What are charging strategies?
A charging strategy is the program a driver chooses when they start a session. Each one decides when and how the car charges:
Cheapest energy – the driver sets how much battery to add and when the car should be ready; VOOL charges during the cheapest hours before that time (requires a car with battery capacity added in the app)
Cheapest time – the driver sets a session length and ready-by time, and VOOL picks the cheapest hours to charge
Charge now – starts charging immediately, regardless of price
Price-based – charges only while the market price stays below a limit set by the driver
Schedule – charges during fixed daily time slots the driver defines
By default, drivers can pick whichever strategy suits them. With group settings, you decide which ones are available and what each one costs.
Allow specific strategies
This setting lets you limit a group to certain strategies only. Any strategy you leave unchecked is hidden from that group's drivers.
This is helpful when you want to encourage smarter charging behaviour. For example:
Allow only Cheapest energy and Cheapest time so residents charge during off-peak hours and reduce load on the building's connection
Hide Charge now at a site where you don't want people charging at expensive peak times
Allow all strategies for premium or guest groups who value flexibility
If you don't check any strategies, all of them remain available to the group.
Strategy pricing rule (pricing per strategy)
Alongside each allowed strategy, you can assign a separate pricing rule. This lets you price by behaviour rather than charging everyone the same rate.
Every strategy uses the group's Default pricing rule unless you set a specific one for it.
Set a different rule for a strategy to make it cheaper or more expensive than the default.
For example, you can make Cheapest time the lowest price to reward off-peak charging, keep everyday charging at your default rate, and price Charge now higher to reflect peak-time usage.
Pricing rules are created in advance under Access management → Pricing rules. See Using multiple pricing rules and VOOL-managed billing for how to set those up.
Example scenarios
Example 1: Apartment building
Residents can use Cheapest energy and Cheapest time only
Both strategies are priced at market price + a small margin
Charge now is hidden to keep the building's load under control
Example 2: Office
Employees can use all strategies
Cheapest time is priced lower to encourage daytime off-peak charging
Charge now uses a higher rate
Example 3: Parking lot
Visitors get Charge now only, at a fixed public rate
Regular tenants get Cheapest energy at a lower rate
Setting it up
You configure both settings when creating or editing a group.
Navigation: Access management → Groups → Create group
Enter a group name and optional description
Choose a Default pricing rule — this applies to any strategy without its own rule
Under Allow specific strategies, check the strategies this group is allowed to use
Under Strategy pricing rule, assign a specific pricing rule to any strategy where you want a different price (leave it on Default pricing rule to use the group default)
Continue to Assignment and Members to finish setting up the group
Drivers in the group will now see only the strategies you allowed, each priced according to the rule you assigned.
Need help?
If you have questions about charging strategies, pricing rules, or groups, contact us through Intercom – we're happy to assist!