CHARGEUNITY
Your own public charging station for the electric car
An important factor when switching to an electric car is the charging infrastructure. If a private charging option is not feasible, drivers are dependent on public providers and their expansion plans.
We are taking this dependency away from drivers by offering them the opportunity to expand the public charging infrastructure themselves and close gaps in the existing charging infrastructure network.
Extra income: sell electricity to other e-car drivers!
We are the first company to enable private individuals to invest in their own public charging station for electric cars. As the owner, our customers can not only use their charging station themselves, but also generate additional income by selling electricity to other electric car drivers. In this way, we remove our customers' dependence on operators of public charging infrastructure and turn them into providers of public charging facilities themselves.
With our service package, we cover all responsibilities both during the installation and operation of the charging stations.
How did you get together as a team?
We know each other from our time at school and both graduated from high school in Cologne in 2015. We stayed in touch even after leaving school.
When Niklas came up with the idea of founding the startup, it quickly became clear that he needed support. Carl was working at a startup in STARTPLATZ Cologne at the time and was immediately excited about the business idea.
How did you come up with your idea?
The business idea for CHARGEUNITY came about when Niklas Seitenspinner was completing his Bachelor's degree in Crafts Management at Fachhochschule des Mittelstands.
In several assignments and his Bachelor's thesis, he dealt with the difficulties of providing a widespread charging infrastructure for electric cars and realized that the question of who would fund the roll-out of the charging infrastructure was not sufficiently clear.
Niklas developed a solution to this in the module "Business idea, model and plan", where a business plan had to be created as part of the examination.
This business plan already contained the basic idea behind CHARGEUNITY's business concept: developing the public charging infrastructure for electric cars through private sector investment.
What are you studying/working or what have you studied?
After graduating from high school in 2015, Niklas completed a trial study program, which included an apprenticeship and a qualification as a master craftsman as well as a bachelor's degree in crafts management at the Fachhochschule des Mittelstands. From October 2020 to February 2023, he was employed by TankE GmbH, which also coordinates the expansion of public charging infrastructure in Cologne.
Carl holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a focus on marketing from the Rheinische Fachhochschule in Cologne. He worked for over three years at various start-ups in the marketing and sales departments and was able to gain his first start-up experience.
What has Gateway ESC helped you with?
Gateway has helped us in multiple feedback sessions with our application for the EXIST start-up grant. The grant is a very good start to becoming an entrepreneur and ensures that you can concentrate fully on developing your own business idea.
