If anyone in 2015 had asked Charlie Jardine that classic interview question, 'where do you see yourself in five years time?', we wonder if he would have said any of the following:

• Win a £13million investment grant to develop the business and infrastructure projects
• Sell 15,000 charging units in 30 countries from Norway to Australia
• Be named as one of Forbes '30 under 30' entrepreneurs to watch
• Advertise his brand on primetime national TV
• Start working on a Vehicle to Grid system that can convert spare vehicle energy to the home or the grid

Had he done so he may well have got one of those dismissive stares that greet contestants on The Apprentice whenever they overhype themselves. But all these things have happened to the founder and CEO of EO, one of the UK's leading EV charging brands. When Replenishh was founded in 2019, EO was an obvious choice as one of its first manufacturing partners: not just because they are based not a million miles from each other - EO has a base in Suffolk as well as London - but through common beliefs and aims.

"As a start-up in the EV sector ourselves, I admired the way EO had a vision of what it wanted to do", said Jim Rugg, EV Technical & Specifications Manager at Replenishh. "It isn't just about the chargers themselves, which are fantastic products, but about the energy infrastructure that the UK and the world needs to make carbon-free transport a reality. It's really exciting that they are now looking at developing Vehicle to Grid technology and have always been proactive in opening up the charging network beyond individual suppliers."

It is all a very long way from the company's humble beginnings in a converted pigshed, where Charlie (pictured right) first started work on the first EO charger and accompanying software. Charlie was then just 24 and a convert to the EV industry, but the 'road to zero' was looking like snaking quite a way ahead into the future.

2040 was the UK government's original date to ban the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles, but as that date has shrunk (first to 2035, and then very recently to 2030) so EO has grown. The £13m of investment finance from Zouk Capital helped, but only £3m of that actually went into products, staff and systems. The rest was used for infrastructure projects like Plug in Suffolk, the UK's first fully open charging network, which EO helped develop alongside Bulb Energy and Suffolk County Council.

“We see EVs as part of a bigger picture,” Jardine said in an interview last year. “What’s rapidly developing is a new energy ecosystem consisting of renewable power sources combined with EVs and static-battery storage, underpinned by a ‘smart grid’. Our chargers and future products will give customers the ability to re-power not only their vehicles but their house too – cleanly and cheaply.”

Keeping it simple is the EO way, and their range consists of just four charging products - the EO Basic, EO Mini and EO Mini Pro 2 for domestic installations and the EO Genius for fleet, workplace and destination charging. The EO Mini Pro 2 and EO Genius are smart enabled and therefore give installers the chance to claim the OLEV Homecharge Grant or Workplace Charging Scheme Grant. Fundamental to the EO proposition is the smart technology by which the EO Mini Pro 2 and EO Genius are powered, whether it be the Smart Home app for domestic customers or the EO Cloud software that enables business users to monitor, manage and monetise their network.

Charlie gives examples of what EO products can do: “You can tell the EO Smart Home app that you want to charge your car to 100% power by 7am tomorrow. The app will work out the cheapest time to charge your vehicle, which is probably around midnight, and do that for you."

It is exciting to imagine what the next five years will bring. In the meantime, EO's range of charging products and training opportunities available from Replenishh will continue to grow as both companies help to build the EV infrastructure.

www.replenishh.com/brands/eo-charging