We have a superpower now…

You might have caught the big news this week – Be.EV just agreed ￡55M of funding from NatWest and KfW IPEX-Bank to accelerate the rollout of our public EV charging network.?

Many months in the making, this landmark deal has set a new precedent for Public EV charging investment? – but it’s not been a walk in the park.?

Let's be honest, the last year has been a torrid time for Charge Point Operators (CPO) seeking investment across the whole of the UK.

From 2017 to 2022, it was the heyday; with new CPOs securing massive investments of ￡100m's from large PE and infra funds week after week. But recently, if you think about it, when was the last time you heard anything about new investment??

Yes it's true, unfortunately the EV charging market has reached its own version of the oil sector's infamous '$40 dollar moment.'

How did we end up in this situation?

It’s the usual story, and people as old as me have seen it before in sector after sector.??

The EV market kicked off with management teams painting success curves that seemed to soar endlessly, tempting investors urged by their credit committees to jump on the bandwagon of this shiny new toy.?

Then, reality hits and the curves look more like the hills of Cambridgeshire and investors begin to understand the market dynamics better.??

It may not be this bad but you get the picture!

The impact? It's been a rollercoaster ride.

We have watched repeated CPO investment attempts and sale upon sale entering the market either to raise primary capital, push for secondary sale or even management/ owner exit attempts and all ending in the same result – failure.?

Valuation dreams clash with investor realities, leaving many good businesses in limbo. Despite strong management teams and stand out track records, the market's not buying it just yet – resulting in stalled deals and a cautious approach to expansion.?

As a result we are beginning to see a lag in the rollout of infrastructure as CPO’s slow down their roll out to better match their funding and CPO’s become more selective and try to exit deals which they over bid on.

Didn’t we think the Oil Majors would be the consolidator in this market? We did back in the late ‘tennies’ but things have changed.?

Investor voices who prefer their traditional models in the Oil Majors have got stronger and louder and as a result, appetite for EV Charging has diminished. This may change but it's not for today.

So what does this mean for Be.EV???

I've always seen this market as a marathon, not a sprint. But at every mile, we aim to maintain our personal best score.

That means securing the best sites, getting them up and running, and hitting our targets – a vision that rewarded us in 2022 when Octopus Energy Generation (OEG) invested up to ￡110m in us through their Sky Fund. This investment has been coming in annually.

As a company and a board, we've put in the work to evaluate the quality of our site partners and locations while taking a cautious approach to the initial rollout. We've steered clear of playing the 'bay rent inflation' and 'number of chargers per site inflation' games just to secure sites. It's no good for us, and it's definitely not good for the landowner when their EV CPO can't make the rent and goes under!

Our investment has brought us closer to OEG, built a strong brand identity, and given us access to incredibly bright people - all of whom are as important as the money at this stage of our journey.

We're still a proud employee-owned business, but OEG is now the majority owner. This shift is a significant milestone, showing their belief in us as a team and our business plan.

As a result our credit covenant is now one of the strongest in the market.?

And here’s our new SUPERPOWER…?

Now back to why I’m writing this – we have worked to get two major European Institutions to lend ￡55m to supercharge our rollout.??

Having NatWest and KfW onboard as senior lenders is a major milestone not just for us but for the EV market as we pave the way for a new source of capital into this sector.??

It's been a long 12 months to get to this point and we had support from a lot of parties including the UK Infrastructure Bank who played a pivotal role in guiding our terms and despite them not being in the final deal we are grateful that they enabled this to happen.??

With our superpower we will accelerate our rollout of chargers, the right amount in the right places across the UK to ensure we deliver on the mission we started in April 2021.?

We could be at the cusp of the turning point for the sector with increased confidence in the sector from politicians (post election), new sources of capital and most importantly customers continuing to buy EVs.??

We need this green transition to happen for us and our future generations and I personally feel the burden of that role I play on this planet and I promise to use my superpower wisely!

Happy charging,

Asif