John Saffrett is Executive Vice President and Managing Director for Europe at ChargePoint. In this role, he is responsible for ChargePoint's growth strategy in European markets and leads sales, customer relationships, partnerships, and market expansion across the continent. Before joining ChargePoint, John Saffrett served as Global Deputy Chief Executive Officer at Ayvens.

"Europe is becoming increasingly important to ChargePoint’s success globally", says John Saffrett, the new Managing Director for Europe at ChargePoint. In the interview, the former Ayvens executive explains why the charging industry needs to focus more on profitability, what role hardware will play in the future, and where he sees the biggest growth opportunities.

John Saffrett has only been on board as EVP and Managing Director Europe at ChargePoint for a few weeks, yet he already has a deep understanding of the challenges in e-mobility from a different perspective: as Global Deputy CEO of fleet management and leasing provider Ayvens, he previously oversaw operations in 42 countries with around 3.5 million vehicles, including more than half a million battery-electric vehicles.

In his new role, Saffrett aims to position the US company ChargePoint as a leader in Europe in both hardware and software. He sees the charging industry undergoing structural change: investors are increasingly demanding profitable business models, access to capital is becoming more selective, and not all providers will survive in the long term. As a result, Saffrett expects market consolidation over the next three to five years.

At the same time, the ChargePoint manager sees enormous growth potential, as battery-electric cars already account for more than a fifth of new registrations in some European markets, yet their share of the total vehicle fleet remains below five per cent.

Source link