Brisbane-based startup EVOS has received $1.7 million in funding to ramp-up commercialisation of its “game-changing” electric vehicle home AC chargers and fleet energy management software.
The company was founded by three former senior staff at Brisbane-based tech ‘unicorn’ Tritium, which produces DC fast-chargers for the globe and recently announced a $1.55 billion SPAC listing on the Nasdaq.
The seed funding announced today comes from Autostrada – which will produce EVOS’s AC car chargers in Brisbane through its solar-powered Circuit Solutions manufacturing arm – and an anonymous “premium ASX 100 listed company”.
EVOS says the funding will allow it to hire a further nine engineers to fine-tune and build out its hardware and software offerings ahead of market launch, dates pending.
The EVOS Fleet Home 22 AC Charger and its dual-charge equivalent called EVOS Twin are designed to be simple to install and uninstall “so even employees could uninstall a charger in their garage”, according to the company.
“It can withstand outdoor weather conditions, is IP65 rated and updates to the underlying software are delivered over the air (OTA) via Wi-Fi. But more than that, it’s safe and reliable for homes and fleets alike,” claims Chief Technology Officer Chris Crossman, who most recently worked for Boeing.
The company believes slower overnight AC charging (as opposed to rapid DC charging as per Tritium) allows businesses and fleets with EVs to use idle time to their advantage. It also claims its ecosystem manages the best time, speed and rate to charge vehicles.
The other aspect of the business is its patent-pending Smart Start system, which is designed to manage EV fleets using EVOS AC charging hardware.
“We’ve had significant experience in this space and one of the biggest challenges we saw for everyday drivers and fleets alike is not only a lack of charging infrastructure in Australia, but the fact that using chargers can be overly complex,” said chief experience and innovation officer, Seshan Weeratunga.
“When a driver went to a charger, they might have to download a specific app simply to be invoiced. And from a fleet perspective the hassle and time it can take to manage multiple accounts for its fleet was a significant hindrance to EV rollouts.
“Our solution addresses those issues immediately. The additional benefit of our patent-pending Smart Start platform is that it can be used to manage the payments on other charging networks; it’s not tied solely to managing EVOS chargers.”
According to EVOS CEO and chief commercial officer, Marcelo Salgado, fleet uptake and management are key factors to improve EV sales in Australia. He cites pledges from various Australian state and territory Governments to buy EVs for their public servant fleets – vehicles that will stoke a used market in time.
“Once we have a true re-sale market, we’ll see the cost of an EV go down significantly for the everyday family, and with that we’ll need more purpose-built home chargers for those families to take advantage of one of the key benefits of owning an EV: charging at home,” he said.
“Government fleets are also set to see benefits but to truly realise the potential of an EV fleet, they need visibility into what their vehicles are doing, how they’re running and their energy consumption.
“This is why we were able to raise such a significant investment in our seed funding round; our investors have seen that there is an emerging market in Australia and our technology directly addresses the key hindrances holding it back.”
The likes of EVOS ands Tritium are examples of Australian businesses capitalising on growing EV uptake here and abroad. Another is Melbourne’s Chargefox which just announced plans to add a further 4000 plugs to its public charging network by 2025.
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