The 'youtuber' from Palencia who has received a check for 100 million euros for his ultra-fast chargers

Daniel Pérez was driving his electric car to France a few days ago, thinking about how his professional life had changed.

In 2017 he founded with his friend Lorenzo Antolín EasyCharger (which would later be renamed Zunder), a company of ultra-fast electric charging points for cars.

A year earlier he had become fond of testing electric cars and uploading videos to YouTube with his comments, often very critical of the poor supply of places to feed the batteries.

"I traveled more than 100,000 kilometers and I realized that taking a trip in an electric car was for four crazy people who were passionate about it," he says by phone.

He did not tire of denouncing that many charging stations were nothing more than

of the electric companies that in some cases advertised (and charged) for charging services at a certain power that they did not really offer, so that the stops to refuel took forever.

She often called the stations' customer services to complain.

"The company was born from the need I saw in the market," he says.

Together with his partner, he sought funds from friends and family and raised enough money to develop

that would make the process easy for the user.

Pérez had worked on urban planning issues and knew how to deal with the rhythms of the Administration, something very useful for obtaining permits to set up the stations.

Nissan soon became interested in his company, and a year later he reached an agreement with them to set up large recharging points, with 3.5-meter-wide spaces and several ultra-fast chargers.

From Palencia, where he lives, he began to grow: in 2021 specialized infrastructure funds, such as White Summit Capital (WSC) or CCI, entered the capital.

“We went from being a

to a large company, from 9 employees to 50”, says Pérez.

He set up a management committee, hired professionals from Citi, Redexis or competing companies such as Wenea.

With 150 points already operating in Spain, a few days ago it made the most important announcement of its short career: Mirova, the manager of investments in sustainable infrastructures at Natixis Investment Managers, announced the entry into Zunder to support its expansion with 100 million euros.

Impossible to ask for more.

"It's a dream come true, it gives us peace of mind to consolidate the company."

Those 100 million give the fund a percentage in the capital that the CEO says he cannot reveal, "but it is a minority."

WSC, a Swiss-based investor and asset manager with more than €1.5 billion in assets under management, holds a majority position with other co-investors.

Antolín, his partner, has stopped working in the company, although he also maintains shares.

Things are a little different now: "I'm not going to say names, but banks that previously ignored you now knock on your door to offer you financing."

With a plan of 300 million in investment until 2025, Zunder expects to enter France with the first 23 stations from next year to manage 4,000 charging points in 2025. Its chargers will soon arrive in Italy and Portugal, and will continue to expand for Spain.

How does a young company that is not in any of the big capitals achieve such an investment?

“Doing things well”, answers Pérez.

“But this is not just money.

We wanted to execute an investment plan and asked Mediobanca to advise us to find a partner to support us in growth.

After dealing with several dozen funds, we chose Mirova because it is focused on decarbonization and has a strong presence in France.

It can help us expand.”

In the next three years, Zunder announces that it will open 130 new stations each financial year.

The speed will depend on how fast the Administration wants to be (the concessions for the stations are processed in the town halls).

The rising price of electricity, he says, will not curb demand because fossil fuels will remain much more expensive.

The costs

Each new installation costs them between 500,000 and 750,000 euros, and he calculates that they have a payback period of between 13 and 14 years.

The renewable energy that they dispatch at their stations is purchased in the

daily

Customers are charged a fixed price, which ranges from €0.39/kWh (euros per kilowatt hour) for loads of up to 50kW (kilowatts) of power to €0.55 for higher power.

80% of the chargers they have are over 150kW.

The rates are fixed, although they had to raise prices this summer to avoid selling at a loss.

In the medium term, they are studying transferring different prices depending on the time of day, but for now they do not want to make it more complicated for users.

"It's hard enough to understand how this works," Pérez smiles.

It also guarantees security in the facilities, even if they are not attended by anyone: “They are properly lit and there is no cash.

Some are near restaurants or hotels.”

The income statement begins to spin at higher revolutions in Zunder.

Until July they had sold the same as in all of 2021 and this year they want to end it by multiplying their turnover by three, which according to their accounts deposited in the Mercantile Registry was 627,000 euros last year.

Pérez is optimistic about the future: he believes that growth is the only way to avoid being swallowed up by large companies.

He sees the power companies not as partners, but as his direct competition.

“In this sector there are many companies that join the mobility bandwagon to comply with the file or to hit the ground running.

Our policy is completely different, we have a very long-term vision, we want to continue here in 60 years, that's why we signed 50-year sites.

That is what makes capital want to invest in us.”

At the moment, they lose money (1.2 million in 2021).

“It may be that we achieve profitability in 2023 or 2026…, but the business is clear.

We are very clear about the model, that is our differential value”.

He now sees more closely the power to turn his company into an important player in southern Europe, taking positions before anyone else.

And you may need a lot more capital in the future.

"With the entry of this new shareholder, we are adapting the company to the needs of a fund, with monthly

, internal committees...".

Going public is one of the options that it is considering to continue investing at a good pace in new openings.

How is it used?

Zunder offers two ways to find a charging station or point: from the map on its website or from the mobile application.

All stations are displayed, including those of your competitors.

The charging time depends mainly on three factors: the vehicle's battery, the power supplied by the charger and the energy that the car is capable of accepting.

Most support high power, up to 80% capacity.

Afterwards, they explain in Zunder, the power decays to conserve the health of the battery.

One formula for calculating charging time is to divide battery capacity by power, although vehicles often display an estimated time on their interior screens, much like mobile phones do. 

The chargers have two types of connectors for fast direct current charges: CHAdeMO, with a charge of up to 80kW, and CCS Combo, the most common and which supports powers of up to 350kW.

There are also specific connectors for alternating current loads (Type 1 and Type 2).

At Zunder points, which have all of them except Type 1, payment is made through the

with the card associated with the account.

Although the most economical way to charge is to do it at home during off-peak hours, taking advantage of the most affordable energy prices.

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