At Power2Drive 2026, our CEO, Lovrenc Švegl, spoke about a question that is becoming increasingly important in EV charging: how do you choose a partner that will still be here in five years?
In the early stages of an EV charging project, the focus is often on the charger itself. Power output, design, certifications, price, installation time and platform compatibility are all important.
These things matter. But they are rarely the reason a charging project succeeds five years later.
A charging station does not only need to work on day one. It needs firmware, spare parts, certificates, warranty, service and technical support for years.
When evaluating an EV charging supplier, the conversation should go beyond the hardware.
The risk is no longer theoretical
The EV charging market has grown quickly, but not every company has managed to grow sustainably. In recent years, the industry has seen several examples of restructuring, insolvency, acquisitions, market exits and continuity issues.
For customers, the legal outcome is not the most important part. When a supplier fails, the consequences can move quickly from the supplier’s balance sheet to the customer’s operations. Unsupported firmware, unavailable spare parts, forced backend migration, missing certificates or unclear warranty obligations can all create real cost, downtime and uncertainty.
Charging infrastructure is expected to remain in operation for many years. The longevity of the partnership can therefore become just as important as the longevity of the hardware itself.
The practical lesson is simple: before choosing an EV charging partner, ask what happens after the installation.
These questions may feel less exciting than product features, but they are often the questions that protect charging infrastructure over time.
Continuity doesn’t happen by accident
At Etrel, we understand the importance of continuity first-hand.
Like many companies in the industry, we have experienced periods of market uncertainty. Today, under KD Group ownership, we have entered a new chapter with a stronger focus on long-term stability, operational discipline and customer continuity.
That experience reinforced an important lesson: long-term success is not only about building good products. It also depends on stable ownership, responsible financial management and the ability to continue supporting customers through changing market conditions.
For charging infrastructure operators, these factors matter just as much as the hardware itself.
For companies investing in charging infrastructure, supplier selection should go beyond product comparison. Businesses can ask better questions through these 5 checks.
Audited accounts, equity ratio, debt maturity, cash runway, EBITDA trend, warranty reserves.
Who writes the cheque if the market slows down? Is there a committed owner, not only a brand?
If the top customer leaves, does the supplier survive? Ask for dependency and backlog quality.
Tooling ownership, BOM alternates, critical component dual sourcing, spare-parts stock.
OCPP/open standards, firmware update path, certificates, service docs, API/backend portability.
EV charging infrastructure is a long-term investment.
The right partner should not only provide hardware that works today, but also the stability, knowledge and commitment to support that hardware tomorrow.
Because in the end, choosing an EV charging partner is not only about selecting the right charging station.
It’s about choosing a company that will still be there to support it.