A true mobility partner: Q8 electric is accelerating its EV charging proposition

Q8 electric is expanding its EV charging proposition across the Benelux while helping businesses and drivers move to electric mobility. With Last Mile Solutions supporting its fleet platform, Q8 electric is bringing charging, fuel, data, and fleet services closer together as customer needs continue to change.

Der Anfang

Q8 customers’ interest in EV charging moved the needle

For many years, Q8 has been a familiar name in the traditional fuel business. As its customers began to electrify their vehicles and fleets, the company’s role started to expand and Q8 has transformed from a traditional fuel player to a Sustainable Mobility player. Known for its strong network of service stations and shops, Q8 is expanding its role in mobility with Q8 electric, including public fast-charging and charging solutions for business and private customers.

The decision to start offering EV charging was strategic. Mobility was changing, and Q8 saw its customers’ needs changing with it.

That’s how Q8 electric started in 2020. Through its e-mobility brand, Q8 is now expanding its mobility proposition around public and fast charging, charge cards, home and office charging, fleet data, and digital services, with ambitious plans for the Benelux and beyond. The transition is part of a wider goal: being a true mobility partner to its customers, from helping them refuel to helping them make the switch to electric and manage mobility in a changing market and at their own pace

“From the start, we knew this would be a new experience, both for our customers and for Q8. We’ve learned a great deal along the way. Today, that experience helps us understand what drivers, fleet managers, and business owners need as they electrify their mobility. ”

– Stephanie Vandeputte, Fleet Strategy & Product Manager at Q8

That change did not happen overnight. Q8 electric started developing its electric proposition while the market was still taking shape. There was uncertainty about how quickly customers would adopt electric vehicles and what they would need from a charging service. What was clear was that the world of mobility was changing.

“Mobility is changing, and our customers’ needs are changing with it. Our ambition is to make that transition as seamless as possible. That means giving customers transparency, control, and the confidence to move forward at their own pace.”

– Stephanie Vandeputte, Fleet Strategy & Product Manager at Q8

Q8’s customers began electrifying their fleets, drivers began using more charging services, and fleet managers needed support beyond fuel transactions. For Q8, this meant building on what it already knew how to do well: being a mobility partner. The company had existing relationships with business customers, experience with cards and fleet services, and a network of locations. The next step was to apply those strengths to electric mobility.

“Customers increasingly see Q8 as more than a traditional fuel provider. They see a mobility partner that evolves with their needs and helps them make the transition to electric.”

– Stephanie Vandeputte, Fleet Strategy & Product Manager at Q8

Die Herausforderung

Why EV charging is more complex for fleet managers

“In the beginning, there were more unknowns than knowns. Offering EV charging was only the start,” Stephanie recalls.

A charge card can look like the electric equivalent of a fuel card. But the transition involved much more than replacing one card with another.

Drivers’ questions were practical. Where can I charge? What will the session cost at different chargers? Will the charging network work for my battery range? What happens when I charge across borders? And how does charging at home or at work fit into the wider picture?

Fleet managers faced a different but equally practical challenge. They needed to keep track of transactions and invoices, understand how drivers were charging, and apply company policies to a service that did not work in exactly the same way as fuel. Roaming, pricing, authorisation, reimbursement, and reporting all became part of the customer conversation.

As EVs moved beyond the early-adopter phase, these challenges became more apparent. In Belgium, for example, fiscal incentives meant that more company car drivers were switching to electric, including people who had never previously looked into EVs. They did not necessarily need more technical detail. B2B customers need transparency, reliable data, and simple tools that help them stay in control. That continues to shape the development of Q8 electric.

“Whether for driver or companies, it’s not simply that they switch a car. It’s a new way of thinking. Especially in the early days, it was not as seamless or problem-free as we’re used to from fuel.”

– Stephanie Vandeputte, Fleet Strategy & Product Manager at Q8

Q8 electric learned that making charging available was only the beginning. The company also had to help customers understand the new experience, while making it easier for businesses to bring fuel and EV information together.

“We’ve learned a great deal over the years. That experience now helps us combine the technical side of EV charging with what matters most to customers: a reliable, transparent, and seamless charging experience.”

– Stephanie Vandeputte, Fleet Strategy & Product Manager at Q8

That raised another question: how could Q8 electric continue to offer the reliability its customers already expected, while managing the extra complexity of electric mobility?

Die Lösung

Choosing an EV charging platform for an established business

Q8 electric was looking for more than a charging platform as it was entering a business with new technology, systems, and processes.

As an established name in the industry, it needed a reliable partner.

“Our goal is simple: take the hassle out of charging. Customers need a seamless experience, clear information, and no unnecessary surprises, so they can focus on what matters to them.”

– Stephanie Vandeputte, Fleet Strategy & Product Manager at Q8

The requirements were practical. Q8 electric needed mature operations, access to a broad charging network, and the capacity to support a growing customer base and keep pace with a market that was still evolving. It also needed a partner that could work with Q8 electric’s own portals, apps, and legacy systems, so that customers could experience the services as part of one connected ecosystem.

“We needed a partner that could help us grow, that had the expertise and the resources to keep investing in the future, and that could keep developing the proposition,” Stephanie Vandeputte adds.

That was how Q8 electric began working with Last Mile Solutions. The partnership gave Q8 electric a platform for connecting its new electric services with the systems and expertise already at the heart of the business.

A structured onboarding process for a complex proposition

For Q8 electric, the EV charging platform had to fit into an existing business ecosystem. Its users needed to understand how everything worked while the wider proposition continued to develop around them.

The onboarding process gave the team a structured way to get started. Through Study Miles, Last Mile Solutions’ learning platform, Q8 electric could give key users access to training materials and let them work through the platform themselves. Where needed, customised sessions added context without making the process feel unnecessarily heavy. For Stephanie, the experience also showed that Last Mile Solutions had a good process for bringing new partners on board.

That combination of self-guided learning and personal support helped Q8 electric get to grips with the new environment while keeping the implementation practical. It also set the tone for the wider partnership: structured where it needed to be, but open to the specific needs of an established mobility business.

Die Ergebnisse

Making EV charging pricing, transactions, and fleet data easier to manage

One of the clearest benefits of the partnership is the work happening behind the customer experience. EV charging brings more variables than traditional fuelling, particularly when drivers charge across different networks or countries and roaming is in use. Pricing can be difficult to explain, and the final cost is not always as straightforward as at a traditional fuel station.

This makes price transparency especially important. With Last Mile Solutions supporting the platform, Q8 electric can show customers the actual price upfront in the app, helping them understand what they will pay before they start charging.

“Price transparency is not an easy challenge in the EV world. Many players are still struggling with it. But the fact that we have a system in place where customers can always see the actual price upfront in the app is really important. That visibility helps us create the seamless charging experience we’re aiming for: clear information, fewer surprises, and more control for the customer.”

– Stephanie Vandeputte, Fleet Strategy & Product Manager at Q8

For fleet managers, the benefit is having the right information in one place. Q8 electric has integrated charging into the environment where its B2B customers already manage their fuel cards. They can see cards, transactions, and invoices together, rather than having to move between separate systems.

The same applies to reporting. Fleet managers can use reporting across EV charging, fuel, and other data sets, then tailor the information to the way they manage their business. For customers who need to connect the data with their own systems, API access adds another layer of flexibility.

“The idea is to bring everything together, so people don’t have to go to three different places for everything,” says Stephanie Vandeputte.

This is how drivers get clearer information at the point of charging, while fleet managers have a simpler way to oversee the costs, transactions, and policies behind a changing fleet.

Turning customer feedback into the next phase of EV charging

The work did not stop once the platform was up and running.

As Q8 electric’s customers gained experience with EV charging, their questions became more specific. Accessing the charging network was no longer their main concern. They also wanted more control over how charging fitted into their company policies.

“More customers now recognise that we can support them as they transition to electric mobility and as their mobility needs evolve.”

– Stephanie Vandeputte, Fleet Strategy & Product Manager at Q8

Centralising card data across fuel and EV

A good example is their platform Q8 liberty web, which brings fuel- and EV cards and their transactions together. This gives customers one place to manage their fleet and provides the overview that fleet managers and business owners need.

“By developing new features around the changing needs of fleet managers and business owners, we aim to give them greater control over their mobility so they can focus on running their business.”

– Stephanie Vandeputte, Fleet Strategy & Product Manager at Q8

Roaming and charging across different contexts

In a traditional fuel environment, it is relatively straightforward to restrict where a driver can use a card or how much they can spend. With EV charging, roaming adds more layers to the process, and fleet managers need tools that can work across a more complex network.

“In fuel, it’s very easy to restrict certain regions. So our customers have been asking us: why can we not do that for EVs too?”

– Stephanie Vandeputte, E-Mobility Product & Fleet Data Manager at Q8

For Q8 electric, capabilities such as geofencing and split billing are exciting because they respond to these practical questions. A fleet manager may want to control where a charge card can be used, set a budget for a driver, or separate different types of charging costs. These are product requests that come directly from the realities of managing an increasingly electric fleet.

The value of the partnership with Last Mile Solutions is that Q8 electric can bring those customer needs to the forefront right away, discussing what could help and looking ahead to the next stage of the proposition.

“What we value in Last Mile Solutions is their willingness to listen, understand what matters to our customers, and think along with us to find solutions. That’s what turns a supplier relationship into a real partnership.”

– Stephanie Vandeputte, E-Mobility Product & Fleet Data Manager at Q8

That dialogue also gives Q8 electric a way to prepare its customers for what is coming next. When a new capability is being explored, the team can already start understanding who might benefit from it and how it could support their fleet policies. “We are really working together to take the next steps in meeting customers’ needs,” says Stephanie Vandeputte.

That shared forward movement is important for a market that is developing quickly. Q8 electric brings the customer perspective and the experience of an established mobility business. Last Mile Solutions support with the platform, the operational foundation, and the capacity to keep developing it.

Together, we are working on a charging proposition that can keep moving with the market and the questions customers ask.

How Q8 electric is scaling fast charging across the Benelux

Currently, Q8 electric is focusing on an ambitious scaling plan for their charging business.

It has been one of the fastest growing Partner on the Last Mile Solutions platform, in line with the increasing demand for charging services that can work alongside existing fuel and fleet solutions.

The physical network is growing, too. Currently, Q8 electric offers more than 350 fast and ultra-fast charge points within the Benelux, aiming to add around 300 new chargers every year. It plans to expand to more than 500 fast-charging locations across the Benelux by 2030.

Their drivers’ reach extends beyond Q8 electric’s own sites. Using the Q8 electric charge card and app, they can charge across the full Benelux network and at more than 1 million public charge points across Europe.

Explaining roaming and charge card access to customers

As the network grows, Q8 electric is also helping customers understand how the proposition fits into their everyday mobility. The company has invested in explaining that its role extends across fuel, charging, cards, data, and fleet services.

That education became especially important when Q8 electric began promoting its B2B charge cards. Some customers associated the card mainly with Q8 electric’s own charging locations. They did not always realise that the same card could give them access to a much wider network.

“People assume that it’s a charger, but you don’t necessarily have a card that you can also use in other places. We had to really teach people that with this card, you can actually go anywhere you want”, explains Stephanie Vandeputte.

Roaming is a familiar concept to people working in the charging industry, but it can be new to drivers and fleet managers. Clear communication therefore plays an important role in making the service easier to use. Customers need to understand where they can charge, how to find available charging points, and how the card, app, and wider network work together.

“We have invested in informing our customers that we are there for their changing needs, that we are their mobility partners, not just their fuel partners.”

– Stephanie Vandeputte, E-Mobility Product & Fleet Data Manager at Q8

Q8 electric’s next phase of mobility

Q8 electric’s growth is built on experience it has developed over many years: understanding customer needs, managing card services, operating locations, and supporting businesses with their mobility needs. The move into EV charging brings those strengths into a market that continues to develop.

For Stephanie, the pace and complexity of that development are part of what makes the work so rewarding.

“The transition to electric mobility doesn’t happen overnight. The key is to keep listening to your customers, keep evolving, and have the right expertise alongside you.”

– Stephanie Vandeputte, E-Mobility Product & Fleet Data Manager at Q8

This also makes the choice of partner important. Q8 electric can stay close to its customers and focus on the mobility proposition, while Last Mile Solutions supports the platform, integrations, and operational work behind it. The two teams continue to share what they are seeing in the market and what customers will need next.

Stephanie’s advice to other organisations considering EV charging is practical: find a partner that can help with the complexity and build the transition around the strengths already present in the business.

“EV charging is an exciting business, but it’s also complex. Having an experienced and reliable partner such as Last Miles Solutions makes a real difference, especially in a market where technology and customer needs keep evolving.”

– Stephanie Vandeputte, E-Mobility Product & Fleet Data Manager at Q8

Q8 electric is continuing that transformation across the Benelux. Its charging network is growing, its customer proposition evolving, and its teams are working together on the next set of questions that electric mobility will bring.