Nicolas Banchet - Zeplug & ChargeGuru - Ubiquitous chargers to fuel the electric mobility revolution

Nicolas Banchet is the co-founder of Zeplug, a startup installing Electric Vehicles (EV) charging stations. What sets Zeplug apart? Their positioning and innovative business model:

• Targeting multi-occupant buildings: Zeplug provides EV charging services only for apartment buildings where the electrical infrastructure has to be shared in parkings
• No upfront cost: EV charging service is provided at no upfront cost for the building; Zeplug funds the shared infrastructure and recoups costs over time based on resident usage.

This approach has fueled Zeplug's rapid expansion across Europe, now serving over 16,000 buildings and offering access to 1 million parking spaces.

But that's not all.

Nicolas also founded another thriving startup at the same time: ChargeGuru. Operating in the EV charging space as well, ChargeGuru provides end-to-end installation services for individual and commercial customers.

In this episode, we talk with Nicolas about:

• His journey from management consulting to CEO of a family business, then founding two climate tech startups
• Customer pain points in EV charger installation and how ChargeGuru simplified the process
• Building a strong flywheel with partners (OEMs and property managers) selling the Zeplug solution
• Key strategies for entering new countries and markets with varying regulations
• Expansion potential of Zeplug into Virtual Power Plants using vehicle-to-home/grid technology and current challenges in scaling up this market

Enjoy the discussion!