Imagine you are on the road with your EV and you want to know the optimal route you should take to charge the vehicle on your way. Chargetrip, an API-based range prediction tool and EV routing engine located in Amsterdam, uses this technology to make it easy for companies to add these routes to their apps and make EV ownership more accessible.
Scored €10M investment
In a recent development, Chargetrip just picked up €10 million in a Series A funding round led by London-based HSBC Asset Management alongside participation from Riverstone that also backed Our Next Energy and Freewire and existing investors – Vindeggen, Axel Springer Porsche, and Blue Bear Capital. With this round, the total investment raised by Chargetrip is now €12 million.
Founded by Gideon van Dijk, Pieter Waller, Andreas Sansano, and Mark Hulsburgen in 2017, the company will use the funds to scale its range prediction and EV routing technology to the growing North American market and prepare commercial fleets for electrification.
In a conversation with TFN, Chargetrip founders told that it is launching a holistic commercial vehicle electrification tool set to provide the missing data for large-scale electrification of logistics. The toolset will help companies from the planning stage with simulation, to the operation phase, orchestrating and scaling their electric fleet.
With customers such as Sixt, Engie, Repsol, and Porsche onboard, Chargetrip is signing new global deals in the energy and car rental industries that will lead to routing millions of new commercial and personal EVs through its API by 2025. It is also discussing a second close with high-profile investors.
“With this new round, we are doubling down to prove our technology doesn’t just tackle range and charge anxiety,” said Gideon van Dijk, CEO, “but it also slashes the costs for fleets that take the electrification plunge. Our goal is to make owning and operating EVs, privately or commercially, efficient, reliable, and seamless.”
Christophe Defert, Head of Climatech Investments at HSBC Asset Management said: “We are pleased to support Chargetrip on their Series A fundraise. As fleet operators and auto OEMs rapidly electrify their vehicles, Chargetrip’s routing and planning technology make charging intelligent, transforming the driver experience and optimizing fleet operations. The future of electric powered fleets will not only be about building the charging infrastructure, but also orchestrating those fleets with new dispatching and telematics technology, which Chargetrip brings together.”
How was Chargetrip founded?
While all the founders had known each other since childhood, two of them, Gideon and Pieter, co-founded another company UX Made together. There are over 40 employees at Chargetrip, with 35% of them being female and 45% of them holding leadership positions. Furthermore, the team consists of 13 nationalities.
One founder was a very early adopter of EVs in Europe and found longer road trips very unpredictable and challenging to predict and plan. This made him think there must be a better way. The other founders were all passionate about the renewable energy transition and also keen to work on the problem.
Chargetrip offers enterprise customers predictive intelligence, which differentiates it from other in the industry including France-based beNomad and ABPR. Also, the company does not operate any B2C consumer offering.
Addresses a critical hurdle in EV adoption
Calculating an EV’s range can be complex and for users, guarantees for how far vehicles can go on a charge are essential. This uncertainty with EVs has kept many players tethered to traditional fossil-fuel transport. Chargetrip gives users real-time insight into their vehicle’s range. It uses those insights to map out the best route, optimising time, cost, and battery life.
By providing these valuable insights to end-users while charging, it will increase value for Chargetrip’s customers, from OEMs to CPOs and EV fleet operators who want to enable the optimal EV routing experience. More data and insights lead to better products and services and enable faster adoption of EVs.
As of 2022, Chargetrip is routing nearly 15% of EV drivers in Europe. Its intelligent routing engines operate via variables such as charger wait times, payment options, and weather. The API will now be offered for fleet electrification and predict the precise amount of energy needed for seamless, efficient, and cost-effective fleet operation.
