June 2, 2025 • 33 mins
In this episode of The EV Charging Podcast, we speak with Piers McHenry (Group Commercial Director) and Shaz Shadan (Managing Director, APAC) from MyEnergi—the UK-based innovators behind Zappi, one of Australia's best-selling solar-compatible EV chargers.
🚗 We explore:
- What makes Zappi unique in the Australian and global market
- Key differences between EV charging in Australia vs Europe
- MyEnergi’s approach to local manufacturing, training, and grid support
- Behind the scenes of the DECA-funded free Zappi program in Victoria
- How MyEnergi is building a smart home energy management system (HEMS) beyond just car charging
- Real-world examples of demand response trials and how customers are getting paid to help the grid
- The future of EV adoption and smart tariffs in Australia
Whether you're an EV owner, installer, energy nerd, or just curious about the future of home electrification, this episode is packed with insights into one of the most exciting brands in the clean tech space.
🎧 Listen now to learn why Zappi is leading the smart charger revolution — from Grimsby to Byron Bay.
🔗 Mentioned in this episode:
- Learn more about Zappi and MyEnergi
- Compare EV charger quotes instantly at solarchoice.net.au
- Find out more about the DECA Zero Emissions Vehicle grant program in Victoria
- Discover how GridPay is reshaping demand response in the UK
📌 Brought to you by Solar Choice – Australia’s only instant quote comparison service for solar panels, batteries, EV chargers, and heat pumps.
With 17+ years of experience, we support both homeowners and commercial clients across the country.
Visit solarchoice.net.au for more.
🔊 If you liked this episode, leave a 5-star review and share it with someone who’s thinking of switching to an EV or going off-grid.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
UNKNOWN (00:00):
you
SPEAKER_01 (00:11):
Hello and welcome to the EV Charging Podcast, where
we take you behind the scenes ofthe electric vehicle charging
industry in Australia and allaround the world.
I'm Daniel Carson.
And I'm Geoff Sykes.
And we're your hosts from SolarChoice, your go-to trusted
independent advisor for allthings clean energy in
residential, commercial andstrata buildings.
(00:37):
Today, we're chatting to Shazand Piers from My Energy, the
UK-based company who make one ofAustralia's best-selling home
chargers, the Zappy.
Shaz Shadan is the ManagingDirector of My Energy APAC,
while Piers McHenry is theInternational Sales Director for
My Energy, based in Ireland.
In this episode, we cover thechallenges of bringing a charger
(01:00):
into a new market, And Pierstalks about some of the key
differences between the Europeanmarket and the Australian market
for home EV chargers.
We hope you enjoy it.
SPEAKER_02 (01:14):
Welcome to the EV charging podcast.
We're here today with twospecial guests all the way from
the UK.
We've got Shaz Shadan.
He's the country manager forMyEnergy.
Our installers may know thepopular EV charging brand Zappi.
The company behind that isMyEnergy.
And also joining us today isPierce McHenry.
(01:36):
He's the internationalcommercial director and joins us
from Ireland.
So welcome, Pierce and Shaz, tothe podcast.
Thanks for having us, guys.
Great to be here, yeah.
Great.
So look, to kick things off,Shaz, I thought I might ask you
a little bit about some of yourprevious career.
I understand you're perhaps abeer baron in previous life.
SPEAKER_03 (01:58):
Yeah, guilty as charged.
So I'm relatively new to therenewable space.
My energy was started in a smallworking class town up in the
northeast of England, myhometown.
So that's how obviously I'vebecome involved with the
business.
So I watched it grow in thebackground.
But yeah, I've worked in variousother roles, mainly around sort
(02:18):
of operations and sort of likerunning of companies.
So usually I find myself inroles that involve daily
firefighting and sorting outanything that's going wrong and
trying to get everybody back ontrack.
So yeah, I grew the beerbusiness.
very successful in the localarea, big regional brewery.
(02:38):
So very different to this world,but I think a lot of this stuff
translates over.
So we had a production facilityto produce charges, very
different, but the principlesstay the same about quality and
consistency.
And then we have to build upsort of customer relationships
and relationships are really,really important.
Marketing, branding is really,really important and sort of
like that ongoing aftercare.
So a lot of those aretransferable skills and then
(03:01):
With My Energy being an iconicbrand in the area, when the time
came for a change, I was luckyenough to join the team there.
SPEAKER_02 (03:09):
Great.
And you've recently made thetrip out and you're permanently
with us now in Australia.
How long have you been out here?
SPEAKER_03 (03:16):
I am.
So I came out for EverythingElectric in February and never
went back.
How are you enjoying it?
Absolutely loving it.
Yeah.
So we've got family living inAustralia and we've been up many
times before.
I've got two young boys.
And yeah, it kind of been on thecards.
We looked at moving out beforeCOVID and COVID put a stop to
that.
And then I joined managing agroup role.
(03:37):
So I was global operationsmanager previously.
So I was working with Pierce tolook after the different
subsidiaries.
We obviously sell into dozens ofcountries and have offices in
five or six countries around theworld.
And then when this opportunitycame up, I was like, this feels
like it's lined up and let'sjump on it and make the move.
So I haven't looked back.
So yeah, loving it.
SPEAKER_02 (03:57):
Great.
So Pierce, you were formerly themanaging director for My Energy
in Ireland, currently Irish andreside there, I understand.
And so tell us a little bitabout that role and how that
translated into your currentrole for My Energy.
SPEAKER_00 (04:13):
Yeah.
So The relationship with myenergy actually started even
before that.
So I've been in the solarinstallation business since
2010, and it's set up inNorthern Ireland as an
installer.
That then moved towardsdistribution for the island of
Ireland and into GB as well.
With my distribution business atthe time, I was the first person
(04:34):
to ever buy the Eddie, which isthe part of it for my energy.
And I can still remember doingthe deal at my kitchen table in
Ireland on the phone to Jordan,the co-founder, to forward buy
the first batch of Eddie's.
I still have the messages of,Jordan telling me that the
Eddies were coming to Irelandand the excitement of a new
product in that market at thattime.
(04:57):
We'd done really well with theMy Energy brand.
Obviously, Zappi followed.
We had The Hub, The Harvey.
Really great products at thattime, and they stood to test at
the time.
But as the distribution businessreally started to go well in
Ireland, then the conversationcame up about My Energy Ireland.
So I became MD in, I think,around 2011.
(05:18):
And from that, we went strengthto strength because we could
open up more conversations withthe likes of the big wholesalers
in Ireland, the energysuppliers, the OEMs, leasing
companies.
And we're market leaders inIreland.
And then with that, Jordan andLee had asked me then to step
(05:41):
more into a group role.
So actually moving from onesubset, MD of that subset, went
to international sales director,so was responsible for all the
international subsets, barringGB.
And then from January this year,I've made group commercial
director, so responsible for allrevenue now.
SPEAKER_02 (05:58):
Yeah, okay.
Well, look, before we get toodeep, let's just set out for the
listeners my energy week.
is the overarching company.
And underneath that, you have anumber of products.
I think in Australia, a lot ofpeople will be familiar with the
Zappi, the EV charger, possiblythe flagship product of
MyEnergy, but there's also theEddie and the Harvey.
(06:20):
So can you tell us a little bitabout what they are?
SPEAKER_00 (06:23):
Yeah, so the first product actually was the Eddy,
which is the car diverter, whichis primarily used to heat water
with excess renewable energy.
So that was the first productthat we went to market with.
Zappi quickly followed, and itwas really, as you say, is the
flagship product now.
So the first charger in theworld to be able to charge a car
with excess renewable energy,whether that's from the sun,
(06:45):
wind, hydro, whatever.
So a really novel product.
And the Harvey then is awireless CT.
So installers love the Harveybecause they can get home to
their families a bit quicker inthe evening because they're not
hardwiring, you know, for anextra hour, hour and a half,
saving materials and that aswell.
So the ease of installation withthe Zappi and the Eddy along
(07:05):
with Harvey is really what tookoff in GB and Ireland.
And also now we have the Libbyin GB and Ireland, which is sort
of rounded the circle of ourecosystem.
and the interoperability of thatin our app, you know, changing
priority of the devices.
In Australia, Shaz is shoutingfor the Libby as well.
(07:26):
And, you know, in the nearfuture, we'll have that coming
to Australia as well, which willbe really exciting.
SPEAKER_01 (07:30):
So really, I think most Australians will think of
MyEnergy as an EV chargingcompany, but really we should be
thinking about it as a full homeelectrification company covering
all aspects of sustainability.
SPEAKER_00 (07:41):
Exactly right, yeah.
So we're a HEMS system, really.
And we really play on that.
And the installers like the factthat they have one company that
they speak to with tech support.
And the end customer also likesthat they don't have to get in
touch with multiple differentmanufacturers as well.
So that's a real big USP ofours.
(08:03):
And as I say, hopefully we canround that circle in Australia
sometime very soon.
SPEAKER_02 (08:08):
So my energy has grown fairly quickly and I think
it's been able to establish...
position as a leadingmanufacturer of EV chargers,
amongst other things.
And obviously, most companies inthis space are relatively young
compared to other companies.
EVs haven't been around thatlong.
But tell us a little bit aboutthe backstory of MyEnergy in the
(08:30):
UK and when things started tobranch out into a more global
perspective.
SPEAKER_00 (08:36):
Yeah, so as I say, the company started in probably
making products on the diningroom table in Lee Sutton's
house, the co-founder, alongwith Jordan Brompton then.
So that's the two co-founders ofthe company.
My Energy was formed in 2016.
It's really testament to wherethe company is now.
But yeah, started in makingsingle products, then moved to a
(08:59):
factory in Binbrook.
So the company has found it intheir hometown of near Grimsby.
And Everything happened reallyquick.
I think timing was importantthere.
So obviously the UK market hasgained maturity a lot quicker
than here.
So right product, right time.
And actually the scale, they gota bit of investment in probably
(09:20):
maybe 2018, 2019, I think aroundthat time.
And that really catapulted thenthe being able to produce more
and keep up with the demand.
So We know from probably makingproducts on a kitchen table, we
now have 60,000 square footmanufacturing facility in
Stalingrad, top state-of-the-artfactory.
(09:41):
We take major players there,major customers there, and
they're just blown away by thequality of the factory and the
office space and great place towork as well.
So in seven, eight years, thegrowth of the company has been
fantastic.
SPEAKER_02 (09:55):
That's probably largely becoming a point of
difference for MyEnergy is thatthe manufacturing takes place in
the UK.
I think, obviously, you'veexperienced lots of competitors
entering the market in the pasteven one year, but over the past
two or three years, most ofthose have manufacturing
(10:16):
facilities in China, andobviously there's potentially
cost advantages to do that.
So is that something thatMyEnergy wants will you know
need to consider or yeah how doyou see that playing out in the
future
SPEAKER_00 (10:29):
yeah so zappy and eddie at the moment and the
libby controller is all made inthe uk great point of
differentiation for us are youknow the installers and the
companies we deal with love thefact that it's locally made in
those markets gp and ireland andObviously, there's a lot of
price pressures, a lot ofcompetition coming in.
(10:51):
But actually, as we look at thedevelopment of our products, and
because the factory is sostate-of-the-art, we believe
that we can continue to make theproducts really competitively.
And again, we're dealing with, Isuppose, OEMs, energy suppliers
who have presence in differentparts of the world as well.
But whenever...
those companies are in the ukand ireland they do want to be
(11:13):
affiliated with home brands aswell and that's definitely a
real plus for us and wheneverthey go and a lot of people
don't actually believe we domake these products so whenever
we can actually show the factoryand the quality and everything
yeah i think that really winspeople over even more
SPEAKER_03 (11:31):
I think there's an economies of scale there as
well.
The fact that we've got over600,000 shipped devices, it's,
yes, products coming in fromother countries, but often in a
lot smaller volumes.
And we do have that economy ofscale.
I also think when people talkabout, we can, I know, I
obviously have priceconversations every day.
I know we can be verycompetitive on price and still
(11:53):
get in line with where peopleneed us to be.
But I don't think price shouldalways just be considered
against the purchase price.
It's not only the long-term costof that product.
So as Pierce mentioned, thingslike in-country tech support is
really important to us.
Saving the installer time on ajob because they can get hold of
tech support quickly, knowingthat the product's reliable when
(12:13):
they get it out of the box, bitsaren't missing or broken or just
not working right.
All of these things...
You might not see them in theupfront cost, but they have a
cost elsewhere in the lifespanof the product.
And it's the same through thatwarranty cycle and then beyond
the warranty cycle.
SPEAKER_02 (12:27):
So Shaz, tell us a little bit about My Energy's
entry into Australia.
Obviously, that's one of yourkey focuses in your role.
From our observation at SolarChoice, we've got a network of
EV charger installers that ourcustomers across Australia can
request quotes from.
And we can see that Zappi isalready a very popular brand of
(12:50):
those installers.
So you've been able to establisha good presence in the
Australian markets.
So tell us a bit about thebackstory.
When did you start?
shipping devices here?
When did you sort of shift to aphysical presence?
I can't
SPEAKER_03 (13:04):
take the credit for the early stage, but I'll give
you a bit of backstory.
So my energy, obviously, andpart of its growth, as Peter
mentioned earlier, was the firstsolar-aware, solar-compatible EV
charger.
That sparked a lot of interestworldwide.
And very quickly, we had inboundsales requests from all over the
globe.
And Australia was one of theplaces.
So a local distributor startedoff few units turned into
(13:29):
pallets etc and in a sort ofsimilar fashion my energy
australia subsidiary was set upa couple of years ago and that's
slowly grown and grown and thenaround well it was february
march when i moved out here sowe had a bit of a group
restructure we brought in somegroup investment from eip and
that was to kind of take thecompany to that next level and
(13:52):
we had a bit of a change aroundand i came in as country manager
from march and Really,obviously, we might experience a
group level weapon with Piercejust to see where we can take
the company now moving forward.
So we've been in market probablyfor about four years, roughly
sold in some format.
But we've just moved office andwarehouse location in March.
SPEAKER_02 (14:14):
I imagine the future is only onwards and upwards, a
bigger team, a bigger presenceas the Australian market
expands.
SPEAKER_03 (14:22):
Yeah, absolutely.
So obviously we're seeing...
If you zoom into EV sales tooclosely, you see quite extreme
ebbs and flows.
But when you actually zoom outyear on year, it's steady
uplifting growth.
I think it'll be interesting tosee how the Australian market
plays out differently to othermarkets.
SPEAKER_02 (14:40):
Yeah, I think there's a few probably
structural differences with theAustralian market and some of
the European markets, one ofwhich I think is just the
expanse of Australia.
You know, often we're in thecity of Melbourne and things are
nice and close here, but I thinkin the back of most Australians'
mind is that, okay, well, lastyear I did that road trip out to
(15:04):
somewhere that was 1,500kilometres away and, you know,
some of the...
I guess misinformation orconcerns around range anxiety
and things really can be alimiting factor to the EV
transition.
So I think we've spoken withother guests on this podcast
around some of those thingsneeding to get to a tipping
(15:25):
point where, you know, people'sfriends or there's so many EVs
on the road that people sort ofrealise that these things aren't
a big issue.
And on the flip side, we've gotto keep up with the public
charging system to make surethat we're ahead of the numbed
EVs on the road.
Would that be a fair sort ofcomparison or do you think
there's places in Europe thatmight have a similar challenge
(15:49):
with EV adoption?
SPEAKER_00 (15:51):
I think Australia is definitely a big difference,
just the expanse of the landthere.
I mean, I live in you know, thenorth of Ireland, nearly at the
very top of Ireland.
And I can drive in five hours tothe very south of Ireland, you
know, so I would only have tostop off maybe once for a charge
and you would need to stop offanyway, you know, to eat or do
whatever you need to do withinthat time.
(16:11):
So, you know, the likes of, youknow, Ireland EVs really sit
very well.
But having said that, Irelandhas actually seen a 30% decline
year-to-date compared to lastyear in BEV sales after having
really great growth over thelast four or five years.
And I think that's just a timein the market where you have
(16:32):
your early adopters, and thenthere's a little bit of a dip
before the mass adoption comesin as well.
And we've sort of seen thathistorically in some of the
other countries as well.
Germany...
is actually down 30% this yearwith BEV sales as well.
That's more to do, I think, withthe economy in Germany currently
and also incentives being pulledalso.
So I think governmentintervention has a lot to play
(16:54):
with the uptake of BEV still.
But again, GB steady, 12%, 13%growth year to date compared to
last year.
And as a whole, again, if youzoom out, as a whole in Europe,
sales are looking pretty steadythere.
But it is an interest indifferent countries, even within
Europe, have very differenttrends.
And even with, Shaz mentionedsales channels earlier, so even
(17:17):
how EV chargers are sold in acountry is very different.
So for example, in Scandinavia,a lot of chargers are bought
online.
Online marketplace is very highpercentage of sales.
Germany is still very strongwith the wholesale installer
market, but the likes of leasingcompanies, OEMs, you know, those
channels are becoming strongerand stronger because a lot of
(17:40):
the early adopters are actuallybusiness leases for cars.
So the benefit and gain taxincentives again, you know, so
That has a big part to play withactually how EV chargers make
their way to a house.
And, you know, public chargingis important, but I think that's
more to do with confidence inthe market because people do
have range anxiety.
But actually, 90% of my chargingis done at home or the
(18:02):
workplace.
But you need to have thatcomfort, you know, on the times
I am driving to Dublin or Cork,that, you know, you're going to
get a charge as well.
So it is very important thatthose two go hand in hand.
SPEAKER_02 (18:13):
What sort of...
Things exist in the UK to helpcustomers learn about, you know,
is an EV going to be suitablefor them?
Where can they go to sort ofovercome some of these myths we
know about?
There's the Fully Chargedpodcast, of course, where they
do some great stuff.
(18:33):
Are there different resourcesthat are available in the UK
that we don't have here?
I
SPEAKER_00 (18:38):
think Ireland's actually a very progressive
country.
place to look there.
I mean, we have the SustainableEnergy Authority of Ireland,
which is like a one-stop shopfor information on all things
renewable and including EVs.
So people are signposted to anindependent source to get
information from.
And another thing which theIrish government are doing are
(19:00):
they're making petrol forecourtsnow show the difference in
pricing between buying petrol.
or if you're charging withelectric.
But they take a blend.
They don't look at the...
Because obviously DChigh-powered chargers can be
expensive as well, but they takea blend of home charging versus
DC.
And that's really...
It's a really good message toshow people of how much cheaper
(19:22):
it is to actually charge yourcar.
So that's actually displayed atthe Pertl forecourt as well.
And then also online, they haveto publish that.
It's on the big sign in front ofthe
SPEAKER_02 (19:32):
petrol station.
It's got, yeah, two pounds foryour petrol and then EV would be
this.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (19:39):
So that information is being published now as well.
So that's really helping becausepeople will vote with their
pockets as well, of course.
So if it's going to be cheaper.
SPEAKER_02 (19:46):
So what are some of the...
key markets for my energyoutside of the UK and Australia?
What are some of the key growthmarkets that you guys are
focused on?
SPEAKER_00 (19:57):
So we're active at the moment with offices in the
Benelux region.
So in Maastricht in theNetherlands, we have a
subsidiary set up there andfantastic growth in Belgium this
year, actually over 50% growthAnd again, that was down to very
nice incentives for business carowners.
So very excited about the futurein the Benelux region.
(20:19):
Actually, going back to more ofthe solar there, the Benelux
region has had a very, you know,really good incentives with net
metering, for example.
That's actually been phased outnow.
So self-consumption products arebecoming, you know, really hot
topics there.
So does that mean for chargingthe car for free from your
renewable energy?
Yeah.
also the eddy for heating thewater as well, primarily.
(20:43):
And also those, you know, thosecountries are starting to phase
gas out and heat pumps arebecoming more popular.
So, and our compatibility witheddy and the heat pumps is
great.
So again, going by, and theLibby, obviously the battery
storage is very prominent now,or becoming prominent in the
Benelux region.
So our suite of products thereand that ecosystem is becoming
very popular.
Germany, massive market, eventhough they're down 30% with the
(21:05):
Bev sales this year, obviouslythey're still the biggest.
bit of market in Europe.
And we have an office in Colognethere.
So again, just want to buildupon the foundations that we
have in Germany.
But also I see interestingtrends in Eastern Europe,
similar to where Ireland wasfour or five years ago.
And I know that market verywell.
So I can spot sort of the growththat's happening there.
(21:27):
So the likes of Czech Republic,you know, sales are up 50% there
this year, for example.
And Slovakia is steady.
And so certain parts like that,Spain, Italy, France, obviously
the big...
big markets there.
So we certainly want to belooking to expand into those
markets in Europe also.
SPEAKER_03 (21:45):
Just over the last few months, we've been getting
increasing inquiries fromSoutheast Asia.
So a lot of imports of EVs goinginto the Philippines and
Indonesia and places like that.
SPEAKER_02 (21:57):
So I guess from a consumer's perspective...
Once you buy an electric vehicleor place an order, there's a
question, do I charge it with aplug point or do I get a wall
charger?
And then there's also thequestion, where do I buy that
from?
I mean, a lot of these people inthe dealership will be
potentially presented with anoffer.
We obviously know that Teslahave their own charger and that
(22:21):
can be bolted onto a sale.
Other manufacturers havepartnered up with different
brands and things like that.
How do you see that aspect ofthe market playing out Will the
charges eventually become justa, you know, add fries with that
to the car sale or will there bea consistent market for
consumers to purchase from abroader range of options?
SPEAKER_03 (22:46):
I don't think it'll be a one-channel wins-all
strategy.
I think...
every individual need isdifferent depending on where you
sit in that journey.
And one of the stark contrastsI've noticed here versus, say,
the UK is it feels like the UKmarket was, in terms of
renewables, was very muchEV-led, solar second.
I don't know if you necessarilyagree with that.
(23:06):
I mean, a lot more in the solarspace than mine versus Australia
by comparison.
Australia, obviously, solar'snot a new thing, right?
Very well established.
So I think If you think whatthat does to the psyche of
somebody buying an EV, you'venever put solar panels on your
house.
You've never really spoke agreat length about kilowatt
hours or inverters or evenself-consumption.
(23:28):
These are completely newbuzzwords.
So really, when you go to buyyour EV, you're just talking
about the battery in the car andhow do I get power from my
socket.
a house into that car and ohthis device is safer and has
functionality etc whereas whenthe consumer has massive solar
array maybe double solar arraythey could even have a battery
on the drive already power wallor or whichever brand and um
(23:53):
then all of a sudden they'relooking at their ev they're
already quite aware of sort oflike how energy is moving around
the home and how it's consumedand how it's actually created as
well so i think that very muchchanges the buying dynamic there
as well.
So, and it'll be, it'll beinteresting again to watch those
channels change as obviouslywe've talked to all the major
energy retailers in the region.
(24:14):
And there's a lot ofconversation around sort of
quite exciting new tariffscoming through that we've, we've
already seen developed acrossEurope.
And I think that's going tochange, well, introduce a new
channel as well, becauseobviously the way to access
those tariffs is through,through the intelligent
charging.
So I think it's a big mix, but Ithink, kind of reiterate
pierce's point as well it'sfinding the channel that works
(24:36):
best for the end consumer andwhichever charger you're
installing it also relies on acompetent installer as well so
looking after making sure theend customer ends up with the
best product for them and makingsure that we're dealing with
reputable well-trainedknowledgeable installers and
they're being looked after aswell in that pipeline as well is
(24:56):
always very important.
And then the channel beyondthat, I guess, it depends which
demographic resonates best,whether it's the car
manufacturer or the in-charge orthe wholesaler.
SPEAKER_02 (25:06):
So Shaz, I understand that there's some
lucky customers in Victoria thatare getting a free Zappy at the
moment.
Can you tell us a little bitabout the funding you've got for
that program, what theobjectives are?
SPEAKER_03 (25:19):
Yes.
So it's a project with DECA andit's zero emissions, vehicle
project and essentially we've50% match funded the project
with Deca, and it's to provide100 Zappies into homes.
And the purpose is to thenconduct a six-month trial where
we monitor all the homes afteras a pre-requirement, obviously
(25:41):
have an EV starters, but havehome solar and connectivities to
the internet so we can monitorthose devices.
And basically over that period,we're going to monitor solar
consumption and demonstrate thereduced demand placed on the
grid by self-consumption and afew other measures as well and
(26:03):
also we'll be conducting somedemand side trial demand side
response trials through it aswell so essentially sending out
start stop signals at times ofpeak demand to control the
devices and just show what ahuge impact that can have on the
pain points in the grid.
Obviously, something that's verycommon in Australia is that duck
(26:24):
curve on a hot day when itsuddenly sets and everyone's
solar stops pumping, but the airconditioning is very much still
on.
Obviously, it can often landaround the same sort of time
that everyone's come home andplugged in their car to start
the charging cycle.
That charging cycle may notnecessarily need to have started
just then and could potentiallybe delayed for an hour or two
(26:44):
until demand reduces down.
So yeah, we're going tosimulate, we're going to take
some live data as well from thegrid, but also make some
simulations as well.
And we'll be producing a whitepaper at the end of it to
demonstrate our findings.
But of all the studies we'vedone across Europe, I think
we're only going to see acompounding effect in Australia
where the benefits are evengreater because of the huge
(27:05):
amount of solid.
SPEAKER_00 (27:07):
And we've actually proven, you know, proven a lot
of that already in GB.
You know, we have a, it's not aconcept now, it's actually in
play called GridPay.
So we do have end customers nowactively making money, making
revenue monthly from helping thegrid out.
You know, and so actually thisasset, which is there to charge
(27:27):
your car, that's how it's seen,is now actually generating
revenue as well for thesecustomers because they're
helping the grid out.
SPEAKER_02 (27:34):
And so in a customer's position, they get
home from work, plug in theircar, maybe there's some event on
the grid that's drawing a hugespike in demand.
Zappi can come in or throughyour network partners can stop
the charger on a fleet ofpotentially thousands of cars
and reduce the demand on thegrid and could be as short as
(27:56):
five minutes, I suppose.
Exactly.
And there's a payment for that.
inconvenience, perhaps for acustomer, but if they're
plugging their car in overnight,it's probably not much of an
inconvenience anyway.
SPEAKER_00 (28:07):
Yeah, you basically nailed that.
People want their car charged by6am, 6.30am.
So if there's a couple of eventsin between times where they're
helping the grid out and they'reeven getting paid for it, it
doesn't really matter if the caris charged by 4am or 5am.
So these customers have reallybought into that and are reaping
(28:28):
the benefits.
SPEAKER_02 (28:30):
We understand there's a very big spike in
energy in the UK when CoronationStreet finishes and everyone
goes to put the
SPEAKER_00 (28:36):
kettle on.
That's correct.
Around 7pm, the kettle goes on,there's a spike.
And I think Jordan always saysthat She's had this vision of my
energy to be bigger than Draxpower plant, which is four
gigawatt, I believe.
And, you know, we believe in thenext couple of years we're going
to have seven gigawatt to playwith.
So that sort of virtual powerplant that we've talked about
(28:58):
brings great help to the grid.
And because our products arefuture-proofed and we can do
this and we're continuing towork on that.
And again, I think we've talkedabout so much information here
in the time we are.
It's how we get this across tothe end customers.
And again, how we do that iswith the great relationships we
have with the wholesalers, theinstallers and the different
partners that we have as well.
(29:18):
You just simply can't do thisall yourself and we appreciate
all the business that we havewith our current customers as
SPEAKER_02 (29:25):
well.
That is one consideration Ithink that we've seen play out
with solar manufacturers andother product manufacturers that
we work with is that thecustomer experience, feedback,
and even reflection on Zappiitself largely comes down to the
installer that's putting it in,the education that installer
gives to the customer, whetherthey do the job correctly.
(29:46):
Obviously, there's pretty clearcodes around how an EV charger
should get installed, but oftenit's not the most experienced
electricians that are doingthese types of installations.
So how do you guys...
manage that and ensure like acustomer outcome is great every
time even though some parts ofthat are out of your control
SPEAKER_00 (30:07):
i'll let you talk a bit the problem is also you know
SPEAKER_03 (30:10):
yeah so for the apac region basically i'm just
bringing in best practice that'sbeen uh tried and tested from gb
through i guess trial and errorand seeing what works so one of
my first appointments when wewhen i got here was to bring on
a training installation managerSo Lee's a qualified electrician
who's based up on Central Coast.
He's been working across thesolar sector for decades, very
(30:33):
knowledgeable guy.
And his remit was to come in andbasically bring all our training
up to a really high standard.
And between Lee and Johnny andour tech support team, they
deliver loads of in-persononline training seminars.
These aren't like 15-minutetraining sessions, 30-minute
training sessions that kind ofpeople can just tick a box and
go off with a piece of papersaying I'm certified in solar.
(30:55):
an average installation trainingsession can take two to three
hours and there's an exam at theend and then basically the next
level beyond a trained installeris a product champion it's a new
scheme that we've just launchedbasically to become a product
champion you complete ourtraining then we invite you to
sign up to our product championcharter so it's not necessarily
a contract it's a charter butit's I guess it's best practice
(31:19):
you're signing up to my energyprinciples to say that you're
going to ensure that all yourelectricians are certified
trained as a company you'rekeeping up to date with things
like public liability insuranceetc and you're always going to
comply with AS3000 and thestandards and with their
commitment to us by goingthrough that due diligence we
(31:39):
then offer obviously in additionto the training expedited
customer support as well soJohnny was running through some
stats with me the other dayJohnny runs up our tech support
team and I think our averagecall answer time is under a
minute at the minute forinstallers so whenever Like I
say, installers are one of ourmain routes to market.
And if they're at a site andthey're struggling to configure
(32:00):
Wi-Fi or get an app connected,it can be too tempting sometimes
to think, I can't get hold ofanybody, so it'll charge.
I'll leave, but then you'd havethe smarts connected, right?
So our job, our responsibilityis to take away any roadblocks
that can stop that fromhappening.
So making sure that they knowthey can pick up a phone and
within a few seconds, somebodyis going to answer.
As long as that device isconnected to the internet, they
(32:22):
can remotely log in and justquickly do a config check and
make sure everything's up andrunning is really important to
us.
And that's been a lot of thefeedback we get from installers
about why they come back to ustime and time again.
SPEAKER_02 (32:33):
Awesome.
Well, I think we've run out oftime, but thanks so much, Piers
and Shaz, for joining us.
Thanks for having us.
Yeah, it's been a great chat.
And yeah, we look forward toseeing the progression of my
energy in Australia and inEurope and the rest of the
world.
Thanks for having us on.
Thank you.
(32:57):
So that's it, and thanks forlistening to this episode of the
EV Charging Podcast.
Brought to you, as always, bySolar Choice, Australia's only
instant quote comparison servicefor solar, EV chargers, heat
pumps, batteries, and airconditioning systems.
We also provide independentconsultation and tender
management for clean energyprojects in commercial and
(33:20):
strata buildings with over 17years of experience.
Find out more atsolarchoice.net.au and stay
tuned for the next episode intwo weeks.
SPEAKER_01 (33:30):
If you enjoyed the show, please consider leaving us
a review on your favoritepodcast app and make sure you
share an episode with someoneelse who might like it.
See you on the next one.
you
SPEAKER_01 (00:11):
Hello and welcome to the EV Charging Podcast, where
we take you behind the scenes ofthe electric vehicle charging
industry in Australia and allaround the world.
I'm Daniel Carson.
And I'm Geoff Sykes.
And we're your hosts from SolarChoice, your go-to trusted
independent advisor for allthings clean energy in
residential, commercial andstrata buildings.
(00:37):
Today, we're chatting to Shazand Piers from My Energy, the
UK-based company who make one ofAustralia's best-selling home
chargers, the Zappy.
Shaz Shadan is the ManagingDirector of My Energy APAC,
while Piers McHenry is theInternational Sales Director for
My Energy, based in Ireland.
In this episode, we cover thechallenges of bringing a charger
(01:00):
into a new market, And Pierstalks about some of the key
differences between the Europeanmarket and the Australian market
for home EV chargers.
We hope you enjoy it.
SPEAKER_02 (01:14):
Welcome to the EV charging podcast.
We're here today with twospecial guests all the way from
the UK.
We've got Shaz Shadan.
He's the country manager forMyEnergy.
Our installers may know thepopular EV charging brand Zappi.
The company behind that isMyEnergy.
And also joining us today isPierce McHenry.
(01:36):
He's the internationalcommercial director and joins us
from Ireland.
So welcome, Pierce and Shaz, tothe podcast.
Thanks for having us, guys.
Great to be here, yeah.
Great.
So look, to kick things off,Shaz, I thought I might ask you
a little bit about some of yourprevious career.
I understand you're perhaps abeer baron in previous life.
SPEAKER_03 (01:58):
Yeah, guilty as charged.
So I'm relatively new to therenewable space.
My energy was started in a smallworking class town up in the
northeast of England, myhometown.
So that's how obviously I'vebecome involved with the
business.
So I watched it grow in thebackground.
But yeah, I've worked in variousother roles, mainly around sort
(02:18):
of operations and sort of likerunning of companies.
So usually I find myself inroles that involve daily
firefighting and sorting outanything that's going wrong and
trying to get everybody back ontrack.
So yeah, I grew the beerbusiness.
very successful in the localarea, big regional brewery.
(02:38):
So very different to this world,but I think a lot of this stuff
translates over.
So we had a production facilityto produce charges, very
different, but the principlesstay the same about quality and
consistency.
And then we have to build upsort of customer relationships
and relationships are really,really important.
Marketing, branding is really,really important and sort of
like that ongoing aftercare.
So a lot of those aretransferable skills and then
(03:01):
With My Energy being an iconicbrand in the area, when the time
came for a change, I was luckyenough to join the team there.
SPEAKER_02 (03:09):
Great.
And you've recently made thetrip out and you're permanently
with us now in Australia.
How long have you been out here?
SPEAKER_03 (03:16):
I am.
So I came out for EverythingElectric in February and never
went back.
How are you enjoying it?
Absolutely loving it.
Yeah.
So we've got family living inAustralia and we've been up many
times before.
I've got two young boys.
And yeah, it kind of been on thecards.
We looked at moving out beforeCOVID and COVID put a stop to
that.
And then I joined managing agroup role.
(03:37):
So I was global operationsmanager previously.
So I was working with Pierce tolook after the different
subsidiaries.
We obviously sell into dozens ofcountries and have offices in
five or six countries around theworld.
And then when this opportunitycame up, I was like, this feels
like it's lined up and let'sjump on it and make the move.
So I haven't looked back.
So yeah, loving it.
SPEAKER_02 (03:57):
Great.
So Pierce, you were formerly themanaging director for My Energy
in Ireland, currently Irish andreside there, I understand.
And so tell us a little bitabout that role and how that
translated into your currentrole for My Energy.
SPEAKER_00 (04:13):
Yeah.
So The relationship with myenergy actually started even
before that.
So I've been in the solarinstallation business since
2010, and it's set up inNorthern Ireland as an
installer.
That then moved towardsdistribution for the island of
Ireland and into GB as well.
With my distribution business atthe time, I was the first person
(04:34):
to ever buy the Eddie, which isthe part of it for my energy.
And I can still remember doingthe deal at my kitchen table in
Ireland on the phone to Jordan,the co-founder, to forward buy
the first batch of Eddie's.
I still have the messages of,Jordan telling me that the
Eddies were coming to Irelandand the excitement of a new
product in that market at thattime.
(04:57):
We'd done really well with theMy Energy brand.
Obviously, Zappi followed.
We had The Hub, The Harvey.
Really great products at thattime, and they stood to test at
the time.
But as the distribution businessreally started to go well in
Ireland, then the conversationcame up about My Energy Ireland.
So I became MD in, I think,around 2011.
(05:18):
And from that, we went strengthto strength because we could
open up more conversations withthe likes of the big wholesalers
in Ireland, the energysuppliers, the OEMs, leasing
companies.
And we're market leaders inIreland.
And then with that, Jordan andLee had asked me then to step
(05:41):
more into a group role.
So actually moving from onesubset, MD of that subset, went
to international sales director,so was responsible for all the
international subsets, barringGB.
And then from January this year,I've made group commercial
director, so responsible for allrevenue now.
SPEAKER_02 (05:58):
Yeah, okay.
Well, look, before we get toodeep, let's just set out for the
listeners my energy week.
is the overarching company.
And underneath that, you have anumber of products.
I think in Australia, a lot ofpeople will be familiar with the
Zappi, the EV charger, possiblythe flagship product of
MyEnergy, but there's also theEddie and the Harvey.
(06:20):
So can you tell us a little bitabout what they are?
SPEAKER_00 (06:23):
Yeah, so the first product actually was the Eddy,
which is the car diverter, whichis primarily used to heat water
with excess renewable energy.
So that was the first productthat we went to market with.
Zappi quickly followed, and itwas really, as you say, is the
flagship product now.
So the first charger in theworld to be able to charge a car
with excess renewable energy,whether that's from the sun,
(06:45):
wind, hydro, whatever.
So a really novel product.
And the Harvey then is awireless CT.
So installers love the Harveybecause they can get home to
their families a bit quicker inthe evening because they're not
hardwiring, you know, for anextra hour, hour and a half,
saving materials and that aswell.
So the ease of installation withthe Zappi and the Eddy along
(07:05):
with Harvey is really what tookoff in GB and Ireland.
And also now we have the Libbyin GB and Ireland, which is sort
of rounded the circle of ourecosystem.
and the interoperability of thatin our app, you know, changing
priority of the devices.
In Australia, Shaz is shoutingfor the Libby as well.
(07:26):
And, you know, in the nearfuture, we'll have that coming
to Australia as well, which willbe really exciting.
SPEAKER_01 (07:30):
So really, I think most Australians will think of
MyEnergy as an EV chargingcompany, but really we should be
thinking about it as a full homeelectrification company covering
all aspects of sustainability.
SPEAKER_00 (07:41):
Exactly right, yeah.
So we're a HEMS system, really.
And we really play on that.
And the installers like the factthat they have one company that
they speak to with tech support.
And the end customer also likesthat they don't have to get in
touch with multiple differentmanufacturers as well.
So that's a real big USP ofours.
(08:03):
And as I say, hopefully we canround that circle in Australia
sometime very soon.
SPEAKER_02 (08:08):
So my energy has grown fairly quickly and I think
it's been able to establish...
position as a leadingmanufacturer of EV chargers,
amongst other things.
And obviously, most companies inthis space are relatively young
compared to other companies.
EVs haven't been around thatlong.
But tell us a little bit aboutthe backstory of MyEnergy in the
(08:30):
UK and when things started tobranch out into a more global
perspective.
SPEAKER_00 (08:36):
Yeah, so as I say, the company started in probably
making products on the diningroom table in Lee Sutton's
house, the co-founder, alongwith Jordan Brompton then.
So that's the two co-founders ofthe company.
My Energy was formed in 2016.
It's really testament to wherethe company is now.
But yeah, started in makingsingle products, then moved to a
(08:59):
factory in Binbrook.
So the company has found it intheir hometown of near Grimsby.
And Everything happened reallyquick.
I think timing was importantthere.
So obviously the UK market hasgained maturity a lot quicker
than here.
So right product, right time.
And actually the scale, they gota bit of investment in probably
(09:20):
maybe 2018, 2019, I think aroundthat time.
And that really catapulted thenthe being able to produce more
and keep up with the demand.
So We know from probably makingproducts on a kitchen table, we
now have 60,000 square footmanufacturing facility in
Stalingrad, top state-of-the-artfactory.
(09:41):
We take major players there,major customers there, and
they're just blown away by thequality of the factory and the
office space and great place towork as well.
So in seven, eight years, thegrowth of the company has been
fantastic.
SPEAKER_02 (09:55):
That's probably largely becoming a point of
difference for MyEnergy is thatthe manufacturing takes place in
the UK.
I think, obviously, you'veexperienced lots of competitors
entering the market in the pasteven one year, but over the past
two or three years, most ofthose have manufacturing
(10:16):
facilities in China, andobviously there's potentially
cost advantages to do that.
So is that something thatMyEnergy wants will you know
need to consider or yeah how doyou see that playing out in the
future
SPEAKER_00 (10:29):
yeah so zappy and eddie at the moment and the
libby controller is all made inthe uk great point of
differentiation for us are youknow the installers and the
companies we deal with love thefact that it's locally made in
those markets gp and ireland andObviously, there's a lot of
price pressures, a lot ofcompetition coming in.
(10:51):
But actually, as we look at thedevelopment of our products, and
because the factory is sostate-of-the-art, we believe
that we can continue to make theproducts really competitively.
And again, we're dealing with, Isuppose, OEMs, energy suppliers
who have presence in differentparts of the world as well.
But whenever...
those companies are in the ukand ireland they do want to be
(11:13):
affiliated with home brands aswell and that's definitely a
real plus for us and wheneverthey go and a lot of people
don't actually believe we domake these products so whenever
we can actually show the factoryand the quality and everything
yeah i think that really winspeople over even more
SPEAKER_03 (11:31):
I think there's an economies of scale there as
well.
The fact that we've got over600,000 shipped devices, it's,
yes, products coming in fromother countries, but often in a
lot smaller volumes.
And we do have that economy ofscale.
I also think when people talkabout, we can, I know, I
obviously have priceconversations every day.
I know we can be verycompetitive on price and still
(11:53):
get in line with where peopleneed us to be.
But I don't think price shouldalways just be considered
against the purchase price.
It's not only the long-term costof that product.
So as Pierce mentioned, thingslike in-country tech support is
really important to us.
Saving the installer time on ajob because they can get hold of
tech support quickly, knowingthat the product's reliable when
(12:13):
they get it out of the box, bitsaren't missing or broken or just
not working right.
All of these things...
You might not see them in theupfront cost, but they have a
cost elsewhere in the lifespanof the product.
And it's the same through thatwarranty cycle and then beyond
the warranty cycle.
SPEAKER_02 (12:27):
So Shaz, tell us a little bit about My Energy's
entry into Australia.
Obviously, that's one of yourkey focuses in your role.
From our observation at SolarChoice, we've got a network of
EV charger installers that ourcustomers across Australia can
request quotes from.
And we can see that Zappi isalready a very popular brand of
(12:50):
those installers.
So you've been able to establisha good presence in the
Australian markets.
So tell us a bit about thebackstory.
When did you start?
shipping devices here?
When did you sort of shift to aphysical presence?
I can't
SPEAKER_03 (13:04):
take the credit for the early stage, but I'll give
you a bit of backstory.
So my energy, obviously, andpart of its growth, as Peter
mentioned earlier, was the firstsolar-aware, solar-compatible EV
charger.
That sparked a lot of interestworldwide.
And very quickly, we had inboundsales requests from all over the
globe.
And Australia was one of theplaces.
So a local distributor startedoff few units turned into
(13:29):
pallets etc and in a sort ofsimilar fashion my energy
australia subsidiary was set upa couple of years ago and that's
slowly grown and grown and thenaround well it was february
march when i moved out here sowe had a bit of a group
restructure we brought in somegroup investment from eip and
that was to kind of take thecompany to that next level and
(13:52):
we had a bit of a change aroundand i came in as country manager
from march and Really,obviously, we might experience a
group level weapon with Piercejust to see where we can take
the company now moving forward.
So we've been in market probablyfor about four years, roughly
sold in some format.
But we've just moved office andwarehouse location in March.
SPEAKER_02 (14:14):
I imagine the future is only onwards and upwards, a
bigger team, a bigger presenceas the Australian market
expands.
SPEAKER_03 (14:22):
Yeah, absolutely.
So obviously we're seeing...
If you zoom into EV sales tooclosely, you see quite extreme
ebbs and flows.
But when you actually zoom outyear on year, it's steady
uplifting growth.
I think it'll be interesting tosee how the Australian market
plays out differently to othermarkets.
SPEAKER_02 (14:40):
Yeah, I think there's a few probably
structural differences with theAustralian market and some of
the European markets, one ofwhich I think is just the
expanse of Australia.
You know, often we're in thecity of Melbourne and things are
nice and close here, but I thinkin the back of most Australians'
mind is that, okay, well, lastyear I did that road trip out to
(15:04):
somewhere that was 1,500kilometres away and, you know,
some of the...
I guess misinformation orconcerns around range anxiety
and things really can be alimiting factor to the EV
transition.
So I think we've spoken withother guests on this podcast
around some of those thingsneeding to get to a tipping
(15:25):
point where, you know, people'sfriends or there's so many EVs
on the road that people sort ofrealise that these things aren't
a big issue.
And on the flip side, we've gotto keep up with the public
charging system to make surethat we're ahead of the numbed
EVs on the road.
Would that be a fair sort ofcomparison or do you think
there's places in Europe thatmight have a similar challenge
(15:49):
with EV adoption?
SPEAKER_00 (15:51):
I think Australia is definitely a big difference,
just the expanse of the landthere.
I mean, I live in you know, thenorth of Ireland, nearly at the
very top of Ireland.
And I can drive in five hours tothe very south of Ireland, you
know, so I would only have tostop off maybe once for a charge
and you would need to stop offanyway, you know, to eat or do
whatever you need to do withinthat time.
(16:11):
So, you know, the likes of, youknow, Ireland EVs really sit
very well.
But having said that, Irelandhas actually seen a 30% decline
year-to-date compared to lastyear in BEV sales after having
really great growth over thelast four or five years.
And I think that's just a timein the market where you have
(16:32):
your early adopters, and thenthere's a little bit of a dip
before the mass adoption comesin as well.
And we've sort of seen thathistorically in some of the
other countries as well.
Germany...
is actually down 30% this yearwith BEV sales as well.
That's more to do, I think, withthe economy in Germany currently
and also incentives being pulledalso.
So I think governmentintervention has a lot to play
(16:54):
with the uptake of BEV still.
But again, GB steady, 12%, 13%growth year to date compared to
last year.
And as a whole, again, if youzoom out, as a whole in Europe,
sales are looking pretty steadythere.
But it is an interest indifferent countries, even within
Europe, have very differenttrends.
And even with, Shaz mentionedsales channels earlier, so even
(17:17):
how EV chargers are sold in acountry is very different.
So for example, in Scandinavia,a lot of chargers are bought
online.
Online marketplace is very highpercentage of sales.
Germany is still very strongwith the wholesale installer
market, but the likes of leasingcompanies, OEMs, you know, those
channels are becoming strongerand stronger because a lot of
(17:40):
the early adopters are actuallybusiness leases for cars.
So the benefit and gain taxincentives again, you know, so
That has a big part to play withactually how EV chargers make
their way to a house.
And, you know, public chargingis important, but I think that's
more to do with confidence inthe market because people do
have range anxiety.
But actually, 90% of my chargingis done at home or the
(18:02):
workplace.
But you need to have thatcomfort, you know, on the times
I am driving to Dublin or Cork,that, you know, you're going to
get a charge as well.
So it is very important thatthose two go hand in hand.
SPEAKER_02 (18:13):
What sort of...
Things exist in the UK to helpcustomers learn about, you know,
is an EV going to be suitablefor them?
Where can they go to sort ofovercome some of these myths we
know about?
There's the Fully Chargedpodcast, of course, where they
do some great stuff.
(18:33):
Are there different resourcesthat are available in the UK
that we don't have here?
I
SPEAKER_00 (18:38):
think Ireland's actually a very progressive
country.
place to look there.
I mean, we have the SustainableEnergy Authority of Ireland,
which is like a one-stop shopfor information on all things
renewable and including EVs.
So people are signposted to anindependent source to get
information from.
And another thing which theIrish government are doing are
(19:00):
they're making petrol forecourtsnow show the difference in
pricing between buying petrol.
or if you're charging withelectric.
But they take a blend.
They don't look at the...
Because obviously DChigh-powered chargers can be
expensive as well, but they takea blend of home charging versus
DC.
And that's really...
It's a really good message toshow people of how much cheaper
(19:22):
it is to actually charge yourcar.
So that's actually displayed atthe Pertl forecourt as well.
And then also online, they haveto publish that.
It's on the big sign in front ofthe
SPEAKER_02 (19:32):
petrol station.
It's got, yeah, two pounds foryour petrol and then EV would be
this.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (19:39):
So that information is being published now as well.
So that's really helping becausepeople will vote with their
pockets as well, of course.
So if it's going to be cheaper.
SPEAKER_02 (19:46):
So what are some of the...
key markets for my energyoutside of the UK and Australia?
What are some of the key growthmarkets that you guys are
focused on?
SPEAKER_00 (19:57):
So we're active at the moment with offices in the
Benelux region.
So in Maastricht in theNetherlands, we have a
subsidiary set up there andfantastic growth in Belgium this
year, actually over 50% growthAnd again, that was down to very
nice incentives for business carowners.
So very excited about the futurein the Benelux region.
(20:19):
Actually, going back to more ofthe solar there, the Benelux
region has had a very, you know,really good incentives with net
metering, for example.
That's actually been phased outnow.
So self-consumption products arebecoming, you know, really hot
topics there.
So does that mean for chargingthe car for free from your
renewable energy?
Yeah.
also the eddy for heating thewater as well, primarily.
(20:43):
And also those, you know, thosecountries are starting to phase
gas out and heat pumps arebecoming more popular.
So, and our compatibility witheddy and the heat pumps is
great.
So again, going by, and theLibby, obviously the battery
storage is very prominent now,or becoming prominent in the
Benelux region.
So our suite of products thereand that ecosystem is becoming
very popular.
Germany, massive market, eventhough they're down 30% with the
(21:05):
Bev sales this year, obviouslythey're still the biggest.
bit of market in Europe.
And we have an office in Colognethere.
So again, just want to buildupon the foundations that we
have in Germany.
But also I see interestingtrends in Eastern Europe,
similar to where Ireland wasfour or five years ago.
And I know that market verywell.
So I can spot sort of the growththat's happening there.
(21:27):
So the likes of Czech Republic,you know, sales are up 50% there
this year, for example.
And Slovakia is steady.
And so certain parts like that,Spain, Italy, France, obviously
the big...
big markets there.
So we certainly want to belooking to expand into those
markets in Europe also.
SPEAKER_03 (21:45):
Just over the last few months, we've been getting
increasing inquiries fromSoutheast Asia.
So a lot of imports of EVs goinginto the Philippines and
Indonesia and places like that.
SPEAKER_02 (21:57):
So I guess from a consumer's perspective...
Once you buy an electric vehicleor place an order, there's a
question, do I charge it with aplug point or do I get a wall
charger?
And then there's also thequestion, where do I buy that
from?
I mean, a lot of these people inthe dealership will be
potentially presented with anoffer.
We obviously know that Teslahave their own charger and that
(22:21):
can be bolted onto a sale.
Other manufacturers havepartnered up with different
brands and things like that.
How do you see that aspect ofthe market playing out Will the
charges eventually become justa, you know, add fries with that
to the car sale or will there bea consistent market for
consumers to purchase from abroader range of options?
SPEAKER_03 (22:46):
I don't think it'll be a one-channel wins-all
strategy.
I think...
every individual need isdifferent depending on where you
sit in that journey.
And one of the stark contrastsI've noticed here versus, say,
the UK is it feels like the UKmarket was, in terms of
renewables, was very muchEV-led, solar second.
I don't know if you necessarilyagree with that.
(23:06):
I mean, a lot more in the solarspace than mine versus Australia
by comparison.
Australia, obviously, solar'snot a new thing, right?
Very well established.
So I think If you think whatthat does to the psyche of
somebody buying an EV, you'venever put solar panels on your
house.
You've never really spoke agreat length about kilowatt
hours or inverters or evenself-consumption.
(23:28):
These are completely newbuzzwords.
So really, when you go to buyyour EV, you're just talking
about the battery in the car andhow do I get power from my
socket.
a house into that car and ohthis device is safer and has
functionality etc whereas whenthe consumer has massive solar
array maybe double solar arraythey could even have a battery
on the drive already power wallor or whichever brand and um
(23:53):
then all of a sudden they'relooking at their ev they're
already quite aware of sort oflike how energy is moving around
the home and how it's consumedand how it's actually created as
well so i think that very muchchanges the buying dynamic there
as well.
So, and it'll be, it'll beinteresting again to watch those
channels change as obviouslywe've talked to all the major
energy retailers in the region.
(24:14):
And there's a lot ofconversation around sort of
quite exciting new tariffscoming through that we've, we've
already seen developed acrossEurope.
And I think that's going tochange, well, introduce a new
channel as well, becauseobviously the way to access
those tariffs is through,through the intelligent
charging.
So I think it's a big mix, but Ithink, kind of reiterate
pierce's point as well it'sfinding the channel that works
(24:36):
best for the end consumer andwhichever charger you're
installing it also relies on acompetent installer as well so
looking after making sure theend customer ends up with the
best product for them and makingsure that we're dealing with
reputable well-trainedknowledgeable installers and
they're being looked after aswell in that pipeline as well is
(24:56):
always very important.
And then the channel beyondthat, I guess, it depends which
demographic resonates best,whether it's the car
manufacturer or the in-charge orthe wholesaler.
SPEAKER_02 (25:06):
So Shaz, I understand that there's some
lucky customers in Victoria thatare getting a free Zappy at the
moment.
Can you tell us a little bitabout the funding you've got for
that program, what theobjectives are?
SPEAKER_03 (25:19):
Yes.
So it's a project with DECA andit's zero emissions, vehicle
project and essentially we've50% match funded the project
with Deca, and it's to provide100 Zappies into homes.
And the purpose is to thenconduct a six-month trial where
we monitor all the homes afteras a pre-requirement, obviously
(25:41):
have an EV starters, but havehome solar and connectivities to
the internet so we can monitorthose devices.
And basically over that period,we're going to monitor solar
consumption and demonstrate thereduced demand placed on the
grid by self-consumption and afew other measures as well and
(26:03):
also we'll be conducting somedemand side trial demand side
response trials through it aswell so essentially sending out
start stop signals at times ofpeak demand to control the
devices and just show what ahuge impact that can have on the
pain points in the grid.
Obviously, something that's verycommon in Australia is that duck
(26:24):
curve on a hot day when itsuddenly sets and everyone's
solar stops pumping, but the airconditioning is very much still
on.
Obviously, it can often landaround the same sort of time
that everyone's come home andplugged in their car to start
the charging cycle.
That charging cycle may notnecessarily need to have started
just then and could potentiallybe delayed for an hour or two
(26:44):
until demand reduces down.
So yeah, we're going tosimulate, we're going to take
some live data as well from thegrid, but also make some
simulations as well.
And we'll be producing a whitepaper at the end of it to
demonstrate our findings.
But of all the studies we'vedone across Europe, I think
we're only going to see acompounding effect in Australia
where the benefits are evengreater because of the huge
(27:05):
amount of solid.
SPEAKER_00 (27:07):
And we've actually proven, you know, proven a lot
of that already in GB.
You know, we have a, it's not aconcept now, it's actually in
play called GridPay.
So we do have end customers nowactively making money, making
revenue monthly from helping thegrid out.
You know, and so actually thisasset, which is there to charge
(27:27):
your car, that's how it's seen,is now actually generating
revenue as well for thesecustomers because they're
helping the grid out.
SPEAKER_02 (27:34):
And so in a customer's position, they get
home from work, plug in theircar, maybe there's some event on
the grid that's drawing a hugespike in demand.
Zappi can come in or throughyour network partners can stop
the charger on a fleet ofpotentially thousands of cars
and reduce the demand on thegrid and could be as short as
(27:56):
five minutes, I suppose.
Exactly.
And there's a payment for that.
inconvenience, perhaps for acustomer, but if they're
plugging their car in overnight,it's probably not much of an
inconvenience anyway.
SPEAKER_00 (28:07):
Yeah, you basically nailed that.
People want their car charged by6am, 6.30am.
So if there's a couple of eventsin between times where they're
helping the grid out and they'reeven getting paid for it, it
doesn't really matter if the caris charged by 4am or 5am.
So these customers have reallybought into that and are reaping
(28:28):
the benefits.
SPEAKER_02 (28:30):
We understand there's a very big spike in
energy in the UK when CoronationStreet finishes and everyone
goes to put the
SPEAKER_00 (28:36):
kettle on.
That's correct.
Around 7pm, the kettle goes on,there's a spike.
And I think Jordan always saysthat She's had this vision of my
energy to be bigger than Draxpower plant, which is four
gigawatt, I believe.
And, you know, we believe in thenext couple of years we're going
to have seven gigawatt to playwith.
So that sort of virtual powerplant that we've talked about
(28:58):
brings great help to the grid.
And because our products arefuture-proofed and we can do
this and we're continuing towork on that.
And again, I think we've talkedabout so much information here
in the time we are.
It's how we get this across tothe end customers.
And again, how we do that iswith the great relationships we
have with the wholesalers, theinstallers and the different
partners that we have as well.
(29:18):
You just simply can't do thisall yourself and we appreciate
all the business that we havewith our current customers as
SPEAKER_02 (29:25):
well.
That is one consideration Ithink that we've seen play out
with solar manufacturers andother product manufacturers that
we work with is that thecustomer experience, feedback,
and even reflection on Zappiitself largely comes down to the
installer that's putting it in,the education that installer
gives to the customer, whetherthey do the job correctly.
(29:46):
Obviously, there's pretty clearcodes around how an EV charger
should get installed, but oftenit's not the most experienced
electricians that are doingthese types of installations.
So how do you guys...
manage that and ensure like acustomer outcome is great every
time even though some parts ofthat are out of your control
SPEAKER_00 (30:07):
i'll let you talk a bit the problem is also you know
SPEAKER_03 (30:10):
yeah so for the apac region basically i'm just
bringing in best practice that'sbeen uh tried and tested from gb
through i guess trial and errorand seeing what works so one of
my first appointments when wewhen i got here was to bring on
a training installation managerSo Lee's a qualified electrician
who's based up on Central Coast.
He's been working across thesolar sector for decades, very
(30:33):
knowledgeable guy.
And his remit was to come in andbasically bring all our training
up to a really high standard.
And between Lee and Johnny andour tech support team, they
deliver loads of in-persononline training seminars.
These aren't like 15-minutetraining sessions, 30-minute
training sessions that kind ofpeople can just tick a box and
go off with a piece of papersaying I'm certified in solar.
(30:55):
an average installation trainingsession can take two to three
hours and there's an exam at theend and then basically the next
level beyond a trained installeris a product champion it's a new
scheme that we've just launchedbasically to become a product
champion you complete ourtraining then we invite you to
sign up to our product championcharter so it's not necessarily
a contract it's a charter butit's I guess it's best practice
(31:19):
you're signing up to my energyprinciples to say that you're
going to ensure that all yourelectricians are certified
trained as a company you'rekeeping up to date with things
like public liability insuranceetc and you're always going to
comply with AS3000 and thestandards and with their
commitment to us by goingthrough that due diligence we
(31:39):
then offer obviously in additionto the training expedited
customer support as well soJohnny was running through some
stats with me the other dayJohnny runs up our tech support
team and I think our averagecall answer time is under a
minute at the minute forinstallers so whenever Like I
say, installers are one of ourmain routes to market.
And if they're at a site andthey're struggling to configure
(32:00):
Wi-Fi or get an app connected,it can be too tempting sometimes
to think, I can't get hold ofanybody, so it'll charge.
I'll leave, but then you'd havethe smarts connected, right?
So our job, our responsibilityis to take away any roadblocks
that can stop that fromhappening.
So making sure that they knowthey can pick up a phone and
within a few seconds, somebodyis going to answer.
As long as that device isconnected to the internet, they
(32:22):
can remotely log in and justquickly do a config check and
make sure everything's up andrunning is really important to
us.
And that's been a lot of thefeedback we get from installers
about why they come back to ustime and time again.
SPEAKER_02 (32:33):
Awesome.
Well, I think we've run out oftime, but thanks so much, Piers
and Shaz, for joining us.
Thanks for having us.
Yeah, it's been a great chat.
And yeah, we look forward toseeing the progression of my
energy in Australia and inEurope and the rest of the
world.
Thanks for having us on.
Thank you.
(32:57):
So that's it, and thanks forlistening to this episode of the
EV Charging Podcast.
Brought to you, as always, bySolar Choice, Australia's only
instant quote comparison servicefor solar, EV chargers, heat
pumps, batteries, and airconditioning systems.
We also provide independentconsultation and tender
management for clean energyprojects in commercial and
(33:20):
strata buildings with over 17years of experience.
Find out more atsolarchoice.net.au and stay
tuned for the next episode intwo weeks.
SPEAKER_01 (33:30):
If you enjoyed the show, please consider leaving us
a review on your favoritepodcast app and make sure you
share an episode with someoneelse who might like it.
See you on the next one.
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