Australian EV service start-ups get ready for the consumer market

Carola Jonas is the CEO of Everty, a software company providing services bringing together charging infrastructure owners and electric vehicle owners, and helping EV drivers find the right point to charge at home, in shopping centres or at work, or in public charging spaces.

Everty is one of a number of start-ups exploring the opportunities in what is expected to be a rapid shift from petrol and diesel cars to electric vehicles. Ahead of her appearance at the All Energy conference in Melbourne next week, we sent these questions to Jonas about the work of Everty and the future of EVs.

How did you get involved in the electric vehicle industry?

I have worked in various fields in related to clean energy, with sustainability at international logistics company DB Schenker and at NABERS (National Built Environment Rating Scheme), and with carbon offsets at Climate Friendly (now South Pole) and as a consultant at  Enphase Energy and Energy Lab.

I saw that cleantech solutions in the transport sector and integrating EVs with renewable energy generation and home energy management makes sense, and so we founded Everty in 2016. We needed to, because we have street parking and in order to buy and drive an EV, we needed to build out the private and public charging infrastructure in Australia.

What does Everty do?

 Everty is a software company providing a “Sofware as a Service” solution to the charging infrastructure market. This software helps the operators of charging stations to monitor, manage and monetise their asset.

Everty combines these charging stations in the Everty Charging Network. We are also working on the integration of EVs and the grid and EV drivers can use the Everty web app to locate charging stations and pay for their charging via the app. This comes in handy if they can’t charge at home or are planning a long-distance trip.

How can Australian companies thrive in the Australian EV market?

Australia’s market is very small and immature. This allows new businesses to become early movers in the industry but it also means that the market size is fairly small and the revenue potential is much less compared to more mature markets in Europe or the US.

Depending on the product or solution this may mean that R&D work will be funded through grants or capital investments rather than revenue in the early stages.

Establishing a business, of course, takes a lot of time and policy certainty and government support is absolutely crucial. Australia’s biggest success story in our industry is probably Tritium, an Australian based company building charging stations which are sold in various international markets with a huge footprint in Europe and the US.

This shows that CleanTech can be developed and built in Australia and then exported elsewhere. It also shows that Tritium had to go global while the market in Australia matures and is of course much smaller compared to countries with a denser and higher number of population.

Is there a danger that they are leading the market too far and have to go overseas?

This was the case for Tritium. As a software company, the potential to grow globally is even easier. We are already in discussion with companies in New Zealand and have had enquiries from other Asian countries.

It may also be the case for us that other markets will grow quicker but at the moment we are really dedicated to increasing uptake in Australia. We are a member of the electric vehicle council and work with various stakeholders in our industry to get Australian’s into EVs.

Where are the big opportunities?

The convergence of transport, energy and infrastructure will lead to many new business models in the EV market and it will be interesting to see where Australia succeeds first.

Whether it’s electric trucks/buses or maybe car-sharing concepts that have the potential to include autonomous cars in the next decade, the opportunities seem endless. As for our EV charging market, we see public charging infrastructure as well as workplace charging as good growth opportunities.

Carola Jonas will be speaking at the electric vehicle stream at the All Energy conference on Wednesday, October 3.