In conjunction with Be Charge, FCA and Carrefour present “Shop & Charge”, a scheme to promote electric mobility featuring the New 500

Today, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Carrefour Italia and Be Charge unveiled to the Italian press the Shop & Charge project, aimed at contributing to the dissemination of electric vehicle charging points. Courtesy of Shop & Charge, drivers of a New 500 Electric will have at their disposal up to 250 charging points – to be installed by Be Charge from March 2021 – in the parking lots of 135 selected Carrefour retail outlets around Italy.

To find the location of the charging points, all you need is the FIAT app, where an overlay marks them with the Carrefour logo and their location is sent to the satnav.

Promoting more sustainable lifestyles and facilitating customer use of electric cars, making it easier to recharge them: this is the basis for a partnership intended to make e-Mobility solutions more widespread.

New 500 customers – the target audience for phase 1 of the project, later to be extended to other FCA electric and electrified models – will also be able to join a loyalty program for purchases of Carrefour-branded organic products. Based on the Payback loyalty scheme, of which this major retailer is a member, the program will provide access to exclusive discounts on Carrefour-branded organic products and will mean customers can earn Payback points faster. Again for New 500 customers only, this program will offer exclusive discounts on the Click & Collect service, Carrefour’s priority lane to pick up orders made online.

The charging stations will be installed by Be Charge, a company developing one of the largest networks of Italian public infrastructure for electric vehicles, thus helping to develop and disseminate electric mobility in Italy. In the public access parking lots of the 135 Carrefour retail outlets selected for charging points to be installed, two types of facilities will be available: Quick chargers, with output of 22 kW; and Fast chargers, running at up to 75 kW. In half an hour – the average time it takes to do the shopping, the New 500 can be charged to a range of 50 km when connected to the Quick chargers, or 300 km at Fast chargers. The charging points will be compatible with all electric vehicles, but the exclusive benefits of the partnership will only be available to New 500 customers.

Shop & Charge is therefore a major project aimed at contributing to easing the transition to electric mobility, and will mean you can spend the time it takes to charge the batteries on other daily business, such as doing the shopping. Basically, it provides benefits and creates opportunities, leveraging daily routines.

When the project is launched in March 2021, a communications campaign will also take place on the three partners’ social media channels and at Carrefour retail outlets in Italy, where panels and signs will be put up to advertise the initiative. Product placement and test drives of the New 500 will also be included, with the involvement of FCA dealerships in Italy that sign up for the project.

With this agreement, FCA aims to promote sustainable behaviors in customers who, for example, will be able to build up Carrefour loyalty points more quickly by buying Carrefour-branded organic products to charge their New 500 Electric with exclusive discounts. That way, they can make the best of their time and simplify their sustainable lifestyle.

For Carrefour Italia, the project represents a further step forward in the implementation of its ‘Act for Food’ environmental sustainability strategy, demonstrating their awareness of their important role as one of the major retail stakeholders that can promote sustainability throughout its supply chain.

The 250 Be Charge electric vehicle charging stations installed at 135 selected Carrefour retail outlets will come on top of the over 4,000 charging points Be Charge has already installed across Italy. All of these can be accessed via the Be Charge app, to contribute to the development planned for the coming years, whereby the company intends to install over 30,000 charging points around the country.

“Fiat’s electrification process, first with the 500 and Panda Hybrid, then with the New Fiat 500 electric, has begun with great impetus and determination,” said Luca Napolitano, Head of EMEA Fiat, Lancia & Abarth Brands. “We are already a leader in the small Hybrid segment and now, with the contribution of the 500 electric, we are aiming at a mix of around 60% electrified sales by the end of 2021, better than the Italian market average. But our task is also to make life easier for our customers, so what could be better than going shopping and returning to find the car battery charged. That’s why we’ve entered into partnership with Carrefour, given our shared clear mission of meeting our customers’ daily requirements.”

“At Carrefour, our aim is to become the leader in the Food Transition for All, via the Act for Food program, by embracing a 360° sustainability strategy dedicated to promoting responsible consumption practices not only in terms of food, but also in all other aspects of life, in the interest of the entire community,” noted Christophe Rabatel, CEO of Carrefour Italia. “We are delighted to cooperate with partners such as FCA and Be Charge, with whom we share the common goal of offering our customers increasingly innovative services, at the same time contributing to the dissemination of solutions with less impact on the environment, for example in sustainable mobility.”

“The Shop & Charge project reflects the commitment of the partners involved in promoting an increasingly mindful daily mobility,” said Paolo Martini, Chief Executive Officer of Be Charge. “The project fits perfectly into our development plan, where sustainability at the heart of our strategy to create an ecosystem capable of exploiting the potential offered by the electrification of mobility and digitization, to add economic, social and environmental value for this country.”

“It is essential for the public to understand this is only the beginning of a long journey of electrification for FCA, a first step toward a way of experiencing an electric mobility aimed at simplifying life, to make it an everyday habit we take for granted,” explained Roberto Di Stefano, Head of e-Mobility for FCA’s EMEA Region. “In conjunction with the FCA brands, the e-Mobility directors are working on this and many other initiatives, all focused on offering our customers a range of integrated, complete products and services to help them find their way on the journey into the future. In some respects, that future is already here.”