EEVEE Mobility digital services to make electric vehicle charging more transparent, efficient and cheaper
Please introduce yourself and your start-up EEVEE Mobility to our readers!
Hi Start-Up Valley! I’m Steffen Brans, the founder and CEO of EEVEE Mobility. We’re a Belgium based start-up that create digital services designed to make electric vehicle charging more transparent, efficient and cheaper. We’re mainly known for our EEVEE Driver app (available on Android and iOS) which connects directly with EVs and unlocks real-time data so drivers can monitor their charging costs all in one place and have a more seamless EV experience.
How did you get the idea of EEVEE Mobility?
People know how much it cost to fill up their petrol cars, so why don’t they know how much it really costs you to charge their electric vehicles? While it’s cheaper to fill your car up with electricity rather than petrol, the increasing number of charge solutions, cards and rates makes it hard for EV owners to keep track of exactly how much they are spending.
When I bought an EV, I found it difficult to get an overview of all my charging costs in one place. Also, when I needed to get reimbursed for charging costs incurred for work, the process wasn’t as straightforward as I would have liked. I knew that the demand for solutions to these problems would only increase in future as EV adoption becomes mainstream so I decided to create a company that could help address this problem.
Why did you decide to start with EEVEE Mobility?
We’ve always believed that more transparency was needed around charging costs to drive mass EV adoption. Luckily, electric cars store all this information and drivers just need the right tool to access it.
We didn’t see anyone else in the market offering a competitive, clear way to make it easier for consumers to charge so we launched the app to become the ultimate tool for EV owners to keep track of their charging sessions, related costs and much more. Because there is no extra hardware needed for the consumers and our app is free, knew that the consumer would quickly see the value in our offering.
What is the vision behind EEVEE Mobility?
Our long-term company vision is to help the world transition to net zero by making EV adoption more manageable, transparent, convenient and cost effective. We believe we can do this for not only the consumers, but also companies and Transmission System operators. For companies who want to increase EV adoption amongst their employees we aspire to become the go-to platform for all EV management and charge costs reimbursement.
We recently announced a commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) during the next phase of our business growth – as well as a goal to integrate our software into 20% of all EVs in Europe and partner with all major car manufacturers in the next five years.
How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome?
Launching any start-up is tough but I was lucky because I managed to surround myself with a great team from day one.
As with many companies we faced challenges caused by Covid19 because the distance travelled by our users went down as less people were driving. However, more and more people are now going electric, especially after COP 26 shone a big light on the electric vehicle space recently. I’m pleased to say that the app has now been downloaded 75k times across 63 countries with more and more people discovering it every day.
Who is your target audience?
On the consumer side, our target audience is anyone with an electric vehicle who wants to make the charging process cheaper, simpler and more transparent. Our latest version of the app is compatible with electric vehicles from Tesla, BMW, Mini, Ford and Mustang but we are looking to partner with lots more OEMs in future.
Our EEVEE Business offering also provides valuable charging data insights into for companies with electrified fleets and simplifies the process of reimbursing charging costs for employees. We’re also keen to work with more car manufacturers so that their EV drivers can simply sync their vehicles with our app.
What is the USP of your start-up?
The app is free and integrates directly with the car, so no extra or smart hardware needed. This makes it easy for EV drivers to get set up with us. It provides users with real-time information on consumption, cost and charging efficiency, all without any extra hardware.
It was also updated with some cool new functions such as providing insights such as how much drivers are reducing their carbon footprint with each mile travelled, predictions about their range as well as tips for charging and driving an EV more sustainably and cheaply.
Can you describe your typical workday?
I genuinely love what I do for a living and enjoy working as part of a team that is helping to build a zero emissions future for the planet and so a typical workday doesn’t often feel like ‘work’ for me. However, most days I will usually get up at around 7am and try to get some cardio exercise in before work – I aim to do this 3-4 times a week. I then drive my Tesla Model 3 to work where I’ll usually have meetings scheduled throughout the day.
These are usually with my team working on product updates, or with OEMs to discuss possible ways we can integrate our business with their strategies.
Where do you see yourself and your start-up EEVEE Mobility in five years?
In five years, we want to be serving 20% of all EV drivers in Europe and have collectively helped reduce the world’s carbon footprint. We want to continue our commitment to CSR and continue building digital technology that helps support our overall goal making EV adoption faster and smarter for everyone.
The automotive industry will change more in the next decade than it has done in the last 100 years – there is so much more opportunity for us in this fascinating sector. Who knows, in future maybe EEVEE will be the company that everyone uses to check up on the status of their self-driving car!
What 3 tips would you give to founders?
Dare to let go
Focus on a bigger why-goal
Honour to whom honour is due
Thank you Steffen Brans for the Interview
Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.
