“A Charge Wherever You Are” — Australian EV Charging Service To Make Your Life Easier

By David Nyambuya, as told to David Waterworth. David Nyambuya is the founder and managing director of EV Charging Australia.

I am originally from Zimbabwe. I came to Australia in 2007 and studied at Griffith University. My wife is also from Zimbabwe and we have a 5 year old daughter.

I have always had a passion for technology, having worked at Apple after graduating and then into the corporate and startup sector. EV Charging Australia is a passion project turned business after my own experience owning an EV (Tesla) and some of the challenges I have faced as we as a family travelled around Australia. There is no official governmental backing — I have simply done this with the hard work and support of my wife with the aim of making this a dream come true for myself and ultimately my family. We have, fortunately, secured funding, which has helped bring EV Charging Australia to life, and are deep in conversation with a few VC/high-stake investors who are all keen to see us turn our current few vans into many as we continue to expand nationally.

We have a team of 8 staff at the moment — made up of our Charge Agents, administrators, and sales and support staff. This number has been growing monthly and will be increasing more as we open up nationally and to more of our regional cities.

Our current subscription services are in our hometown of Brisbane — mainly supporting Brisbane Metro. We will be offering services to greater Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Sydney, and Melbourne in the next 2–4 months.

We have two main subscriptions — Metro & Regional. Each offers a generous allowance of nothing less than 8 charges at 50km each by one of our Charge Agents, whilst our Regional Plans will offer our subscribers 100–150km per charge.

Our goal is not to replace the amazing network of charging stations that are available and continuing to be installed, but to offer a service that will allow more freedom and flexibility for EV drivers to carry on with their day. They won’t have to cut short time with friends and family at an event or after a long day of unexpected driving around to head for a charger. They will have the peace of mind of not having to worry about running low. We know our service is also great for those who may leave their EV at airports and are afraid of it not having enough battery to take them home after a long and exhausting flight.

We know most EV owners will have a home base where they can charge their cars at night or may not drive their EVs as much, but there are also some EV drivers who may be living in apartments or renting and cannot install a charger at their home, which has been a big selling point when we initially started our trials over June to August this year.

One story which was quite interesting was an EV owner who had to fly out abruptly to Melbourne. As is the norm now, most EV owners needing to leave their cars at home or at a mate’s house close to the airport know there is one eventuality that leaves them stuck and causes a lot of anxiety, and that is idle battery drain! For Tesla owners, “Sentry Mode” can be a big drain on the battery, but is also a great security and safety feature! In this instance we had a gentleman we needed to rescue from Brisbane Airport after he was away for 7 days. His beloved EV was not going to make it home after 5 days with “Sentry Mode” active and his vehicle facing a high-traffic area, which meant his vehicle kept seeing most cars/people passing by as threats. We know you can’t always get the best parking spot or know when you may be out of battery, and we were glad to be able to help out.

The grateful owner said: “Thanks for keeping my car alive while I was away. I didn’t park in the best spot and I was going to have 40+ sentry notifications, but I was in a rush to get on the plane and at least I could count on you guys being there.”

It’s great to find another entrepreneur who has found an opportunity in the rEVolution to provide a valuable service. Convenience and peace of mind is a great product. I’m looking forward to hearing more stories of your success, Mr Nyambuya, and that of your team. —David Waterworth