EVBox Expands To 60,000 Charging Points With EVTronic Acquisition

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EVBox recently announced the acquisition of the French ultra-fast and fast EV charger manufacturer EVTronic. With the acquisition, EVBox added 700 of the EVTronic fast-charging stations to its European network. EVBox currently has about 60,000 charging stations worldwide, the largest network globally.

“By adding EVTronic’s fast and ultra-fast charging (DC) expertise to our own solutions, we can now offer our customers the full scope of electric vehicle charging. This means charging ranging from 3.7kW up to 350kW (both AC and DC), and offering charging solutions at home, at work, and in public. Because of our strong R&D focus, we will be able to develop the hardware and software that our customers need to charge anywhere, now and in the future,” said Kristof Vereenooghe, the CEO of EVBox.

EVBox, which we’ve covered extensively, is a provider of public charging stations in cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Monaco, and it has chargers in 45 countries in total. The company is based in Amsterdam and wrote that its charging points provided about 36 million kWh of electricity in 2017 alone. It manufactures locally in the Netherlands and the US to eliminate shipping on long-distance container ships and the CO2 emissions that result from this form of ocean freight.

EVTronic designs, manufactures, and markets EV fast-charging stations. It also provides engineering services. Kristof Vereenooghe, CEO at EVBox, answered some questions for CleanTechnica following the new acquisition.


How many of the newly acquired charging stations are in France, or is it all of them?

A large majority of the fast charging stations are placed in France. Other installations were made in Europe, with special focus in Germany and UK.

Are they all fast chargers?

Yes.

Why did you decide to make the acquisition?

The key reasons are mentioned in our press release. As mentioned there, EVBox & EVTronic were working closely together and shared a similar passion for technology and shared similar values. By acquiring EVTronic and joining efforts together, both can benefit from economies of scale, and scale up our R&D strategy.

In regards to product evolution, and with the number of EVs growing, as well as its range, EVBox felt it was the right time to expand our offering from 3.7–22kW to 3.7–350kW (both AC and DC). By acquiring EVTronic, we are now the first company in our industry offering V2G & ISO 15118 for both AC and DC charging for commercial purposes.

What is your roadmap for the next 3–5 years?

EVBox’s mindset is built upon the principle of improving and inventing. Today we offered catered charging solutions for home, businesses, and smart cities. We want to keep evolving our AC and DC portfolio to be even smarter, more modular and cost-effective, along with the development of our charging management platform, Everon.

And while we keep improving our current offering, we have also created EVBox Innovation Lab — which will focus on R&D projects including further research into V2G, energy & grid integrated management solutions, wireless charging, energy storage, and power electronics.

Because you are working to help electrify transportation, does your work have a special meaning for you, in terms of reducing climate change emissions, and air pollution?

Our existence lies on not only accelerating the transition towards sustainable mobility but especially contributing to improving the air quality. The WHO shared that 80% of the world’s cities have air pollution levels above the recommended safe air level by the organization. Almost a quarter of global CO2 emissions are caused by transport.

We truly believe that offering smart, scalable and easy to use charging solutions is a strong way to contribute to reducing CO2, improve air quality in the cities.

Technology changes rapidly, how do you look down the road to see what might be coming next?

We see connected home, connected buildings, where EV charging is part of the ecosystem. We see an energy revolution, where the consumer will demand renewable energy sources. We see blockchain technology becoming important towards the future. We see wireless charging and autonomous vehicles coming sooner to market than people think. We see an exciting technologically advanced, emission-free world ahead of us.

Can EV charging stations become even faster to achieve a full recharge?

If the market demands more power and is capable of handling it, we will investigate it further. For now, we believe it’s more about adjusting to a paradigm shift and charging wherever you park. Power is not the challenge, distribution and availability are.

Related:

rEVolution Chat — Watch Now!

Charging The rEVolution (CleanTechnica Interview)

EVBox Unveils New Level 2 EV Charging Station

EV Revolution Bubbling In Central & Eastern Europe

Tony Seba Charts Out The Disruptive Path Forward To EVs & Out Of The Ice Age


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Jake Richardson

Hello, I have been writing online for some time, and enjoy the outdoors. If you like, you can follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JakeRsol

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