as it may be in a rarely used location.

Monta does not real-time visibility of charging point availability, and it is a flaw that it might correct in the calculation in future.

Only models with over 100 installations were included in the benchmark. Monta also has a web page that reveals the live benchmarks from across its platform. These scores are based on current feedback and differ considerably from the Q1 scores. With over 170,000 charging points on its platform globally, this is a significant sample and gives validity to the benchmark.

The benchmark highlights issues

The benchmark highlights some concerning statistics. There is a gap between the reported uptime and actual session success rates. While the uptimes are often cited at 97% or above, Monta’s platform indicates that successful charging is only achieved around 90% of the time.

The flaw may be in the calculation of how it measures uptime, though. Monta blames the industry’s reporting of performance, but what EV drivers actually experience is significantly different.

The question is whether Monta will be able to obtain more accurate uptime data by using a direct feed from the charging station. Each station is connected to its supplier and there should be monitoring in place, one assumes. It will be interesting to see how it aims to resolve this challenge.

Rasmussen notes, “EV drivers don’t judge performance based on specs, they judge it based on outcomes. If we want a frictionless, scalable charging experience, we must build on shared standards and close the loop between data, design and delivery.”

The rankings

Top 10 AC Chargers – Q1 2025

There are more AC charging points in Europe currently, as they are mainly used in residential and commercial parking lots. Slower than DC fast charging stations, they offer a reliable and cheaper option for EV drivers. Competition is fierce, with only 5 points separating the first 25 rankings.

It would be interesting to see how many charging points the metric is based on. Monta would probably need to use a rolling average of some kind, but it would be an interesting element to add.

Top 10 DC Chargers – Q1 2025

DC Charging points offer drivers a fast charging option. While Kempower outscored rivals by more than four points, again, the number of units is omitted. Monta also highlighted the impressive performance of Italy’s Alpitronic range, which has four charging points in the top six.

Enterprise Times: What does this mean

This is the first iteration of this benchmark, and it offers some interesting insights. Understanding which models are most reliable will help buyers identify which charging points they may wish to invest in. However, there are caveats to this, as the benchmark does not consider many variables, not least the volume of charging points available.

Other factors could include the location of the charging point and the weather conditions under which they operate. It will be interesting to see how different models perform between summer and winter. Also, will the proximity to the grid have a bearing?

Monta’s partnership with Gridbeyond, which enables it to adjust charging to ensure balance in the energy grid, is another factor. Where the energy grid is under stress, charging and, therefore, user satisfaction are likely lower. In other words, a lower score may not be a factor of the charger but of the environment it operates in.

However, these benchmarks are a useful tool for the industry to gauge the success of different models.