Today on Nevo, we’re meeting one of the key players in Ireland’s rapidly growing EV charging industry ‘Easee’. As electric vehicle adoption continues to grow, smart home charging has become a major part of the ownership experience, and Easee has quickly built a reputation for combining sleek design, smart technology, and future-focused charging solutions. We sat down with Connor Henderson, Partnerships & Key Accounts Manager, UK & Ireland at Easee, to talk about the evolution of EV charging in Ireland, the challenges facing the industry, and what the future looks like for EV owners.

Connor, thanks for your time on this. The EV market in Ireland has changed massively over the last few years, what trends are you seeing now from customers when it comes to home charging and what are they prioritising most?

The biggest shift is that drivers are becoming much more informed about home charging. They’re ultimately looking into how easy it is, what it costs, when they should charge and how it fits into the rest of their home.Cost certainty is a major priority. Many people are looking at EVs as a more predictable and affordable alternative to petrol or diesel, but to really unlock those savings charging needs to be simple and smart. That means helping drivers charge at the right time and make use of cheaper energy, so they can avoid having to think too much about it day to day. For us, it’s about making home charging feel effortless from the start; plugging in, setting your preferences and letting the charger do the work in the background.

Easee chargers are known for being compact and smart connected devices. From your perspective, how important is software and app integration becoming in the EV charging space?

The hardware is ultimately at the core of performance, but the software is what makes the charging experience genuinely useful for drivers. Through the Easee app, drivers can monitor, schedule and optimise their charging, which makes it much easier to take advantage of cheaper energy and avoid charging at peak times. When you think that a lot of people still miss out on the full savings of home charging simply because it is not automated or intuitive enough, that’s when it sits at the top of the agenda for us. Good software gives people control without adding complexity. Once it’s set up, it should make smart charging feel simple and almost invisible in day-to-day life.

There’s still a lot of concern around public charging infrastructure. Do you think home charging remains the biggest advantage of EV ownership in Ireland today?

Public charging is important, particularly for longer journeys, but for everyday use home charging is one of the biggest benefits of EV ownership. It means you fundamentally don’t need to build your routine around a fuel station or public charger, just yourself and, if you’re on a smart tariff, when the energy is cheapest for you. Home charging gives drivers much more certainty around cost anyway, but especially so when combined with smart tariffs. The key is making sure the installation and set-up process feels simple, because home charging should give people confidence in switching to electric and simply mustn’t become another hurdle. At the end of the day, that would really impact the vehicle purchase-decision.

As more people install solar panels and battery storage at home, how do you see EV chargers evolving to become part of a wider smart energy ecosystem?

The charger is becoming part of a wider home energy system, alongside solar panels, battery storage and smart tariffs. That creates a big opportunity for EV owners, in that if the charger can work intelligently with the home and the energy system, drivers can make better use of cheaper or cleaner energy, reduce peak-time demand and get more value from their home set-up. A charger installed today needs to be able to evolve as energy technology changes, whether that is through software updates, smart tariff integration or better use of renewable energy at home, so making a future-ready product isn’t really an option for us.

Looking ahead over the next five years, what do you think will be the biggest change in the EV charging industry, both for installers and for EV owners?

I think charging will become much more integrated into the overall EV ownership journey. For drivers, the charger, installation, tariff and app experience will increasingly be considered together, rather than as separate decisions after buying the car. That should make the switch to electric feel much simpler and more joined up. For installers, the focus will be on scale, speed and consistency. They will need products and software that make every installation as straightforward as possible in order to manage both current and future demand. Ultimately, the industry has to make charging feel effortless. If we can make it simple, reliable and affordable, more people will have the confidence to make the switch.

Thanks for your time Connor. To find out more about Easee or to order a unit through the trusted dealer network please visit www.easee.com.