9 Oct 2024
Easelink, an Austrian deep tech company and a member of EIC Scaling Club’s Smart Mobility group, is pioneering automated electrical vehicle (EV) technology. Its goal is twofold: to set the global standard for efficient automated charging solutions as well as to integrate EVs into the electrical grid for energy storage.
Through its innovative Matrix Charging® technology, Easelink enables EVs to automatically connect to charging points, eliminating the need for human intervention. This automated charging solution not only enhances user experience but also harnesses the capacity of EV batteries to stabilize the grid and balance the fluctuations of renewable energy sources.
Easelink’s CEO Hermann Stockinger told us: “Our electric grids require flexibility to match green energy demand and supply. EVs with their batteries offer the possibility to store larger quantities of energy.”
The future of charging: Automated and efficient
Easelink’s Matrix Charging system consists of a vehicle unit (connector) on the underbody and an infrastructure unit (charging pad) at the parking lot. As soon as the vehicle is parked above the charging pad, a rubber bellow automatically lowers from the vehicle unit and connects to the charging pad, creating an efficient conductive charging connection. From the user's point of view, all it takes is parking your car.
Apart from offering a superior user experience without the hassle of handling cables and maneuvering in tight parking spaces, automated charging offers two other essential benefits. It enables better grid integration by maximizing connection time between EVs and the charging infrastructure. And it's a prerequisite for autonomous parking, ensuring the seamless operation of self-driving vehicles.
When compared to wireless charging, its primary competitor, automated charging offers several advantages:
- Efficiency: Wireless charging often involves significant energy losses (5-10%) due to electromagnetic induction. With millions of cars charging this way, the losses amount substantially.
- Cost: Matrix Charging can be manufactured and implemented for about a third of the cost of wireless charging, making it a more accessible and cost-effective option.
Easelink’s CEO told us: “Benchmarks have proven that Matrix Charging is best-in-class technology in terms of cost, efficiency, and design. That's why numerous EV brands are very actively working on this topic, and we are already in great collaboration with a number of brands.”
Innovation and leadership: The Easelink story
Easelink was founded in 2016 by Hermann Stockinger, an experienced engineer with a background in energy and environmental engineering, business economics, and the automotive industry. He was joined by Gregor Eckhard (CTO at Easelink), a former automotive startup CEO and McKinsey consultant, and Jürgen Antonitsch (Automotive Cooperations & Technology), a veteran of the automotive industry with over 25 years of experience in top management positions.
After a stealth period, the company emerged in 2018 to collaborate on its first project. Today, Matrix Charging stands out as the clear leader in the field of automated charging, with 80+ patents filed in all relevant automotive markets and freedom to operate (FTO). This competitive advantage is a direct result of Easelink's early focus on intellectual property and innovative technology development.
Today, Hermann is proud to have gathered a team of 40 employees with the shared vision of a sustainable future powered by electric vehicles:
“We are lucky to have built up a great team of talents. With our headquarters in Graz, we’re embedded in a great landscape with talents having gained knowledge and experience from the universities and the major automotive players in Graz and internationally.”
Partnerships, progress, and global reach
Initially, it was challenging deciding upon the right approaches in the automotive industry & players to interact in the fields of charging technology & innovation. By directly engaging with OEMs internationally and implementing a license-based business model, Easelink has successfully overcome these challenges and established strong global partnerships within the automotive industry.
Easelink collaborates with leading automotive manufacturers worldwide, including companies in Europe, Japan, and China. The scale-up is actively engaging with Chinese brands due to their accelerated pace of innovation and market penetration. However, the company remains committed to supporting the growth of the European EV industry and encourages policymakers to create a more favorable environment for technological advancements.
Global OEMs are already incorporating Matrix Charging into their series production plans for home, public, and fleet use cases. The company is also actively driving standardization efforts through its involvement in ISO and IEC committees and the exclusive Matrix Charging interest group.
While Easelink's technology requires a connector to be installed in the car during manufacturing, retrofitting is also possible and is being done for fleet applications. Matrix Charging solution is currently deployed in the world's largest pilot project for automated charging, involving 66 e-taxis and 60 charging points in Vienna and Graz. This project demonstrates the technology's maturity and potential for widespread adoption in urban taxi fleets.
Scaling up and investing in the future
Two years ago, Easelink raised an €8.3M Series A fund led by SET Ventures with the participation of EnBW New Ventures, Smartworks, and existing investor Hermann Hauser, who had previously led the seed round.. Easelink is currently preparing for a Series B funding round in the coming months to scale its global market presence and strengthen partnerships with OEMs. Hermann shared: “Funding is always a challenge. But so far, we are very excited about the investors we have. We’ve really managed to find the right partners at the right time.”
Easelink is excited to be part of the EIC Scaling Club and sees it as a recognition of its work in supporting mobility, renewable energy, and autonomous driving. The company participated in the Ignition Forum in April 2024, connecting with stakeholders and sharing its vision face-to-face. Hermann revealed:
“We had the chance to speak to many stakeholders there, and I was very excited about the spirit they have and the joint vision they are driven with. We are delighted to be part of this community and share the values.”
Through collaborative sessions, Easelink has gained valuable insights and advice from EIC specialists. This has been particularly helpful in addressing challenges related to standardization and securing partnerships with political institutions, corporations, and funding sources.
About the EIC Scaling Club
The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.
The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.
The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.
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