Electrician Jan Einar Lerbrekk turns up the electric car charger in the garage in Stavanger, as he usually does. The customer has been sent an Easee charger from his employer, but Lerbrekk has received different instructions: the company he works for will not, for the time being, install chargers from the crisis-hit charging company. That is why a charging box from competitor Zaptec is being installed today. The Easee charger is left unopened on the garage floor. – It is not a risk we want to take. If it goes wrong, it’s not so cool for us, who have installed many of their electric car chargers, says Lerbrekk. Jan Einar Lerbrekk in El-Team screws up a charging box in the garage of a customer in Stavanger. Photo: Elise Pedersen / news Read also: Easee lays off employees en masse: – There have been a lot of tears Sales freeze and supervisory case The situation has gone from serious to very serious for Easee, which in a few years has become Europe’s largest supplier of electric car chargers. In February, the Swedish supervisory body Elsäkerhetsverket questioned Easee’s chargers. The Easee Home and Easee Charge chargers lack earth fault protection and so-called DC protection, the Swedes believe. On Tuesday, the message came: Full stop of sales in Sweden. CEO Jonas Helmikstøl and Easee have been working around the clock to save the company since Tuesday. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / news Electrician Lerbrekk’s company El-Team and several other sales and installation companies took action immediately. And the Easee charger lying on the garage floor in Stavanger? It and the few other Easee chargers El-Team have in stock will be returned. – Have you completely stopped fitting Easee chargers now? – We have been told to wait with that, says electrician Lerbrekk. Easee, on the other hand, is ready for battle. The charging giant will appeal the decision to the Swedish Safety Agency and collect fresh money from investors. – We will be left as a much better equipped company after this. We will continue, CEO Jonas Helmikstøl told news on Friday. It has been a leaden week for Easee, which is now facing mass redundancies. Photo: Elise Pedersen / news On Friday, the National Communications Authority (Nkom) announced that they are opening supervisory proceedings against Easee and several other charging stations on the Norwegian market. This is Easee In 2018, Jonas Helmikstøl, Kjetil Næsje and Steffen Mølgaard established the electric car charger company Easee. All had backgrounds from competitor Zaptec. The head office is in Stavanger. The company develops “smart” electric car chargers, and has experienced tremendous growth. In just a few years, the company has grown from three to around 500 employees. Easee has sold 700,000 chargers in Norway and Europe. The charging company’s turnover was close to two billion kroner last year. Operating profit before depreciation was between NOK 250 and 300 million, according to DN. Housing association calls about competitors’ products In a condominium in Bryne, chairman Harald Aursland inspects the newly installed Easee chargers in the garage. He does not regret the decision. – I see no reason to replace them because some Swedes think there is something wrong. But it is clear, we have many suitors who are now calling and wondering if we have considered other things, says condominium chairman Aursland. – Until we possibly notice that something is wrong, I don’t think we should change, says condominium chairman Harald Aursland about the new Easee chargers. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / news – Who is calling? – Easee’s competitors have of course taken the opportunity. They are very quick on the phone and good at sales, says Aursland. Charging competitor Zaptec’s communications manager Maiken Økland tells news that it is not the case that the charging company contacts housing associations or condominiums directly. A number of retailers buy Zaptec’s chargers and resell them, and Økland will not comment on other companies’ sales strategy. The charging company Amina tells news that they do not sell electric car chargers to housing associations. Co-ownership board chairman Aursland is confident in the board’s decision to buy Easee chargers. – We investigated as thoroughly as we could, and found Easee to be the best option. We saw no reason why we should not buy these chargers. I think Easee is such a serious company that if there had been something dangerous, they would have rectified it, says Aursland. The condominium in Bryne has continuously had Easee chargers installed over the past year. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / news Zaptec increases production Full Easee sales halt in Sweden, as well as an imminent danger that the rest of Europe will follow suit, caused competitor Zaptec to skyrocket on the stock exchange this week. The company is up just over 28 percent in the last five days. The competitor is also noticing higher demand in light of the Easee crisis. – Sales are increasing significantly, confirms communications manager Økland. Communications manager Maiken Økland at Zaptec. Photo: Hanne Høyland / news Sales figures are stock exchange-sensitive information, and Økland cannot go into the details beyond giving a general comment. While Easee producers Norautron in Horten and Vänersborg in Sweden have to downsize, Zaptec producer Westcontrol in Rogaland is increasing production and hiring people. Stavanger Aftenblad wrote that earlier this week.
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– Not a risk we want to take – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
