Exclusive: EV charging firm Pod Point expects supply chain issues to die down soon
The supply chain issues that have plagued the automotive industry over the last year will die down within the next 12 to 18 months, said Erik Fairbairn, chief executive of electric vehicle charging provider Pod Point.
“I really think that supply chain issues could last [between] 12 and 18 months but they are short-term in the grand scheme of decarbonising transport,” he told City PM in an exclusive interview.
“If we zoom out and take a much longer-term view, we are really well-positioned [in the EV charging market].”
Fairbairn explained that in addition to delaying the production of new electric vehicles, semiconductor shortages as well as rising inflation and energy costs were hurting manufacturers by increasing production costs of charging stations.
“We’ve had to pay more than we would have expected to build those products (the EV chargers) because we’re effectively spot-buying components that are becoming short-supplied,” the chief executive added.
Pod Point last week posted its half-year results, delivering a 57 per cent revenue growth to £41.6m while profit went up 48 per cent.
But even though it outperformed market expectations, the company’s results were down on last year’s levels.
In the year ended 31 December 2021, Pod Point’s revenue surged by 86 per cent while gross profit boomed by 99 per cent.
Founded 13 years ago with the mission to “make travel not damage the earth”, the EV charging provider had an eventful 12 months studded by more successes than bumps in the road.
The company made the headlines when in November it floated on the LSE with a market capitalisation of £352m, after £120m were raised.