Former executives of ChargePoint (John Grady) and EVBox (Bjorn Utgard) appointed as advisors to ENECHANGE’s EV charging business

ENECHANGE Ltd. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director & CEO: Yohei Kiguchi; Representative Director & COO: Ippei Arita; hereafter:“the Company”) has appointed former executives of electric vehicle (EV) charging service companies as our EV charging service advisors at December 3: John Grady, formerly at ChargePoint (a USA-based, NYSE-listed company), and Bjorn Utgard, formerly at EVBox (Netherlands-based company, set to be listed on NYSE).

Website:https://ev-charging.enechange.jp

Aim for this appointment

ChargePoint and EVBox are the two leading companies in the EV charging market in North America and Europe respectively, but their business models differ slightly. The EV charging market in Japan is at a very early stage, and therefore we think we need to carefully learn from a variety of cases so that we can determine which model is suitable for Japan. Having two former executives from these leading companies will help us to acquire deep insight into the EV charging business and accelerate our growth in Japan.

Mr John Grady (left), and Mr Bjorn Utgard (right)

Brief history of Mr. Grady

John Grady was Vice President of Sales & Customer Success, responsible for ChargePoint’s Global Channel Sales, Inside Sales, Account Management and Sales Enablement teams. In this role, Grady contributed to the tripling of revenue over a three-year period by launching an Account Management team with a focus on renewals and programmatic purchasing; managing the Inside Sales organization, and overhauling the company’s global channel strategy. Previously, he was Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Pace PLC for seven years, before the company was acquired by Arris. Grady has more than 25 years of experience in global sales, marketing, operations, and product management at industry leading technology companies. He holds an MBA in Finance from the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University and a BA in Economics from Boston College.

Brief history of Mr. Utgard

Bjorn Utgard served as Director of New Markets and VP Sales at EVBox, the largest EV charging infrastructure company in Europe. At EVBox, he played a pivotal role in transforming the 50-people Dutch EV charging startup into the global EV charging champion with operations in over 70 countries worldwide. Other experiences include multiple successful cleantech ventures, climate policy design, techno-economic due diligence, and business strategy advisory. Holding an MSc in Energy Engineering and Economics from NTNU (Norway) and Kyoto University (Japan), he has extensive knowledge of the energy sector and the Japanese market.

Comment from Yohei Kiguchi, Representative Director & CEO of ENECHANGE Ltd.

“Learning from the expertise of the leading USA and Europe companies in the EV charging business is essential for efficient business expansion in Japan. By inviting Mr. Grady and Mr. Utgard as our advisors, we expect that they will be a great driving force for the development of our EV charging service. Going forward, we will continue to operate our business by utilizing overseas know-how through the active recruitment of international talents.”

About ENECHANGE Ltd.

ENECHANGE is an energy technology company that promotes a carbon-free society through digital technology with the mission of Changing Energy For A Better World. We offer services based on data utilization in the field of the 4Ds of Energy: Deregulation, Digitalization, Decarbonization, and Decentralization. Our company’s roots come from an energy data lab at the University of Cambridge, U.K., a country where liberalization is mature. ENECHANGE has a British subsidiary, SMAP Energy Limited, as well as a global network and analytical technology for energy data.

URL　　：https://enechange.co.jp/en

■For press inquiries, please contact
ENECHANGE Ltd. Public Relations: Tokiko Nakata, Yumi Ota
Mail：pr@enechange.co.jp