Today (26-April-2022) at Paua we are delighted to confirm that our roaming network for electric vehicle (EV) charging is the largest independent EV roaming network for business. Paua has agreed contracts providing fleets with access to 10,000 chargepoint connectors across the country.

Founded in 2020, Paua aims to solve the problem of EV charging for businesses through providing a single interface for organisations and fleets to pay for EV charging, obtain receipts, and claim VAT refunds. Chargepoint brands in Paua’s network now include market-leading UK and European players, such as Osprey, Fastned, Ionity, Connected Kerb, Char.gy, and Mer. More will be announced in coming weeks as integration is completed. But we wanted to inform our fleet customers as soon as we had this good news!

Through partnering with charging networks, Paua provides fleets with access to chargepoints throughout the UK via a single app and EV charge card to drivers. Paua thus provides fleets with seamless access to public charging infrastructure for businesses that have previously found EV charging to be logistically difficult.

Paua’s solution is intended to overcome a real hurdle facing EV adoption in the UK. A 2021 survey by Paua found that 40% of fleets avoid public charging, with government research indicating that 54% of future EV drivers view public charging as a barrier. By enabling fleet and business adoption of EV, Paua is providing an essential service in helping the UK transition from petrol and diesel vehicles ahead of the phase-out of these fuels in 2030.

Today’s milestone of 10,000 connectors comes off the back of an oversubscribed pre-seed round in January 2022. The round was led by Seedcamp, and also saw participation from Speedinvest, Octopus Ventures, and angel investors – including former directors from RWE, Ovo, and SSE.

Niall Riddell, CEO and co-founder of Paua says: “We’ve now developed the UK’s largest business network for electric vehicle chargepoints. The reason for our success comes down to the fact that we provide a great value-add for our customers, as we make EV fleet admin simple. We provide a great way for the UK’s public chargepoint networks to connect with historically under-served business customers. We’re delighted to be welcoming our new investors, who believe in our vision to support business transition to electric motoring.”

Carlos Espinal, Managing Partner of Seedcamp says: “We are excited to lead Paua’s pre-seed round to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable transportation infrastructure for business fleets. Niall and André are exceptional entrepreneurs with significant experience in digital energy solutions. Becoming UK’s largest EV business roaming network is an important first milestone in leading the European transition to cleaner mobility.”

Andreas Schwarzenbrunner, Partner at Speedinvest says: “Simplifying the electric vehicle charging experience for businesses is critical to mass adoption of EVs. Companies like Paua help tackle climate change by providing technology that improves the driver’s experience and therefore reduces barriers to going electric. We are happy to back the team in achieving that mission!”

Some extra notes for the observant readers.

We have sometimes been asked why we measure the size of our network in connectors. Well it is an interesting story and stems from the poor nomenclature in the industry.

Lets imagine you are an EV driver and you drive into a car park containing some Osprey chargers. You see three boxes in front of you (some call these chargepoints or devices or units). Each box has two parking bays in front of it. Each box has two cables attached to it and a single plug socket. And (here is the fun part) each box contains two EVSE’s (electric vehicle supply equipment) meaning each box can charge two cars at a time.

So in this example you have one location (the car park), three devices (the boxes), six EVSE’s (well that’s not really visible to anyone apart from the techies like us) and nine connectors.

Unfortunately locations can get mixed up (two operators in one location – is that two locations or one?), devices and EVSE’s can get mixed up (is that the box I can see or the EVSE hidden in the box?), and parking bays is a physical constraint that can be extended or changed relatively easily over time.

As every chargepoint has connectors that are clearly identifiable (and ZapMap counts them on the same basis as us) we have worked on the basis of connectors.

So now you know!

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