EVChargeking was founded by Erwin Raets, who bought his first Tesla back in 2014 and quickly realized that basic support & knowledge for EV drivers was badly missing. What started as a side job next to being an IT consultant grew to a fulltime occupation over the next few years, fueled by the development and production of a (still) unique charging cable for Tesla owners.
EVChargeking provided charging cables for public charging in any type and length, an offering most importers of Chinese cables could not provide. Service and technical assistance were highly regarded by our customers.
It became obvious however that charging cables would become a commodity after the first boom of sales caused by early adopters and fans. The business needed a new challenge…
Erwin was playing with the idea of creating a charging solution that would be portable to use at different locations, not just at home. Current solutions don’t offer this flexibility. Besides this big differentiator, the charger would need to be affordable, future proof and smart.
And as luck would have it, in comes Max Vandenbussche to buy a cable because he needs it to use on a new idea he is playing with, being exactly the smart charging solution Erwin was looking for. The technological marvel of Max (former Melexis and Flir and who subsequently founded 7C7 Engineering) and the practical and business experience of Erwin led to the creation of the ETAPpro charging solution.
While working with Achilles Design (now merged to DotAchilles) on the design of the charger, Colruyt Group (a stakeholder in Achilles) noticed our project and decided to invest. They took a 24,96% stake in the capital through an emission of shares, which later ended up under DATS24 and Virya as part of a reorganization at Colruyt.
EVChargeking made the choice to work with reputable local partners instead of hiring all the necessary profiles, which allows for flexibility while retaining all IP rights. We want to be the company in the lead, but make use of the expertise of it’s partners. We also wanted to make this a Belgian story, keeping everything geographically as close as possible without sacrificing cost benefits from cheaper Asian production.
That is why we organized our complete value chain, from design over development to production in the following way:
- General management, project follow-up, testing, procurement and sales is done by EVChargeking. All IP generated by below partners belongs to EVChargeking.
- Electronic engineering and firmware development is in the hands of 7C7 Engineering in Kortrijk (https://www.7c7engineering.com/).
- Design and product engineering is taken care of by DotAchilles in Mechelen (https://www.dottachilles.be/).
- Cloud software and App are developed by Wisemen (https://wisemen.digital/) from Diepenbeek, a reference in the field of cloud computing and app development with ample experience in the field of EV Charging software and platforms.
- Production of the electronics as well as assembly of the ETAPpro is done by JTC Micro Electronics in Riemst (https://jtc-micro-electronics.be/).
- Plastic parts and hardware are sourced from Davantech (https://www.davantech.com/)
Davantech is owned by Davy Vanrumbeke, a former Barco employee that started a business in China, and is incredibly supportive and hands-on. Davantech really is our gateway to China.
In 2023 we reinforced the team with Bart Van Winkel as CEO, to help in the management of all the processes and to assist in bringing the ETAPpro to market.
As from Januari 2025, David Thaels joined as sales manager to further assist in the marketing and sales of our solution.
While at the start we envisioned a broad B2C market by this time, things proved to evolve in a different way and currently the main focus is on company cars and corporate fleet. This means longer decision processes and the need for a dedicated sales person to follow up on all leads and opportunities. We remain certain of our potential in the B2C market however, but it will take some time to grow, and we will follow suit.
