Brisbane electric vehicle charging startup EVOS Energy is one of 35 exporters backed with funding and support from Trade and Investment Queensland’s Go Global Export Program.
EVOS Energy is taking its Australian-made EV home chargers and fleet energy management to the world with a little help from the Queensland Government.
The sixth round of Trade and Investment Queensland’s (TIQ) Go Global Export Program has been announced, giving nearly $796,000 in total funding shared between 35 exporters in areas as diverse as sports tech, climate tech and craft gin.
EVOS is one of the businesses selected for the program, which provides businesses up to $25,000 in matched grant funding to address common challenges such as accreditation, logistics, packing and product trials when entering new international markets.
Highway to export success
EVOS CEO and co-founder Marcelo Salgado says the grant will help them jump through the certification hoops needed to enter one of the world’s largest global markets – India.
“India has a very strong government policy supporting the transition to EVs,” Salgado told Startup Daily.
“We had some strong networks in India already, and some very large manufacturers are very interested in working with us too.”
Four of the Go Global Export Program recipients were funded as part of the Queensland-India Trade and Investment Strategy 2023-2027. India is Queensland’s fourth-largest trading partner and second-largest export market, and by 2030, is expected to become the world’s third-largest economy.
“Certifying your products for every individual market is quite expensive,” he said. “This means that we’ll be able to sell a lot quicker to the Indian market.
“TIQ has been fantastic with their advisors in helping us find the right markets and making the introductions to the right people. It’s helped in many ways, not just from a financial point of view, but also from a resource and advisory point of view.”
EVOS started exporting their AC charging stations to Malaysia this year, followed by reseller agreements in Dubai and Oman. Their 2024 hit list includes India, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and later in the year, European markets.
The ethos behind EVOS
Co-founded in 2020 by Salgado, Seshan Weeratunga and Chris Crossman, three former employees of Nasdaq-listed Queensland fast charging company Tritium, EVOS hit the fast lane in 2023.
In July, EVOS raised $5 million from existing investors in their Series A round. That same month, EVOS secured a major partnership as the official supplier for fuel giant Ampol’s 22kw AC home charger for electric fleet vehicles.
“We’ve found market fit with our product. We’re doing really well, so now it’s just trying to take advantage of that opportunity and keep growing EVOS,” Salgado said.
EVOS focusses on solving the problem of the energy required to service the increasing demand for zero-emission fleets from home.
“If you put one charger in a building, you don’t have a problem,” Salgado explained. “But if you start putting five or 10 chargers in a building, you’ve got an energy problem. You’ve got to either increase the energy capacity, or you’ve got to manage energy, and manage different tariffs.”
The EVOS charging stations and software simplify the process and reduce costs for businesses and fleet managers, as well as consumers.
“Our customers are realising that they have an energy problem. If they want to increase their fleet to five, 10, 20 vehicles, they need to put more infrastructure in, whether it’s at people’s homes or whether it’s at their workplace,” Salgado said.
“That costs a lot of money. So, everything we can do with intelligent software to minimise that cost really helps out businesses. We want businesses not to think about charging. We want them to be able to just plug in and forget.”
Going into their fourth year, the EVOS workforce in Queensland has grown from three to 25 – and Salgado hopes to double the current headcount over the next two years.
“We’re very passionate about manufacturing here in Queensland and Australia,” he said.
“We want to show that it can be done here. We think manufacturing in Australia adds a lot of credibility and opens a lot of doors internationally, especially in the APAC region.”
See the full list of TIQ’s Go Global Export Program Round Six funding recipients:
- Myriad Technologies
- Canaria Technologies
- Lucas Papaw Remedies
- RID Australia
- HavenXR Holdings
- etrainu
- Hospital In Your Home
- Granddad Jack’s Craft Distillery
- Bus 4X4 Global
- Baywood Products
- Technofast Industries
- MFC Safe
- Skyborne Technologies
- Aim Lab Automation Technologies
- Benson & Harley
- EarthCheck
- Cinema on the Fly
- Ceres Tag
- Ozone 1
- Mareeba Orchards
- Silver Sea Foods
- Audeara
- Turmeric Life
- RCG Consultants
- Vaulta Operations
- Sprout Organic
- Evolved Health
- Country Pursuits
- Chewy Chews
- Green Skin Avocados
- Valor Esports
- Evos Energy
- Voltin Operations
- Australian Skin Lab
- WellBrewd Equipment
TIQ is the Queensland Government’s dedicated global business agency working across 16 countries, 21 locations and 12 Trade and Investment Commissioners across seven regions. They help Queensland companies access international markets and facilitate foreign investments in the state. Find out more at tiq.qld.gov.au.
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