Enovates, the Belgian manufacturer of electric-vehicle charging stations established in Lokeren, East-Flanders, had to close its books after several years of financial losses. According to the newspaper De Tijd, the mother company, Connect Group, has finally pulled the plug.

Enovates has installed several hundred thousand charging stations across Europe, and many charge point operators are worried about future maintenance. Enovates’ charging stations are renowned for their excellent quality, but if production halts and the company goes bankrupt, who will provide spare parts and maintenance services in the future?

Starting in 2012

Enovates was founded in 2012 by Bart Vereecke as a pioneer in charging facilities. Until 2023, Enovates was a growing business, but when Shell Recharge suddenly stopped, as the oil company withdrew from this market, problems soon arose. Shell Recharge accounted for half of Enovates’ turnover.

The manufacturer was initially saved from bankruptcy by the Dutch Connect Group, but the group has now finally pulled the plug due to mounting losses in recent years. As already mentioned, Enovates has over 300,000 private charging stations across Europe, and several large operators, such as TotalEnergies, Interparking, and EnergyVision, have installed many of its products.

“We have approximately 1,000 Enovates charging stations functioning on public roads or at home for private individuals,” says EnergyVision CEO Maarten Michielssens in De Tijd. In the UK, Enovates had a deal with Nissan to investigate V2G (vehicle-to -grid) possibilities. “It really had excellent technology,” commented Michielssens

Founder Bart Vereecke is once again looking for potential investors to help restart operations, so that at least the existing infrastructure can be maintained and existing contracts can be followed up. A significant number of Enovates’ clients would be very relieved if this could happen.