Ejoin is a Slovak manufacturer of charging stations for electric vehicles. The company has their own factory in Dubnica nad Vahom in Slovakia and in-house R&D team that works on every aspect of the products. They aim to offer the full charging solution, including products, software and infrastructure.
Interview with Martin Janušek, International Relations Manager & Tomáš Kuník, Sales Manager at Ejoin.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
Martin Janušek: Two main areas of our company are production and EMSP. We produce AC and DC charging stations for home and commercial use and we also developed with our partner Ultima Payments a software solution, that allows management and payment through our app/web interface. Second big part of our company is our public infrastructure ejoin GO. Right now, we have about 240 public charging points in Slovakia and in 2023 we will branch out to other countries as well.
E.E: What’s the news for 2020 about new products?
M.J: Recently we finished development of our new DC charging stations RAPID. We took what we learned from our previous version and improved on it. It wasn’t just an upgrade, we really went back to the drawing board and developed completely new product, with new design and better functionality. Coming from that, we also developed the compact DC station RAPIDBOX. We also improved our portable charging station PORTY, so it now offers much more features than before.
E.E: What are the ranges of traded products?
M.J: We have charging products for every part of the market. For home use, we offer Homebox, which is our version of a charging wallbox, with power up to 22kW. This station includes smart solution, that supports our mobile app. The app allows you to access advanced settings of the charging station. But we also have portable solution, which we call Porty. It’s a compact charging station, that allows you to change grid connectors based on your needs and supports communication with our mobile app. What sets our Porty apart, is the fact that it also has OCPP protocol and a GPS locator, so it can be used as a fleet solution. The biggest part of our portfolio is however made by our commercial products. AC charging stations can be configured by our customers in many ways. You can choose if you want station with one or two outputs, if you want cables or sockets, what kind of internet connection you want and many more. Each station is also compatible with our solutions such as Master/Slave installations or Power Management. Our DC stations offer a less options to customize the product but still offer the full charging experience. DC units can be produced with power from 60kW all the way up until 240kW.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
M.J: Services for EV charging are massively expanding around the world, including Slovakia. Most notably in western Europe and northern countries, the amount of charging stations for public is being expanded as well as available charging powers. In Slovakia, the amount of charging stations is always rising, last annual stats show about 45 percent rise in available public charging stations. It should be noted however, that vast majority of charging points in Slovakia is made by slow charging stations, meaning type AC up to 22 kW. That means, the most effective expansion of Slovak charging infrastructure is still to be made. More effective construction of high power charging stations is also supported by the electric vehicles owners by their use of public stations. If the locations are used more often, it’s necessary to build more stations. Other than building new charging stations on new locations, we are in the first phase of upgrading attractive locations for more power.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
M.J: Current trends are closely related to previous question. Main one is definitely construction of high power DC stations with a power at least 120 kW and more. Availability of charging HUBs is definitely expanding in Slovakia, and we at ejoin are currently working on numerous locations with high volume of traffic, that are ideal for building such HUBs. They will have numerous charging terminals with cumulative power in hundreds of kilowatts. Other than charging options, another big topic is how to make charging easier by offering payments by debit/credit card, Google Pay/Apple Pay, easy credit system or a form of autocharge or Plug & Charge.
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
M.J: In 2022 we launched our mobile app and innovative back-end system Smart Fuel Pass. It is meant for charging as well as management of charging stations. Users can easily register and immediately have access to hundreds of charging points in one app from many different CPOs. In one system can be unlimited amount of charging point operators, which excludes any roaming fees. Charging is this way available for all customers for the same price. In the near future we plan on expanding the amount of charging stations in our system, mainly by connecting more CPOs. Biggest advantage of our system is integrated payment system by Ultima Payments licensed by the National bank of Slovakia, with license transferable to all countries of European union. Thanks to that, the payment is done immediately after the charging is finished, so the money go from the client’s account to the CPO’s account.
E.E: What estimations do you have for 2021?
M.J: In 2023 we expect the biggest rise of charging points in Slovakia yet. Firstly, for 2023 we have big plans in ejoin to build new charging points on our own, but the country has big plans as well. Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic plans to support building of charging points with grants, that will be aimed for cities, towns and also companies.