GreenWay charging infrastructure: Sustainable solutions for electric vehicles

I am very happy that such a project is being created because it showcases the best of Slovakia. Sometimes the mood in Slovakia can be quite pessimistic, and I believe that the successes and examples of companies like GreenWay can help change this perspective. These companies can serve as an inspiration beyond the business environment because they are almost always founded on universally important principles: a long-term vision, not just quick fixes; a focus on substance and facts in their respective fields. Any entrepreneur who is successful over the long term needs to understand their field deeply and be guided by facts. They can't simply Google a magic recipe; they need to grasp the nuances of their industry and operate within its specific realities. Additionally, openness to the world is crucial. If we at GreenWay hadn't been open, if we hadn't exported or expanded to other countries, we wouldn't be where we are today. Slovakia is small, and I think this lesson applies beyond business as well.

At the very beginning, we started GreenWay with a colleague who is engaged in other activities now. We were considering renewables, smart grids, and electric vehicles as interconnected solutions. We aimed for transport that would be independent of fossil fuels, helping Slovakia reduce its dependence on countries we might prefer not to cooperate with but need to because we don't have oil here. This led us to explore a business model in electromobility. We understood that electric cars are more energy-efficient and superior technology compared to combustion cars. We saw the long-term trend emerging around 2008 and 2009 and began working on electromobility in 2011. While predicting the timeline was challenging, today, GreenWay has been in the EV business for 14 years. If you had asked me in 2011 how fast or slow it would progress, I would have been more optimistic. However, the fundamental reasons for choosing electromobility remain valid, and I believe we made the right choice.

Today, expanding charging stations and building charging infrastructure has become a well-structured, mature business. We started as a small start-up with just four people, and now GreenWay has 240 employees across three countries. As one of the larger companies in Europe in this field, we no longer face initial challenges like fighting public opinion about electric cars or dealing with early technical issues where specific cars wouldn't charge on certain chargers, which often frustrated drivers. Currently, our challenges are more focused on internal transformation as we manage a growing number of employees. This means that our information systems and processes need to be much more sophisticated and continually evolve, which also makes them more expensive. Regarding external challenges, the biggest problem facing our industry, not only in Slovakia but globally, is the speed at which we can build charging infrastructure. Particularly for large charging hubs, we rely on distribution companies to make substantial connections at many points, which is taking increasingly longer. Today, an average project like this takes us two and a half to three years to complete, presenting a significant challenge.

Another major challenge facing the industry is the ongoing debate in Europe regarding fire safety regulations and the entry of electric cars into enclosed garages. We still lack consistent rules, and we face varying interpretations from different building authorities. While this may seem like a minor detail, it highlights that our industry is mature and dealing with technical issues that require fine-tuning.

For electric car drivers, the biggest advantage we offer is exceptional reliability. Ensuring that a charger works when needed may sound trivial, but years ago, we had significant issues with this. Although it might have been just 5% of the time, that’s still a considerable number. Now, our availability is around 99.5%, meaning you can almost always rely on charging. This high reliability is due to our robust technology and processes. If something goes wrong, we fix it quickly. It’s challenging and costly, but we take great pride in the reliability of our network.

We also place a strong emphasis on customer contact. Our hotline is staffed by professionals who can assist you immediately, ensuring you never get a voicemail but instead speak directly to someone who can resolve your charging issues.

For fleet and business customers, especially those with larger fleets, we offer solutions based on our extensive experience managing our own infrastructure. We use our technology to provide scalable solutions suitable for hundreds of cars. Our largest installation currently features around 100 charging stations at one site for a single customer. We not only build these comprehensive solutions but also manage and report on how their drivers and employees use the chargers.

First and foremost, we want to maintain our well-established business model. We plan to continue expanding the charging infrastructure, as we are still in the early stages of electromobility both in Slovakia and across Europe. Currently, electric cars account for less than 2% of the total number of cars in Slovakia, indicating significant potential for growth.

As we expand, we aim to improve our information systems and enhance the user experience during charging, including digital communication with customers. Growth and development are still ahead of us, and we are committed to maintaining our position as a leader in Central Europe. Currently, we are the largest company in this area in Central Europe, and we want to sustain this position. In the coming years, we may consider expanding into other countries beyond Poland, Slovakia, and Croatia.