Electric vehicle (EV) charging network Engenie is to rename itself as Osprey as it looks to be more identifiable before a “rapid expansion”.
The company is to continue to operate as Engenie until the rename is complete, which is due in the autumn. It said it had made the decision as it “gears up for rapid expansion to meet the demand of a burgeoning EV mass market”.
It referenced the huge jumps in sales of EVs seen recently, as well as the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, which the government is currently consulting on bringing forward to 2035.
“The needs of the mass market customer have been at the heart of our company ethos from day one,” Engenie CEO Ian Johnston said, adding that the company wanted its name to be “easily identifiable” to all UK drivers, leading to it decide on Osprey.
“We are at an inflection point – not just as a company but as an industry. Osprey – which evokes feelings of power, speed and clean air – provides a straightforward, recognisable name which encapsulates our long-held values of simple, open-access charging as we become the user-focused network of choice.”
Its name is the only element of its branding Engenie is to change.
It is planning to install 2,000 chargers by 2024, a rollout which is being financed by a £35 million investment commitment from European infrastructure fund Cube Infrastructure Fund II.
As part of this, it announced last week that it had secured a partnership with real estate group Brookhouse to install chargers at ten of its retail sites.
The partnership – lauded as the “largest of its kind” – 17 rapid chargers installed across the sites, with seven of these sites hosting 13 rapids already open to the public.
Engenie also recently appointed a new CTO, bringing James Wehner on board to fill the role.
