go-e is growing rapidly: Charging stations for electric vehicles from Carinthia are booming

Charging stations for electric vehicles from Austria are in demand throughout Europe: this is why the young Carinthian charging technology specialist go-e managed to almost triple its turnover last year. Along with this, the company has created around 50 new jobs since the beginning of 2020. In addition, the production capacity for the self-developed charging stations go-eCharger HOME+ and HOMEfix at the Feldkirchen location multiplied to several thousand units per month. Recently, Susanne Palli and Vincent Marbé, who have both been working for go-e for several years, have been managing the company jointly as CEOs with sole power of representation in order to establish go-e as a strong European solution provider in the electromobility market. They are supported in this by the innovation manager and company founder Peter Pötzi and a team of around 80 employees.

go-e was initially founded in 2015 from the idea of a self-developed bicycle retrofit motor. Two years later, go-e presented its first smart charging solution for electric vehicles. CEO Susanne Palli, as the first employee, still knows the company from a time when it operated in the space of a garage. In the meantime, it is almost the size of half a football field: “We are very grateful to every single person who has placed their trust in go-e over the last few years. Our customers as well as our dedicated and innovative employees have made the success story of go-e possible in the first place.” go-e now exports intelligent charging stations as well as matching accessories to around 20 European countries. In Austria and Germany, the company is particularly strong with a sales network of around 1,000 independent partners, dealers and specialist companies. “go-e is still at the beginning of exponential growth. This year we are again aiming for a tripling in turnover. In order to expand our market position in other European countries, we are investing primarily in building brand awareness, high-quality products and expanding our team with high potentials,” emphasises Susanne Palli, who is responsible in particular for the company’s Human Resources, Finance, Administration, Sales and Marketing departments.

Demand for smart charging stations recognised early

According to current surveys, more and more people are thinking about buying an electric car. This is also reflected in the rapidly increasing registration figures. The go-e fleet has already consisted of purely electric cars since 2016. Company founder Peter Pötzi recognised early on what would be important to electric vehicle drivers in the future beyond pure charging: “With the first go-eCharger in 2017, we wanted to create a charging box that combines all the desired customer features at a fair price. Our simple concept was convincing: a compact, updateable, intelligent charging station with a high-end range of functions for home, on the road or the workplace at an excellent price-performance ratio.” In recent years, a fan community has grown up around the go-eCharger, especially among German-speaking electric car drivers, some of whom Peter Pötzi is closely associated with.

The go-eCharger makes it possible to charge all electric cars registered in Europe with an individually definable output of up to 11 or 22 kW. The go-e charging stations are available as purely stationary and mobile wallboxes. They are plug & play capable and allow intelligent additional functions with WiFi, RFID reader, free app and open API interface as standard. The go-eCharger HOME+ variant can even be attached and removed without an electrician. Therefore, the charging station can also be used on the move with adapters at almost any European socket.

go-e has so far survived the corona pandemic largely unscathed. At no time did the pandemic have a negative impact on customer demand and, with few exceptions, the team was able to ensure a permanent and increasing production despite worldwide supply bottlenecks. go-e is a developer and manufacturer of charging technology hardware and software, which enables the intelligent functionalities of the go-eCharger. Vincent Marbé, as CEO primarily responsible for purchasing, production, IT, product development and technical customer support, explains: “We are very fortunate to operate in a rapidly developing market. This gives us the leeway to invest large sums in location and product development, which means we will remain a guarantor of economic growth and employment in the future. As a start-up, we had underestimated in particular the development effort and the time component of extensive test phases for new products. With numerous additional, experienced employees, we are now speeding up these processes significantly and have been able to take a lot from the first phase.” go-e is currently looking primarily for highly qualified staff at its locations in Feldkirchen in Carinthia and Berlin to support the company on its way from a start-up to a major international e-mobility player.