Last week EVA Global celebrated its 5-year anniversary at all of its 6 locations around the world. This exciting milestone was a great opportunity to take a step back (for a small moment) and reflect on the journey we have been on and where we are heading, as we strive towards zero-emission mobility.
Why the voice of the driver needs to be heard
EVA Global’s story started in 2017, when our founder, Dr. Niina Suuriniemi Hopper had the opportunity to experience eMobility first-hand through carsharing and immediately felt EVs to be the way forward.
However, relying on public charging infrastructure was not as enjoyable. The itinerary needed to be planned in detail in advance, and still the driver faced the risk of charge points being occupied or down at the moment of need. And in these cases, getting swift help from customer service was not a given.
Suuriniemi Hopper quickly identified the need to focus on customer experience and to take away the pains at the charging point to accelerate the shift towards eMobility. After a market study and short productization period she was joined by her husband Donald Hopper and in 2018 the pilot of our first service, EVA Assists, started. Together they started providing drivers the customer and technical support that was needed at an increasing rate, as the EVs were no longer a thing for early adopters.
Already the first results showed the fragmented market was in need of such a service. The soft launch was followed by new customers and new cooperation brought end-customers that further expanded our knowledgebase and enabled EVA to help on an even wider array of EV driver needs from technical support to billing, up to giving tips on the intricacies of a particular car model. Trust in EVA Global's knowledge and services was being built before our eyes!
“It was clear that to make sustainable mobility happen we need to reduce, even better eliminate, range and charging anxiety. It is only through building trust in electric vehicles, that we achieve results.” -Dr. Niina Suuriniemi Hopper, CEO & Founder.
EVA Global team in Lisbon, Portugal.
EVA Assures, the first step towards a complete solution
The number of covered charge points were quickly counted in thousands, and EVA entered a period of rapid expansion in 2020, and since growing from 40,000 chargers served to 320,000 today and by a company of 80 people to over 360.
The rapid scaling of our service has been possible thanks to our own platform, that enables our EV-dedicated experts to answer questions at a constantly improving success rate and in less time. The development of our backend solution has also permitted the expansion to our next service, EVA Assures, that was launched in 2020.
EVA Assures drills down to the core of any successful EV charging operation, the management of charging networks. With capabilities to monitor the network remotely and orchestrate field service, we can optimize the uptime, which leads to customer loyalty and increased revenue. After all, the best call to customer service is the one that didn’t happen.
“Our mission is to make this simple to all parties. Just as the driver shouldn’t worry about their charging experience, so the service provider should not worry about the charger’s uptime or customer experience overall.” -Donald Hopper, CEO & Co-Founder
Shaping the future of eMobility
Where to next? As the system and hardware agnostic player with the experience and understanding of the market, it is safe to say we are the spider on the web, that connects all parts of our ecosystem.
EVA Global’s growth rate has been a clear numerical sign of being on the right track, but just as importantly for us is the proof that the company is succeeding in living by our values. Powered by our team representing talent from 50 nationalities, investment has been channeled through one of Europe’s largest growth impact funds, we have been recognized for our inclusion, diversity, and equity, and just before our anniversary, recognized as Finland’s growth company of the year.
"We take pride in what we have achieved with our amazing team. Growing from two founders to over 360 employees of 50 nationalities, serving our customers in over 30 languages in over 30 countries has been such a great ride, far more than we imagined just five years ago!” -Donald Hopper, CEO & Co-Founder.
We are ready to support our customers with payment terminals, market compliancy and other advisory services, up to and end-to-end solution, that covers all operations at the charge point and beyond.
We thank all our customers, partners, and our team for these five awesome years and look forward to shaping the future of eMobility by making the charging experience more and more effortless. It is together, that we ensure an electric future.
EVA Global team in Munich, Germany.