EO Charging, which briefly held the record for the biggest single site installation of electric vehicle chargers earlier this year, has secured £13 million of new investment from Zouk Capital to continue its growth.
Founded in 2015, the company has manufactured over 5,000 charging stations used across homes, fleets and destinations. It now works with the likes of Uber, Addison Lee, Google, and Hampshire Police, and completed the installation of 41 smart-connected chargers at one of Gnewt Cargo’s London depots back in March.
The business currently sells its products in 25 countries around the world and is expecting to grow rapidly over the next three years in-line with the mass adoption of electric vehicles.
Charlie Jardine, founder and chief executive of EO Charging, said: “We’re currently witnessing a revolution in the automotive industry, one that’s akin to when the combustion engine took over from the horse and cart. EV chargers are more than ‘just a plug’; they’re the gateway to the future of mobility and the first piece of the puzzle in giving people energy autonomy.
“We’re a small company with big ambitions and want to become the number one electric vehicle charging manufacturer, for homes, workplaces and fleets, globally by 2025. This investment will catapult EO into an exciting phase of growth and help us shake-up the rapidly growing EV charging industry.”
The new investment from Zouk, which also invests in fast-charging firm Instavolt, will initially be used to grow EO Charging’s team from 20 currently to around 30 by the end of the year, as well as further develop its product range.
The remaining funds will be used to roll out a new ‘charging as a service’ model which, similar to Instavolt’s model, will see the company offer to install units free of charge. Host businesses will then decide for themselves how much to charge for use of the charge points, with EO Charging taking a portion of that revenue over the course of the contract length.
This could boost interest in its fleet solution EO Genuis, which connects smart enabled chargers to the EO Hub which can be managed directly by the host business and communicate with the wider energy system.
This was used by Gnewt Cargo in its Low Emission Freight Trial, which installed a total of 63 chargers across two locations in a project backed by Innovate UK, Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), the Mayor of London and Transport for London.
EO is also part of the ‘V2GO’ consortium of eight organisations – including EDF Energy, Oxford University, and Upside Energy – to develop and trial vehicle-to-grid charging on a fleet scale and demonstrate any resulting value.
Colin Campbell, partner at Zouk Capital, commented: “We consider EO Charging to be the most exciting young company in the AC charging space with a unique range of high quality yet competitively priced solutions, software and hardware for commercial and private buyers.
“We have tracked EO for over a year and we believe that Zouk will help unlock the huge opportunity ahead for the company operating in an important part of the EV charging market.”
