ChargePoint is one of the biggest companies around the world that operates an EV charging network in 14 countries. The growth of electric vehicle has been increasing every day and thus the demand for EV charging stations are also increasing. These charging stations are becoming as common as petrol pumps and will expand to other countries very soon.
Richard Lowenthal is the founder of the company and currently, Pasquale Romano, CEO of ChargePoint is the most important person in the company. His visions for the company are big and he thinks he doesn’t need to wait for the world to understand the charging network. So, the technology on which the EV charging networks run is built by the company itself.
About Richard Lowenthal
Richard acquired his bachelor’s degree from the University of California Berkeley. He was the CEO of ChargePoint from 2007 (the founding year) to 2011. Currently, he is the CTO of the company. Apart from ChargePoint, Richard is also the co-founder of Lighter Networks.
History of ChargePoint
Initially, when the company was founded, people didn’t have much idea about electric vehicles and how it can take over the world within the next few years. Founded in 2007, ChargePoint witnessed massive growth in profit within 10 years. By 2017, ChargePoint owned more than 35,000 EV stations in many countries. The company’s headquarters are based in Campbell, California. But, apart from that, the company has big markets in Mexico, Canada, Australia, and the United States.
The growth escalated highly in the past three years and in 2017 the company was planning for a listing. But, no one from the company mentioned a specific timeline. At the end of 2018, the company raised around $240 million, and the number of stations summed up to 57,000. At the end of 2021, the annual growth of the company is predicted to be around 55%.
Pasquale Romano- The man taking ChargePoint to newer levels
In 2011, Pasquale Romano became the CEO and the President of ChargePoint. Since then he has opened many new ideas and paths for the company to increase the revenue and expansion in foreign lands. He is highly inspired by Tesla and said Tesla didn’t wait for the rest of the world to catch up and thus designed Tesla’s Supercharger Network. Similarly, he won’t stop making significant changes and build out the biggest charging network only because the world isn’t fast enough to catch up with it.
Pasquale has a very rich experience in the business world. Before becoming the CEO of ChargePoint, he was the board member of many companies like CALSTART, AgilOne, Proterra Inc, and also the owner of Centonove and a few other companies. He went to Harvard and later to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his maters.
The world is changing and irrespective of the pace people are buying electric vehicles and by 2025 the demand will be at its peak. Pasquale also said that he is not looking into the business from a single man’s perspective. He has laid put strategic plans for the company for both private vehicles and public transport as well. So, even in the next few years if the number of personal vehicles drops due to excess pollution level or oil demand, the company can benefit from the public transport sector.
Pasquale’s main vision is to make the lives of common people easier by bringing down the cost for vehicles and EV is the best way in this era to do it. He is a very optimistic person who mainly focuses on the driver’s perspective, his customers, and customers of EV in general. Thus, he dedicates all his work to make this technology easily viable and affordable.
ChargePoint and its growth in Europe
In 2018, the company planned to expand its business as the market for EV in Europe is increasing more rapidly. The firm of ChargePoint is now owned by Daimler and BMW and it started selling charging points in Europe in 2018. Quickly, electric cars will be outnumbering diesel cars as in many parts of Europe diesel cars have been banned. This is one of the reasons why ChargePoint thinks the market of Europe has a big potential for EV. The company has raised $125 million for expansion in the European market and soon it will compete with Engie and Innogy.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more