Sweden’s CTEK, an early maker of battery management solutions, and Brighton-based EVC announced a new partnership to supply EV charging equipment and services in the UK. The order includes 100,000 units which EVC apparently wants to roll-out for free.
In its official statement, EVC speaks of a “ground-breaking new programme that will support the installation of free EV charging points to the residential and commercial sector.” Financing comes from the renewable energy investment group Oasthouse Ventures, that aims to enable “strategic EV charging access to all sectors for free.”
For EVC the network will offer them the chance to distribute their EVC management software “to future proof businesses and car parks for the foreseeable future,” they state.
CTEK comes in to deliver the actual equipment, in the form of the Chargestorm Connected wall box. The 5-year deal also involves the supply of scalable load balancing solutions and associated EV management software “to help deliver innovative and scalable charging infrastructure and ensure customer satisfaction,” says EVC.
Nick Ballamy, the company’s Managing Director, said: “We were really impressed with CTEK’s unrivalled expertise in EV charging, and their commitment to helping us roll out this ground-breaking new approach to EV charging.”
The Swedish company has indeed been around for ten years. They made our news in 2015 when they were looking into inductive charging together with WiTricity. Their website offers a running count that stood at over 7.1 million charging sessions when we checked.
EVC is a bit more of a mystery. The promise of 100,000 charging stations being rolled-out for free sounds almost too good to be accurate, but if it is, it would be most welcome. The UK market for plug-in electric cars has accelerated and saw a growth rate of 172% in October, which is a momentary market share of 12%.
Cecilia Routledge, Global Director, Energy & Facilities at CTEK said “When we first engaged with EVC it was clear they had a strategy that required a flexible and robust product offering.
As we worked further to understand their needs, it became clear that CTEK was in the perfect position to support EVC with this large-scale roll-out. We are looking forward to contributing towards what will be an important addition to the EV charging infrastructure in the UK.”
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