E30 report names innovators with an impact on e-mobility

“With one in four households planning to buy an electric car in the next five years, Britain’s EV scene is changing fast,” said David Mitchell, Managing Sirector at Futurice UK. “The E30 report breaks down the trends and ideas commanding attention right now, as innovators rush to keep pace with demand. Rapid-charging hubs, subscription models and emerging fleet tech are just some of the areas where we’re seeing huge momentum ahead of the 2030 diesel and petrol ban.”

The E30 ranks e-mobility companies based in or operating in the UK against three key factors: 

• Ambition and potential – level of commitment to an electric future.
• Impact – scale of impact delivered to date.
• Innovation – ability to create new ideas, products and technologies.

Landing pole position on the list is king EV trailblazer Tesla, which – despite ongoing engineering glitches – enjoyed spectacular success in 2021, with its Tesla Model 3 named one of Britain’s best-selling cars, and its new Cybertruck pickup slated to launch by the end of this year. 

In second place in the rundown of Futurice E30 contenders is Octopus Energy and its “one-tap access” Electric Juice Network: a unified payment system that brings together different operators across more than 180,000 charging points in over 40 countries. Volkswagen Group, zero emissions operator Arrival – whose electric buses and vans are set to hit the road in Q2 2022 – and OVO Energycomplete the E30 top five. 

Elsewhere on the list, EV pioneer ABB offers serious clout with the launch last year of Terra 360: a charger capable of delivering a 100km (60 mile) range in just three minutes. Similarly, Zap-Map, a platform that has mapped 95% of public points on the UK’s charging network, is also making waves, as is Onto, the popular Netflix-style subscription service that allows drivers an affordable preview of the EV lifestyle with just one month’s commitment.

It’s not just about existing assets, though: brands with great expectations are also heating up Futurice’s E30 shortlist.

With ambitious plans to double its estimated 8,000 UK charging points by the year 2030, bp pulse (previously BP Chargemaster) surfaces as a key one to watch in the report, as does new entrant charging network Gridserve, with a Q2 2022 proposal to introduce more than 20 “Electric Hubs” – each featuring 6-12 x 350kW high-power chargers with contactless payment, capable of adding up to 100miles (160km) of range in less than 10 minutes.

Elsewhere, Pod Point’s decision to float on the London Stock Exchange last year suggests ambitious growth plans for the EV charger brand, valued at £352m, as it expands its footprint in public and workplace charging this year, along with ventures in the b2b space. 

Futurice’s e-mobility report first launched last year, as the E25 list. There are nine new entrants in this year’s report:  Rolls-Royce Accel (the highest new entrant), Ohme, ev.energy, Bonnet, Gridserve, EO Charging, InstaVolt, Vertical Aerospace and Pod Point. Just five companies – Arrival, LEVC, Zap-Map, ABB and Onto - increased their ranking while 11 companies saw their ranking fall year-on-year - signalling how competitive the e-mobility sector has become.  In fact, outside the top eight companies, Futurice’s own internally weighted scoring revealed that the entries were incredibly close.

David Mitchell said: “The future of electric Britain depends on our ability to shape best-in-class infrastructure and data standards to meet a wide range of challenges as we transition to net zero. These challenges include charging speeds, battery disposal, EV in public transport, the intersection between EV and home energy as well as interoperability across networks and platforms.

“The Futurice E30 report takes an inside look at the entrepreneurs seeking to address these issues, both within existing industrial giants and at start-up level. There are a lot of barriers still ahead, but the outlook is really promising. It’s exciting to see these architects of a post-fossil fuel market make their mark.”

To download and read the E30 report, with insight from industry insiders including Aceleron’s Amrit Chandan, Onto’s Rob Jolly and more, follow this link.