Biography

Having built up a successful temperature-controlled distribution business from scratch before selling out in his mid-thirties, John has had a successful career in the Automotive sector over the past twenty years. He has spent the past nine years successfully working at MAN Truck and Bus UK, Scania GB and Tevva Hydrogen Electric Trucks prior to joining EO and hopes to bring a fresh approach to Commercial Grade Charge Assurance for all Truck and Van operators across the UK & Ireland and mainland Europe.

Expert view:

EO Charging’s consultative approach to Commercial Grade Charge Assurance for all Truck and Van operators across the UK & Ireland and mainland Europe

With global vehicle sales growing exponentially due to falling costs, improving technology, and serious government support in several markets, the UK will reach a real tipping point in the year ahead. The advent of the mainstream OEMs to the Truck marketplace with full ranges on Battery electric vehicles will further accelerate the move away from Fossil Fuels.

In 2023, 14 million EVs were sold worldwide. This represents a 35% year-on-year increase, even with latent concerns in many markets over the pace, quality, and reliability of public charging.

As charging infrastructure expands, longer-range vehicles will come onto the market, and the new agreement from COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels by 2050 we expect to see a huge push towards EV sales growth in the coming year. EO Charging has manufactured 85,000+ chargers and deployed 13,000+ commercial charging stations across 35+ countries globally and will continue to innovate its solutions to make the transition to EVs simple, reliable, and accessible to fleets globally. EO delivers unrivalled charge assurance in the EV Charging marketplace with the highest uptime percentage in the EV charging industry.

Effective, reliable charging infrastructure supports EV adoption, especially at key locations like Truck stops and fleet depots. New chargers are constantly being installed, but roll-out speeds need to increase drastically to keep up with demand.

It’s our mission EO to create a new charging ecosystem for EVs that enables energy autonomy. So, along with many others keen to see mobility break free from grip of big oil, it was really encouraged that COP28 in Dubai closed with an agreement that potentially marks “beginning of the end” for fossil fuels by laying the ground for an accelerated and equitable transition, underpinned by emissions cuts and scaled-up finance.

Meeting the growing demand for EVs in 2024 means overcoming infrastructure challenges and embracing cutting-edge technology solutions for energy management. Investing in effective load management solutions will be pivotal in maximising existing grid infrastructure capacity and reducing the need for additional investments in generation or distribution capacity.

The pace of innovation and investment in battery storage is accelerating. Businesses with EV fleets increasingly integrate battery energy storage systems into their energy ecosystems, supporting grids with flexibility services.

Making the move to EVs should be simple, reliable, and accessible, and in recent years, we have seen the introduction of new industry standards like the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCCP). This is an open-source communication standard for EV charging stations and network software companies. It is designed to be a free, open-source and easy-to-implement protocol that ensures all participants are speaking the same language.

As a result, it has become the global benchmark for interoperability throughout the EV charging industry. At EO, we believe open standards are now critical for effective and scalable infrastructure.

We’ve learned from other sectors that proprietary solutions don’t work and have already seen how the interoperability of different EV charging systems has caused issues in markets.

As we navigate through 2024, collaboration through open-source standards will be pivotal in propelling the EV industry forward, promising a future of simplicity, reliability, and accessibility.