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Smart Charge · S2 · Episode 4 · 13 April 2026 · 1 hr 14 min

Claudio Geyken, Gründer von RiDERgy - Smart Charging, Pragmatismus und E Flotten für die Energiewende

Transcript

Cleaned up from a machine transcript. Translations are machine-generated and may contain errors.

To be honest.

When you're running what's essentially a black market for Mars bars on the school playground at 11 years old, today you speak nine languages fluently, and you're optimizing electric fleets for billion-dollar corporations, then you realize you've got a real hustler, a real entrepreneur in front of you. There are few people who work on the energy transition with as much – I'd say – passion and incredible optimism as my guest today, and for me it's simply a good reminder of why I'm producing this podcast. The conversation really inspired me incredibly. And I hope you all enjoy the episode just as much.

Hey everyone and welcome to a new episode of the Energy Zone – your podcast where we make the energy transition tangible and analyze the business models in the industry. My co-host Alex Graf isn't with me today, so you've got me all to yourself today. I'm Ilan, Dr. Ilan Momba, one of three managing directors at O Energy. To put it briefly: what do we do at O Energy? We're a software company, now three years old, founded almost exactly three years ago in April. And we massively simplify energy procurement for industrial companies in Germany. And how do we do that as a software company? Well, by developing software that does exactly this – solutions that enable our customers to view – let's say – market volatility, in terms of prices and demand, not necessarily as a risk but as a genuine competitive advantage. And it works pretty well. Today we manage energy worth several hundred million euros and more than one terawatt hour of electricity and gas. Right. By the way, on this topic of how to use price volatility

smartly for your benefit: we're also hosting an exciting webinar very soon. On April 23rd at 1 p.m. If you want to register, just send me a LinkedIn message and we'll get you in. And – oh – the same goes for the Energy Breakfast at the OMR. We're back there again with resource management. Details coming soon. But yes, now to our guest today. I got to use the microphones in the stylish Dena Future Energy Lab in Berlin – a really cool location for

energy startups. Across from me sat Claudio Geyken, the founder of RiDERgy. Quick personal disclaimer: I've known Claudio for a while now. Our history goes back to KTH in Stockholm almost 15 years ago. He stood out to me back then because he initiated and founded an international football team there. We played football together and we were both – if I remember correctly – huge Elon Musk fanboys at a time when Tesla wasn't yet as well known and

energy startups. Across from me sat Claudio Geyken, the founder of RiDERgy. Quick personal disclaimer: I've known Claudio for a while now. Our history goes back to KTH in Stockholm almost 15 years ago. He stood out to me back then because he initiated and founded an international football team there. We played football together and we were both – if I remember correctly – huge Elon Musk fanboys at a time when Tesla wasn't yet as well known and

was still quite niche back then. He's also no longer a real startup, but he was far less well-known at the time, and you could simply admire Elon for his entrepreneurial achievement. Yes, he hadn't drifted off in that direction yet. And perhaps the world just wasn't so politically heated back then either. But why is Claudio here in the energy zone? He's had quite a remarkable track record since Stockholm. He was involved with Northvolt very early on. And I'd say today I admire Claudio above all as an entrepreneur. He has built a really cool company with RiDERgy,

completely bootstrapped, extremely lean, but with really notable customers like HelloFresh and Audi on board, and is currently expanding towards China – he also speaks Chinese, as he proves in the podcast. To me, he simply seems to be building exactly the right things at exactly the right time. Right now, as we're looking at this agentic AI future, Claudio's pragmatic, focused approach is really a role model for me personally – ecosystem-driven. And what we can take away for ourselves at O Energy

is this: We talk about smart charging, why we need pragmatism in regulation, and how we can learn from implementation speed in China. So much for the lengthy intro. I wish you all a lot of fun with this episode with Claudio Geyken from RiDERgy. Let's go, off we go, let's roll.

Alright, second attempt. We have to quickly tell you: we just recorded 25 minutes and forgot to press record. But maybe it's also the technology – we don't know. Let's blame the technology. Claudio, thank you so much for the invitation. Happy to. So we'll get this even more smoothly and even better and even funnier and smarter in the second attempt. Thank you so much for the invitation here to the Dena Future Energy Lab. If I've

gotten it right and pronounced it correctly – walked around here in West Berlin, next to the Royal Porcelain Manufactory. Correct, such a fancy old brick building that's been renovated stylishly somehow. And then right next to it, a really cool office spread across three floors. You gave me a tour and I was blown away and totally impressed. We're also recording in a highly professional podcast studio, which has some of the best technology the energy zone has seen so far. But exactly – maybe you could say something briefly: Where

are we actually? What kind of amazing space is this? Yes, exactly. I also think the technology here is outstanding. I also always enjoy recording my podcast here. Smart Charge by RiDERgy, where we mainly talk about intelligent charging. Where are we? This is basically the Dena – an organization that is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs. And it's mainly about topics like: How do you manage to bring back to the Federal Government the regulatory hurdles or approaches that the market needs?

And it's also about promoting innovation, for example how startups here in this lab, where every startup working in the energy sector also has access to a space that you can get for free for a few months and then network with the community in the energy field. Klaus Müller from the Federal Network Agency was here not long ago, and many other business representatives. Managing directors are also here from time to time. And politicians of course. And that's also worth a lot, especially when you have an energy startup and want to accelerate things

and want to have access. And how many startups are here like that? I think in the community it's under 100, but I don't know the exact number. In any case, several dozen. And are they all sitting here? No, no, the ones who are here on site, I'd say about a dozen. And then it rotates. Okay. Yes. So there's also an event area with a large stage and professional events, relatively open to people who work in the energy sector

as well. So I can recommend checking out the events on the website. Okay, and not just for Berliners, but really nationwide actually – exactly, there are also always events that really have a nationwide character. I just have the SET Magazine or the Future Energy Magazine in my hand. And there are also somehow a few familiar faces from the Berlin energy startup scene, but also from the German one – somehow Eolian Energy, Gruppe Adventures, I don't know, so many important players, loads of investors too.

Yeah, that's awesome. And how long have you been sitting here? What's your involvement with Dena? Well, I've been here for over a year now. I already had a history with Dena. Before that I also had interesting presentations and events on regulatory issues, had contacts, and also a mentoring program where they really went into our business model specifically. At RiDERgy. Cool. Yeah, I mean, we can be open

and honest. We've known each other for quite a while. You're an old hand at this business. I met you – somehow it must have been about 15 years ago or something. 2012, 2013 or so. We were at KTH in Stockholm back then. You did a master's degree and I did part of my PhD work there. And you started a football team that was really cool and international. And that's how I know you. But

we also have, if you look at our CVs, somehow quite a few – I'd say – overlaps. So you also come from Berlin. You're not a full-blooded German either, but somehow have a diverse background. And you were at KIT, at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, before that. So somehow – are you following me? Yes, I'm trying. I think I'm a few years younger. So of course as the older brother I try to keep up with you as much as possible. No, joking aside. Yes, interesting

coincidences. I also feel very multicultural, and in that sense, because my mother is Italian and my father is German. He was born in Paris and then had a French career. These three cultures. And then during this master's program you mentioned, I also had a lot of contact with 80 nationalities, so people from all over the world. And I found that this mixture makes the world much more exciting. And this experience at KTH especially, and this master's program in Nano Energy, gave me that

and this master's program. Yes. KIT wasn't quite so diverse – the catchment area was more Germany, but also a good university and somehow an elite university flagship. I got a good foundational mechanical engineering degree there. Exactly. But then maybe this Two Hearts Community – I'm part of that here in Berlin – would also be something for you, for people with a somewhat more diverse background. But you have at least three hearts, if I understood you correctly. Okay, but tell

me. So you studied something with engineering and then did something with energy, or? Exactly, in another podcast – something with energy. No, just kidding. So I've been following the energy transition since 2004. That's when I started – I was still in school – actually dealing with it as a young person, because the project and the vision were just exciting. And when we didn't even have 5 percent renewables on the grid yet, many were skeptical that we could achieve more. And from

So we can actually benefit from many aspects. Also especially very relevant – now without war. I find the geopolitical aspects of energy essential to understand as well, how important energy is in that context and that renewables give us significantly more flexibility. And I also see a peaceful world with renewable energy. That also motivated me a lot – cheaper, greener and so on. The project is just cool. And so I decided to first get a good foundational mechanical engineering degree in my studies, but

then also quickly specialize. And then innovation also appealed to me very much. At Inu Energy it was mainly about – maybe briefly as context, because it's interesting in this context – so Inu Energy was set up by the EU Commission to better network research and business and especially education. And one of the manifestations were these master's programs, but also PhD education programs and especially investments in startups and

to network them early on, so that we had engineers who were not only passionate about technology but could also move in the business world. And that's something completely different. I really liked that. And then I also decided during my studies to build a community with entrepreneurs and students of all kinds. I also invited you as a speaker during that time. And yes, that was actually a really cool community.

And you weren't just in Stockholm, but somehow at different locations. Yes, I was pretty much everywhere. We were active across Europe and had 60 events per year. Ultimately, I built that in, I think, 20 cities across Europe. And yes. I basically started that during my studies, just on a pro-bono basis, and then pitched it to the CEO of Inu Energy. And he hired me. Okay, keep going with that. And that was basically not the classical engineering career path. And so I had

other ideas and concrete things I could have done. But then I did that. And that also gave me very good insights into the entire regulatory innovation scene and startup scene across Europe in energy. And I did that for five years, until I came to RiDERgy. Yes. Okay. So you can tell you had a pretty entrepreneurial spirit pretty early on. You pitched ideas and so on. In any case, you

definitely co-initiated this football team, I think. And I also know that you started some pretty cool exchange platforms at some point – this Renewable Energy Group on LinkedIn. You were always somehow kickstarting something. There's a really funny anecdote that I maybe – maybe this would go beyond the scope – had in school. Yes, go ahead, shoot. Okay. Yes, that's maybe not one you tell publicly. But anyway, we

saw – yes, we're among ourselves here. I discovered in school that there were especially a lot of classmates who bought snacks – for example, Snickers. I ate them too. And that was relatively expensive. I mean, as a school kid, if you spent 2 euros on a Snickers. And then I basically offered them cheaper during school breaks than the cafeteria did.

And I always had monthly pocket money that I had to cover everything with – 40 euros. That helped me quite well over time. What was your margin? Pretty good. Yes, the keyword margin. I learned a lot about business from that. I was already 11 years old. So I was basically selling branded products. And then I noticed: The store brands from Aldi also went over well with my classmates. And the margin was significantly higher. So

I then basically sold these store brands. And then you can imagine: I always came to school with really lots of Snickers and masses – quite a lot. My school bag was completely packed. Then I also stored quite a lot at school. But certain things had to be kept cool. That meant I had to fill the family refrigerator and bring the chilled drinks to school each time. I made quite good money from that. And then someone actually

hired me – actually someone who sold it with me. He also got his cut from the business. You were a sugar dealer. You were flipping stuff like that. You have to be careful with sugar these days. And well, the story had a sad ending because someone broke into my storage. And then I couldn't really demand that he pay me back because he was with his clique and there were a few more of them. And then I went to the

school principal. And then she didn't react the way I wanted – namely to punish him somehow – instead she punished me: "Why are you selling this stuff in school?" And then that was the end of the business. Great anecdote. I didn't know that about you. But you're basically – and I think that's also interesting about you – you've been operating for quite a long time with this good overview and also a certain technical depth in the energy industry and energy business.

And I also know, one of my first memories: So 2012, 2013, when I was here in Stockholm and we played football there. On your initiative, with such an international team as well. Shout-outs to Afsal, my professor back then. That was a really cool time. But that you were also kind of, like I was back then too, a fanboy of Elon Musk. That was the time. Not many people knew him back then. You had to be in the... a bit

I knew him in 2009 when I was at Plug-in America. I was in Berkeley, where I wrote my diploma thesis. So that's how old I am – back then it was still called a diploma. And I was at Plug-in. And Tesla had a booth there. But Tesla was such a nobody back then. They were like 30, 40, 50 people or so, and also just kind of a genius-like, crazy entrepreneur named Elon Musk. And you knew him back then too. And you

were already so totally involved and knew the Master Plan One. And you also engaged with the details of it, followed the pitches and so on. That certainly got quite a lot of support from that. Yes, Elon Musk was definitely an idol for me – emphasis on "idol" and emphasis on "was". I was very excited about him early on and about electric mobility. That meant I read thousands of things. Every time

When there was something new, I engaged with it. And I think the vision aligns so well with the energy transition: electric mobility – that's a cool intersection. And Tesla did a lot for the world in that direction. And I think we should be grateful for that. But of course, the person unfortunately put themselves in a very negative light in recent years, and I've turned away from that as well. Yes, definitely – entrepreneurially totally impressive what he has

accomplished, but on other levels it's quite different. And then I read that you had something to do with Northvolt, relatively early on – that you helped with the setup, let's say. Yes, exactly. Northvolt was an exciting story. They were also ex-Tesla employees who had built the Gigafactory in Nevada, the first one, and then came to Europe. And especially Ino Energy was one of the first investors and also opened doors to the European Commission, and the first funds from the development bank and so on.

That was then 40 million, with the idea and the core pitch: "Hey, we need a lot, a lot of gigafactories in Europe" – I think around 30 in total. And that shouldn't just be done by Tesla and the Chinese or Asians, but we should also have the know-how in Europe. And then the energy costs in northern Sweden were significantly cheaper. And then he said, we build the first one there. And then

yes, short story: I especially helped with talent acquisition – finding the talents that were needed in the various networks across Europe. And that was also one of the essential problems, I have to say, because it wasn't easy to find talents who had enough know-how in cell and battery development. And if you can take one insight from all of this, it's especially: How do we manage to strategically acquire talents

– whether through joint ventures or otherwise, for example with the Chinese – so that at least initially we can build up enough know-how quickly and it doesn't fail because of that. That's one thing. And the second is the energy topic: whether that really would have been the most important thing, there in northern Sweden? Bringing the talents to northern Sweden too – sure, energy costs are lower there, but is that the most important thing at the start? And finally, the founders weren't quite focused enough – that is,

they saw so many opportunities at first that they tackled too much at once and then didn't do their homework first. So the scaling phase of a startup – you should do your homework at the beginning and make sure certain things are in place before you scale too quickly. And that was also an example of that on a very, very large scale. They got, I think, double-digit billions. Yes, I still remember when the Gigafactory in Nevada was announced: "The Machine that builds the Machine." That was something. That

was pretty cool. Yes, those technology unveils and product releases – they were always kind of exciting to see. But okay, so you kind of took on a community and financing perspective as well. But now you're back in Berlin. And what are you doing? Yes, I decided that after I was mainly in Barcelona at Ino Energy, to come back to Berlin with the startup – why Berlin? Berlin is Europe's startup capital. Hopefully it will become even more so globally. I'd be happy about that. And second: Germany is the most important economic power in Europe, and particularly automotive and the energy transition are very far advanced. Sure, there are other countries in Europe that have the energy transition, but taking all these factors together – I think that was a good reason to come back here and build RiDERgy. And what RiDERgy does, I can explain in a moment. Yes, so maybe one more point: You also have your own podcast, Smart Charge by RiDERgy, and

we're driving right now. How many gigafactories are there actually? Now do we have 30 in the world or in Europe? In Europe – or how many? Well, it's always a bit complicated to say exactly how many there are now. There are some that have been announced as under construction. But I would say the ones that are actually under construction now are already quite a few – maybe about a dozen. I don't know off the top of my head. But the ones that are live now, we're talking about. And would

that also be a topic that you cover on your podcast? Or is it more business model and strategy driven, what you discuss there? Or do you really get into manufacturing and, I don't know, the real hardware tech specs and so on? No, that would be a bit outside our scope, I think. So the podcast, because we're trying to do smart charging of electric fleets and electric vehicles. And accordingly, new interesting battery innovations, like the ones from Finland that are being hyped now – it could be that

we'd like to have a founder on the podcast. But battery manufacturing technicians – that would be a bit too far from our core topic. So, whoever knows them: please connect. We'd be interested in an interview. Okay. But then let's – I think it would be good if we can cover both your macro perspective in this episode, your overview of the industry and what the trends are. You just came from China. You were at Slush. And all these

things

Topics – you're also very active on LinkedIn, the content you post there. But I think it would also be good to really dive deep into you and your startup and what you're doing there. So maybe we can start there. We've already covered the entrepreneur story a bit – from schoolyard hustler to Berlin energy startup. But yeah, tell us: What is RiDERgy? What do you do there? What is your product? So, one of the core challenges of the energy transition – for anyone who

has been listening here longer, that's no news, but still worth highlighting – is flexibility. That's the new currency and the new big challenge. It manifests itself in various ways. We need flexibility, meaning the timing and how we approach performance, especially on the demand side and also in production. But especially the demand side and batteries: How do we manage that well so that the grids don't become an obstacle –

how should I put it – standing in our way, and then we can achieve 100 percent renewable energy. Now, the thing is, the grids are definitely limited, the electrical installation is limited. So for charging electric vehicles alone, from a certain scale onwards, you need a system that manages it – a so-called energy management system or energy management software. And secondly: There are different levels of intelligence, so to speak, in energy management software. One is simply ensuring that a certain

limit is not exceeded – just simple load management. But as soon as it gets a bit more complex, that's where the wheat separates from the chaff. You need much more data understanding, real-time data processing. And then it becomes much more about software complexities and interoperable systems you need – meaning self-consumption optimization from solar working together with the battery: How do you charge a fleet? And especially also electricity markets and distribution and transmission networks, if you want to factor those in too

– and the whole topic of bidirectional charging. There's quite a lot of things at play and a lot of complexity involved. And the solutions I've seen on the market haven't come close to going that far – for various reasons. In my view, it was mainly timing, and timing is the most important factor mainly for innovations and startups. That's why at RiDERgy we focus especially on bringing a key building block to the stakeholders in the market – whether hardware manufacturers or energy suppliers, etc., who

equally need software that allows them to create charging profiles for vehicles as a layer, so that the vehicles charge as cheaply and reliably as possible and the energy transition succeeds. That's, let's say, the core idea. And then of course there are many other aspects, which we already have as a product in the market now and where we want to go, which I'd like to go into more. Yeah, totally. So I did a bit of research beforehand

and looked up what you've been writing on LinkedIn. And you write about a chasm in e-mobility – so the early adopters are sort of through, but the mass is still hesitating a bit. And what would you say: What's the biggest obstacle, the biggest bottleneck, what's still missing, so to speak, to really drive the energy transition with e-mobility and fleet management? I think one thing has been battery costs so far, which then also led to higher electric vehicle costs

– that's become good news, I actually posted about it today too. We've been able to reduce battery costs by 99 percent in my lifetime, so since 1991. Battery costs have been reduced by 91 percent. That's relatively cool, solar-like. And that's what it took, because especially the biggest chunk of costs in an electric vehicle is the battery, so in the capex, so to speak, in the purchase. That's one thing. But of course, it's a system. E-mobility is

not just the car, but how you charge it. And that's a shift. And with every shift, and especially with this one, I think for consumers who have to participate, it's one of the biggest shifts in their everyday life – I'd say – compared to other energy transition measures. So a 100-percent certificate that the electricity is green, sometimes the costs are the same. That doesn't need much. But when it comes to shifting your own mobility,

I think the hurdle is even bigger when it comes to changing behavior, but then the levers are highest here too. That's why I think this will change relatively quickly now as soon as costs are really attractive enough. We're already seeing that with the diesel crisis, how suddenly everyone informs themselves: What's the situation with e-mobility? We're recording – what's today, April 10th? – so right in the Middle East conflict, the Iran war, the energy market volatility we're seeing there.

Wednesday it went down a bit and Thursday because people saw peace talks emerging. And now it's back up because people don't quite trust it. And all the people still filling up with petrol or diesel, they feel that much more at the petrol station than electric vehicle drivers. But what exactly do you do now

and especially how do you make money? So you build software for smart charging for fleets. If you give a concrete example – I think it's a cool example because we're here in Berlin – one of our customers is HelloFresh. They're also really heavily electrifying their fleet for delivering their meal kits. That means there will be different depots from where

you deliver these boxes, and they are equipped with charging infrastructure. This process is not yet complete. They have activities in globally 20 countries, especially in the USA, and here in Germany they trusted us, especially for energy management. What exactly do we do? They have electrical installations at these depots that have reduced capacity. So you cannot charge all charging stations at once. That is one big problem they have.

You might know a local blackout if you've blown a fuse at home. They naturally want to avoid that when they have to deliver the boxes. That is a big problem, which is why they need our solution. We measure in real time how much power is available, and then we reduce or increase based on this value. And secondly, of course, it is the costs. The network connection capacity is one factor. But peak loads also lead to costs in terms of grid fees, and also energy procurement.

runs in 15-minute intervals. For those who know this podcast, most know it: every 15 minutes the price changes. By now it is commonplace in many companies. There are RLM meters, and on that basis they are billed. And we charge when the 15 minutes are cheapest. And for these services we provide and which they could not provide without us – they simply cannot build such software themselves – that requires integrations with the

charging points et cetera. They use our solution for that. And we make money, classic Software-as-a-Service, a subscription model, like you know from Netflix. And the savings far exceed our service. And do they pay that per charging point? Right now yes, but in the future it remains to be seen whether it might also go per vehicle. Okay. And HelloFresh is one of your customers. When does someone qualify as a customer for you?

Do you address mainly large logistics fleets? Or does that also work for, I don't know, the handyman shop around the corner from me in Berlin-Neukölln? The most important thing for us is high energy consumption from the electric fleet. Of course we want to scale to very small fleets in perspective, or even to individual electric drivers. However, the focus right now is on larger fleets. HelloFresh is definitely a great example, starting at around 20, 30 electric vehicles, that is where it becomes interesting for us and of course for the customer too. But

we also think right now at the beginning, when we are perhaps not yet as scalable as in the future, to approach the larger companies. Not perhaps the very largest, because that in turn would be too much, but the medium-sized ones – that is the perfect sweet spot for us. Okay. And what comes out for the customer? So you promise – I saw it somewhere – up to 80 percent cost reduction, which is quite impressive. Maybe we can work through an example

20 electric vehicles that drive this and that many kilometres. I don't know, how much does one drive – 100 per day? Depending on what the long-distance route is, but it could be more or less. We could calculate it like this: 100 kilometres. Then you pay per 100 kilometres – you need something like 20 kWh or so? Well more, so for the large vehicles also with the packages and so 30 to 40. Yes, about 25 to 30. Okay, let's say 30. And the kilowatt-hour for a business costs what, 0.20

euros, all in 20, 30? Exactly. So let's estimate now: 30 kWh times 0.20 euros equals 6 euros per day, roughly speaking. But that is an average price. And if you charge at a good time and avoid peak loads and so on, then you probably come down from 20 euros to on average, I don't know, 10, 12 euros or something? Yes, exactly. And then also optimize energy procurement once more, where you can sometimes also do it at zero cost – now we are in spring times at the beginning

also manage it once more. And what must be said: these up to 80 percent is definitely in the realm of possibility if we have all the levers. So not just the two mentioned now, but those we are already doing with HelloFresh, but also the keyword directionality and the provision of balancing services in grid fees, dynamic grid charges, which will then also come, increasingly in the distribution networks. And self-consumption, I forgot that. Yes,

self-consumption optimization. Can you say anything else about – I don't know – your development? Revenue, employees, whatever is a good proxy so to speak. Where are you at? How long have you been around? I think you – we have 22 – so you are a bit older so to speak. RiDERgy has existed since 23, so you are a year older so to speak. So we are bootstrapped, mainly, what for – you see that with a start-up. We did collect some external capital, but not that much, but also subsidy funding, but mainly bootstrapped, two founders, and

we founded in 22. We have some customers now – the biggest so far is Audi. And when it comes to revenues and employee numbers, we don't really talk about it publicly. But they are developing well, quite well. So that I remain at least highly motivated. And with growth one must honestly say: we also suffered under e-mobility. I imagined many things a bit faster. I think everyone in the industry thought that way, as they had set things up back in the early twenties, so to speak. Okay, e-mobility, 15 million electric vehicles was a goal of the federal government. You can say it now: with 2.6 million new registrations that exist per year in Germany, we will not get there mathematically, unless there are exponentially more sales. That is one topic. And the second topic is with energy – you have to say, I had this topic perhaps as an energy nerd –

yourself. That can you now already say: at 2.6 million new registrations that there are so per year in Germany, we are, unless there are exponentially more sales, mathematically not going to reach it. That means that was such a topic. And the second topic is with energy – you have to say, I had this topic perhaps as an energy nerd –

I thought it would arrive faster, also in people's minds, what the potential is. And the adoption of innovation is not that simple, to be honest. When you talk to fleet managers and people who are in day-to-day operations, they are already quite far away from these topics that we're talking about. So the ones who come from practice, you first have to bring them along. And there are quite a few, like the ones I've already mentioned, who are extremely

enthusiastic about it. I can also refer to HelloFresh – we recorded a cool episode recently with a fleet manager, also a Berliner here. Exactly. Always good. So it's already quite impressive: HelloFresh and Audi. And we're sure you could name-drop a few more logos now. But how about it? How do you find customers? Customer acquisition, because you said you've narrowed down your ICP a bit

not the very large ones, not the very small ones. So my craftsman around the corner, if he only has two vehicles and they're not yet electrified, then not so interesting yet. So how do you find – how? Yes, we have different strategies and approaches. On one hand, it's direct sales or people who come to us. I also create content, as you've already mentioned – people come to me on LinkedIn. It's already such a good

platform, and now also our podcast. That still leads to people coming to me. Nevertheless – and that would also be my main strategy – as an infrastructure software provider, we want to position ourselves so that we work a lot with partners, because we depend on so many stakeholders that it's important to have good partners who also bring the projects. So like a Charge Cloud, which I like to have as a core partner, which is basically the leading backend for charging stations in all municipal utilities that

exist in Germany, but also in the DACH region. And we are the energy management software partner there. From these kinds of partnerships you can both benefit a lot. And there are also more partnerships on the mobility side – also one that is still in the making, but very cool, for example with leasing providers like BNP Paribas Arval. There are different types of stakeholders with which you can then combine our

energy management software well. And where does the competition come from? Is that then more these EMPs, so electromobility service providers? I have an EWE background, you know, and EWE Go, the company I built at EWE. We then sort of handed that over, first as a sister company, then basically as a subsidiary, handed over to EWE Go and the whole team. That's why I can already drop a few more buzzwords, some three and four letter combinations. Or is it

more the CPOs, so the charge point operators? Or are there also dedicated fleet management software providers? I don't know – Gridx for example. So, I don't want to push your competitors now, but so to speak: Where does the competition come from? And how would you differentiate yourself there? Well, I see the market as very dynamic and not in a final state. There are – I think no ecosystem is ever in a final state. But e-mobility and the energy transition are

still in such a dynamic state that you can't be one hundred percent clear about who is a potential partner or competitor. And sometimes it's the case that some stakeholders are partners and some are more competitors. With the EMPs, I see that some are moving in the direction of energy management, control, analytics and intelligence. But very few are open about talking about it. That would be relaxing. Yes, of course. Although

without going too deep into the rabbit hole – I don't know if that role will exist. That's also a big question in the industry right now. There are approaches where you would basically just have the charging point operators, a bit like at a gas station, and they set the price without middlemen. In terms of transparency for the end consumer it would be simpler, but it also has its downsides. So our focus is not

necessarily to control the whole billing and payment processes, but the energy side is more interesting for us. Which is why I sometimes don't dig as deep as other stakeholders see it. But we are open to talking to EMPs, and open to talking to CPOs as well. Definitely. CPOs are our preferred partner. I think that's closer again, because they are closer to the charging process – so closer to controlling the charging process. The CPOs are more relevant for us than the EMPs.

Through Charge Cloud we then reach the CPOs, who in turn deal with the fleets. So you see, the chain is a bit long. And exactly. On competition: competitors come from different corners. Sometimes for certain features they are also e-mobility players. Often they are also more energy players who try to take a holistic approach, but then again don't dig as deep as what a fleet needs. So maybe they are stronger in a household scenario, where it's always the same: one person has a single-family home, and that's relatively easy to map out. But a fleet with buses, trucks and so on are completely different worlds. And that's where I also see our unique selling points, which is why we focus on that: This complexity requires a role that understands this complexity and then also

know how to tackle it. So I think the fact that we focus on fleet management, I think we can defend that – both from a feature side, but also I believe from a go-to-market side, because fleet operators can often be reached differently than, I would say, end consumers or people in the household sector.

situation is to solve it. We've already had one or another company and one or another start-up in the energy space that has something to do with electric mobility, something with smart charging. So for example, I personally remember Voltfang, who originally started by building stationary commercial storage from old car batteries, but I think they're doing something different now. But I think you once put out a thesis that maybe you wouldn't even need stationary storage,

so at least not commercial storage behind the meter, because electric mobility could cover a large part of it. Do you still stand by that? Is that still something you want to say? Well, my core idea – and I think I still stand by it. Even if battery storage becomes so cheap: thinking from first principles – and I think one should always do that – the fact that we have batteries in cars that have already been paid off, that are just sitting there and not being used,

is actually very inefficient. We just need to enable this power electronics and the business models so that this battery can be used. And then we have a huge battery pool available. Even if you're always just thinking about the single-family household, if you think about bidirectionality: there's enough flexibility also in the fleet use cases and also in the public sector. There are also cool examples in Utrecht and in China. That means it's always too simplistic to think about bidirectionality only in terms of the

single-family household. That's where most of the music is playing, because the vehicles sit there even longer. But still, you can use the others too. And if you think about the battery size, those are already orders of magnitude that would at least cover the daily fluctuation needs at the macro level. So if we now have 15 million – well, within 20, 30 years. Let's say we manage 10 million. Is that still realistic, or?

We're just under two to 2030. It's going totally now. But say at least five. I would definitely stand by that. Five. And they're all connected to an 11 kW charging point or a 7 kW, so 7.2 kW 32 A charging point. How do you calculate that? Yeah, let's just do it simply. 11 kW, let's say 10 kW, times 5 million – that would be 50...

50 GW, if I'm not miscalculating right now. And then you already have an order of magnitude. So the demand – especially right now, current status, is 80 GW. Of course, you still have to adjust the energies. A capacity of 50 kWh – you can already bridge quite a few hours with that. Yes, four hours, let's say roughly. And we have cars too, and there are also trucks and so on. But

let's say roughly 50 million vehicles that could be used, now in the end state, when they're all electric. And that's ten times more again. And then there are also trucks – they have even larger batteries and power ratings. There are not only truck chargers, but also DC chargers. If you were to bring all of that together holistically, you'd create a giant battery of about two terawatt-hours – at minimum. Then you definitely have

days. We can bridge the days. But you have to say, to be more nuanced about it: sure, I'm aware of the complexities, the probabilities – how long they're always plugged in and so on – and especially that there are still many hurdles ahead. But we'll tackle that step by step, because it's simply a very cheap battery that will then be available. And last but not least: the distribution of this battery is of course another topic.

But it's the same with stationary batteries, in that you say, that doesn't help us right now in this grid area. That means you'd actually have to look at it at the distribution network level: where are the bottlenecks? And that – yeah, exactly. You wrote on LinkedIn that you were at Slush, the big start-up conference in November in Helsinki. I was there two years ago. But I think we saw each other there too. Yes, yes, you were ultimately – I've now seen a LinkedIn article

from you about Slush. You spent a bit of time with Greg Jackson from Octopus Energy. Yeah, that was inspiring. Octopus is a company we've had on the podcast quite a bit here and been extremely enthusiastic about. We always have Bastian Giro – greetings to him – the Germany CEO. Greg – I haven't talked to directly yet, but so. What was so inspiring about that? What did you take from the whole Octopus story? Well, Octopus is really an inspiring company for me. It's a shame it's not German, but one shouldn't be nationalist about it. Greg Jackson and his founding story and how he's approaching it – he's simply a very charismatic person who also understood exactly where the problems are, and who is also very hands-on. He comes from the software industry, but over the years has acquired a lot of knowledge in the energy industry. And I think he combines this software thinking very well with the energy world and also this really entrepreneurial

thinking. And you can tell that he brings that speed with him. That's pretty unique at that scale in the energy world. I found one statement particularly inspiring, for example: that he deliberately – he had already sold a successful company in the US, and then you'd have expected him to start again in the US. No – the US energy system isn't as good for innovating as Europe. So he deliberately decided: let's do this in Europe. That wouldn't work at all in the US, he said

thinking. And you can tell that he brings that speed with him. That's pretty unique at that scale in the energy world. I found one statement particularly inspiring, for example: that he deliberately – he had already sold a successful company in the US, and then you'd have expected him to start again in the US. No – the US energy system isn't as good for innovating as Europe. So he deliberately decided: let's do this in Europe. That wouldn't work at all in the US, he said

said. And this constant challenging and the speed that this company has, and also the innovations they bring and are already doing on a massive scale – that is partly, I must say as a founder, something somewhat disillusioning or intimidating in the scene, how strong they are, but also admirable. I think you can learn a lot from that. And you should do that. My creed is also: there won't be just one company that dominates all of this.

There are enough loyal people in the scene, and for many other reasons many structures will remain as they are. Others also need to innovate and then need other players too, where we definitely want to position ourselves. Exactly. And I just made a post about the smart meter, where Bastian Giro actually made a very good point about how the smart meter rollout should be better – in that other podcast. Never

Ending Story. But you were also at Slush with Philipp Schröder. Yes, and he is also a welcome guest here in the energy zone. Also a super interesting entrepreneur. Sometimes problematic, what he puts out on LinkedIn – he sometimes rants quite loudly – but we don't need to go into that now, I think I've criticized that enough. He's basically suing our federal government because he says subsidies for

gas power plants are nonsense. He prefers to promote demand-side flexibility – in his case somehow close to households, as you would say. He's right. Should we promote more B2B or B2C fleets instead? Yes, that surprised me a lot. Also that Habeck already pushed these gas power plants so heavily into the foreground. And people always talk about being technology-agnostic. But it was quite clear here. There really wasn't much debate about this flexibility that we also calculated just a moment ago. So

those are several gigawatts. You can get that from somewhere if you also enable the other technologies. And that would work. Decentralized transactions, we can already handle those on a massive scale if we wanted to. And if we enable that, we don't always have to approach it centrally and push just one technology. I thought that approach was quite good, to criticize it very strongly or even go that far. And yes, the focus should be more on these granular

demand-side flexibilities. Okay, got it. And then another founder you mention, the one from Way, who was in Hamburg but moved towards Las Vegas – simply because of regulation around autonomous driving and so on. And you also always have relatively strong takes, on energy policy, industrial policy, startup and innovation policy. How do you view Europe versus other regions with less strict regulation? Well, maybe I have a somewhat controversial opinion here, because regulation is always heavily criticized from all sides. I think

regulation can also enable things. Good regulation can actually really enable a business model. And this idea, almost anarchistic, that there should be no rules, I find a bit naive – that many people when talking about cutting red tape usually wish there was no bureaucracy at all. I think efficient and well-made bureaucracy is what matters. But we're already losing the race a bit when it comes to mobility. So if you look at the USA or China – are innovations still coming?

Can we create an innovation-friendly climate in Europe, in Germany? I think that it is at least very much on the political agenda that regulation should definitely be improved. That's a very diplomatic answer. How should I put it? There are various dimensions to this topic. I think a good example of regulatory changes that have enabled startups recently was the FlixBus story, which was

founded solely because of this regulatory change. Particularly in the energy world, the idea of living without regulation would be unimaginable. At the same time, I also think the Energy Industry Act is so full – you have to get to some things faster or rethink things from scratch. There are many nuances to the whole story. Europe is, in my view, painted in a somewhat too negative light. And you can also innovate a lot, even in

this context. Maybe there aren't that many startups in exodus. Rather, I think – the latest statistics also show that Trump certainly didn't do himself any favors with his America First course. Both Indians who are now coming to Germany – incredibly large numbers – but also Americans coming to Europe. So we simply have a cool environment here, in terms of talent, people who are very well educated, and a respectful approach, fortunately still,

to migrants from all over. That is, I think, Europe's strength. That's something we should promote much more. If you look at who the top managers and talents in all the AI labs in the USA are – only migrants, only people who are top-educated and then went to the USA. We should capture that and say: Okay, so it's not Sundar Pichai anymore and however they're all called – the Indians who are now at the Americans – but rather

they're here in Europe. Yes, welcome, welcome. So I just got stranded in Asia because of the Iran war and all the flight chaos there. And then because I'm somehow stingy and didn't want to spend so much money on the return flight, I picked a wild combination of flights that included a stopover in Guangzhou, China. The first person I contacted was of course you, because

I know you're a China expert. You even speak Chinese, I believe. Yes, yes.

But exactly. You somehow have a history with China. You've been there before, lived there for a while, you speak Chinese. And you were recently on a delegation trip to China with some startup and innovation people. How was that? What's going on there? What can we learn from them? What are we missing? What do they do better? Tell us everything. Yes, China – an extremely exciting country, particularly for the energy transition and e-mobility – shaping things like no other country. So I'm taking a lot with me

from that country. We can learn a lot from China too. What moves there is constantly changing. Maybe the most relevant thing that came up as news was the five-year plan. That's always very important. In China people think very long-term. There are these five-year plans, but people think even longer-term than that. The current five-year plan didn't focus on energy and e-mobility – that was the five-year plan before. But that doesn't mean it's not still being pushed, rather it

is seen as the technology is running and will continue to run. But do they already have a RiDERgy, for example? So does what you do already exist there? An interesting thing you can say about China in the energy context is that it's not liberalised like it is here. We started that back in '97. They're only really getting started now and copying us. That means it's actually pretty cool. And also why I find China very exciting for me with RiDERgy is because it's just now

introducing spot markets, for example. They didn't have those before. I didn't even know that. Yes, and interestingly, because we mentioned Octopus: they went in a month ago because there's an exciting opportunity right now. China is of course the number one mobility country – ten million e-vehicles are sold there every year. That's just a completely different scale. And that's why there isn't yet something like what we want to do, at least not there. There are certain things that

already exist. There are virtual power plants, for example, for transmission system operators. Those already exist, certain things, but a lot doesn't yet – and not merchant-based. Those are always state-owned companies. Yes, exactly. There's State Grid, which is one of the largest companies in the world, China's biggest energy provider. And exactly there are now potentials because there are these changes too, due to regulatory reasons. And we see a lot of potential there. And otherwise – because we also talk so much about innovation and entrepreneurship – I think what's greatly underestimated

and what we can learn is the following. You always have this idea: China subsidises with lots of money and then it runs by itself. No, it's really a cultural thing. The Chinese are very entrepreneurial. They're already selling in the schoolyard. They hustle just like you do. So I've never been recruited as hard as in China. We've never experienced that on any other markets. But that's not really what I mean. But they, but they, but

nevertheless – they really do hustle and above all have a crazy business scene. Pragmatism especially, where I think we can learn a lot. We're obviously very good – and I experienced this first-hand – at mechanical engineering, this perfectionism, thinking deeply into problems and wanting to solve them perfectly. That's awesome. But it's also restrictive because if you try to have the best solution right at step one and do nothing until you have the most perfect

solution – particularly in the context of building a company – you just have to get to market faster and iterate and iterate. And they somehow have that built into them, and then scale quickly once they've iterated enough. And we should look at adopting that and acting more as partners with the Chinese too. So far we've always seen it as a sales market, and they just produced things for us – that was kind of

Germany's story with China. And I think now a rethink is needed from new management in German companies, to see China more as a partner, more on an equal footing, and to ask: What do you bring? What do we bring? And that together for the world. I think China definitely has an ambition to be a market leader – not just for itself, but to supply the whole world with renewables and e-mobility

and other technologies. And I think that complements itself well with Germany and Europe if you work together and don't completely separate. Okay. And what exactly did you do there? Were you just there for a few weeks and looked at different locations and made partnerships? So to put it simply: We were guests with many governments, research and innovation organisations as well as companies that are very innovative – especially in the Shanghai region, in the Yangtze Delta, as it's called, with Hangzhou, which is very much shaped by Alibaba –

where Elon Musk was actually two weeks before us and looked at one of the leading robotics companies. That was also a big topic. Musk's delegation, which of course was much more prominent than ours. And exactly that – that told me very concretely: I've now become very well networked with some partners and was able to validate my business model much better, gain market understanding and learn what kind of support is available on site.

for start-ups. What's the situation? What are the complexities when you enter the market there? And what are the energy system stories that still exist? You mentioned the five-year plan. And that's perhaps not quite so prominent anymore. But now through the Iran crisis somehow, and because I was also in Asia at that time, of course I understood much more drastically what the strategic motivation and component of China's electrification strategy is, that they, that

it's extremely difficult for them. So an extreme dependence on oil as an oil importer and also geo-strategically. We're always talking about straits, Hormuz and Malacca, right? Singapore, exactly,

Malacca. But that was right. Yes. And that they have a completely different motivation as it were, to get out of this dependence. So mega exciting. But in China you also have to say, absolutely a big climate issue. And I think it's also important to mention that I believe not everyone is just selfish and tries to become more independent according to their own interests, of course. I

do believe that for the Chinese as well as for many Europeans it's such a way of thinking: We should solve the climate crisis. And of course we also have a self-interest in not importing so much now. From all sides. Well, so mega exciting, your perspective on that. My impression in any case was also: somehow, when you're in these Asian megacities, whether in Vietnam or Korea, but especially in China, it's somehow like

Berlin then sometimes seems not quite so dynamic and not quite so modern, not quite so young to me. And it's totally crazy what gets built from the ground up in such a short time and with what kind of energy goals are sometimes pursued. I found that somehow quite inspiring and impressive. So the Royal Porcelain Manufactory in Berlin perhaps once had such dynamics, but that's kind of more in the past now. And you really feel the

trends and so on. We're slowly coming to the conclusion. I wanted to make the detour back to your business model and to the energy policy and energy regulatory issues that might affect you and your business model. So, Vehicle-to-Grid, both Bastian Girol, Germany CEO of Octopus, and Benjamin Merle, the CPO of Empower, told us in the podcast that this is somehow a big topic that's coming now – not just Grid-to-Vehicle, but also Vehicle-to-Grid. How

Are you looking at the regulatory side? Are the automakers still blocking things? Yes, G2V is already working, but V2G is not yet. That's a topic with many hurdles. The more you get into it, the more you see all the obstacles. But they are, to put it positively, being dismantled step by step. The good thing about the current federal government – but also those before it – they've done a lot. Let me say something positive about the federal government now: When you charged bidirectionally, grid charges were essentially charged twice. That's gone. The taxes and grid charges – that's also a major hurdle, and it's

now been removed. But there are still uncertainties with metering and control technology and certain other things. And above all, it needs to be made simpler for the grid operators and the market sale of this electricity – that's not yet 100% regulated. That varies in how well it's regulated at each

of the 800+ distribution grid operators. And those are more standards, but it's also heading in the direction of regulation. The Grid Codes, which you need especially when discharging – technically speaking, the components have to adapt to the different regulations and requirements of the grids. That's another topic like that. But it's being tackled step by step. So I'm quite optimistic. There are already certain things that have been placed on the market, products that are on the market. Maybe you've seen it yourself: well-known automakers who are already selling things in Germany, the UK and other countries. Really? Yes. You can already buy such services, but it's a bit limited. You need a compatible charging station that's compatible with the vehicle, which then only comes from one energy supplier. Those kinds of things. The interoperable world we need isn't there yet. That would be

my biggest wish. I admire you, by the way. You're really always very positive and somehow stay optimistic. I have to be honest, I've said it many times here on the podcast, but sometimes it's hard for me to stay optimistic. I've been doing something with the energy transition and electric cars since 2008, 2009. And now we're in 2026. And we're still talking about smart meters. And we're

still talking about it. So to speak, the concept like Grid. I understood that as a young student who couldn't really think around corners that much. And somehow it can totally disillusion people like me when it takes so long for us to make progress. How do you do it? Where do you get the energy? Well, my approach is simply to say: let's try what works, where it works. I'm with you, I feel that even more because it's my everyday work to push it forward. Nevertheless, if everyone gives up, then it won't work even less. It's just a complex topic, appears to be a complex topic. What I've also tried to do – with the smart meter example, I've now made a post where I think: let's

try this way

your biggest wish. I admire you, by the way. You're really always very positive and somehow stay optimistic. I have to be honest, I've said it many times here on the podcast, but sometimes it's hard for me to stay optimistic. I've been working on something with the energy transition and electric cars since 2008, 2009. And now we're in 2026. And we're still talking about smart meters. And we're still talking about it. So to speak, the concept like Grid. I understood that as a young student who couldn't really think around corners that much. And somehow it can totally disillusion people like me when it takes so long for us to make progress. How do you do it? Where do you get the energy? Well, my approach is simply to say: let's try what works, where it works. I'm with you, I feel that even more because it's my everyday work to push it forward. Nevertheless, if everyone gives up, then it won't work even less. It's just a complex topic, seems like a complex topic. What I've also tried to do – with the smart meter example, I've now made a post where I think: let's

Simply become a bit more pragmatic. In so many things, to bring a bit of pragmatism into society. That's what's important: not finding the reasons why it shouldn't work, but simply looking at how it could work. Just taking the first step, and even if it's not perfectly calibrated – which is sometimes an issue, like metrology law here in Germany – it's not the end of the world.

You can lose some energy and not have a cent here or there, but in return you get 700 euros or what enables you. So this pragmatism where you sometimes get caught up in details. And I get energy simply because, as you say, I understood it right away. And I see a lot of potential there. And it frustrates me that you can't do it every day – with two million electric cars, you're essentially wasting

the flexibility, already just in charging. We don't even have to be bidirectional, just in charging. And I think it's so crazy that it's still not standard practice. And I'm glad we're contributing our small part to making it at least standard practice for certain fleets. But that should be accelerated. And the only thing that helps is getting the message out to people, because these topics are still so far away from everyday life

for people. I notice that again and again. And that's definitely a topic: staying the course, everyone cooperating and staying the course, not thinking small-minded, because these are systems. Systems thinking and sharing systems is the only thing that will help, otherwise it won't work. Cool. So really quite an inspiring guy. Thanks for your positive energy and all the good things you're advancing in the industry. Where can people find you? On LinkedIn of course. Are you

also on X? Or any other social media? You obviously have a website and so on. Any trade shows where you can be found? Are you at the trade show in Munich? Exactly, definitely, that would be the next one. And otherwise: Smart Charge by RiDERgy – if the topics resonate with you. We have really cool projects and stakeholders that have been interviewed. Just listen in or subscribe. So we're not

in competition at all. We push each other massively so that you make the podcast for e-mobility even sharper and even more detailed – awesome guests in there. Any episodes you've already recorded or that are coming up soon that people can look forward to? Yeah, so the best one I've recorded now – maybe the one that was also quite funny – maybe the national

director of e-mobility, the managing director was there. Wow, that was really cool. He reminds me a bit of your co-host, because he's probably the private person with the most charging points in all of Germany. He has ten charging points for his village here in Brandenburg. Really? And he operates them for his village as kind of a mini-CPO. Passionate guy. Behind the meter or with his own metering points? I don't think we went that deep

into detail because he surprised me completely with the topic and I actually had quite different topics planned. Yeah, him – I don't know if I'm even allowed to invite him, because we always try to be not too political, not too – yeah, whatever – more practitioners, entrepreneurs, decision-makers. But okay, that's good. Yeah, otherwise, what's not quite in the bag yet, but what would be really cool: maybe a distribution network operator, because that's

something I also picked up from Alex, which is always a topic. We have a couple in the pipeline now. Permitting issues in e-mobility and how to accelerate them, and the topic of network fees – those are the two that are very relevant for e-mobility, especially right now in the ELK context. So to all the logistics companies out there, to all small businesses with fleets, to the EMPs, to the CPOs –

To the talent who are keen on RiDERgy and the mission you stand for: just reach out to Claudio on LinkedIn, right? That's the easiest thing. And listen to the podcast, and then you'll find him. I'm a very open person. Anything else you're looking forward to in the next, I don't know, twelve months or so? What's ahead of you? What's most cool right now is especially continuing these partnerships with China and pursuing market entry there. And France, because

I speak French. How many languages do you speak? I only read nine. Yeah, exactly. No, that's right. You speak nine languages? Yes, fluently. Yeah, dude. But not all at the same level. So German with the

the west a couple of times. And then we have Mob Lab. That's like a mobility network in France, where I'm increasingly based in Paris now. And Station F, which I've already mentioned, is a cool innovation hub. Station F is kind of like a coworking space, right? Yeah, but much bigger. It's huge. It used to be an old train station. Energy Lab is even bigger, XL. Yeah, it's an old train station that they completely

renovated to be really cool. So over 300 meters and so, just with startups and innovations for all kinds of topics. And we're there regularly with this Mob Lab to drive forward the mobility ecosystem in France. So those are our topics in France, which is a very attractive market. Cool. Alright. Then lots of success. Many thanks for the invitation. Yeah, happy to. Any time. We'll do a follow-up episode in a year or so and a half, or let's see where things stand. Gladly.

Goodbye, Claudio. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Yes. That was the episode with Claudio from RiDERgy. Personally, this conversation has motivated me extremely again. In an industry where you can quickly get lost in bureaucracy and concerns, it's quite refreshing to see how someone with so much passion simply builds, bootstraps, scales. Yes, if you're interested in more deep dives into electromobility, definitely check out Claudio's own podcast Smart Charge by RiDERgy. It's absolutely worth it. And yes

Don't forget: Energy Breakfast again at the OMR and our upcoming webinar on energy procurement on April 23rd, 1:00 PM. Sign up directly with me via DM on LinkedIn. If you enjoyed this episode of Energiezone, please leave us a rating – a 5-star rating of course on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Or just discuss it with me on LinkedIn, share the episode and check out www.energiezone.org. Or if you have feedback or guest suggestions, always feel free to reach out to team@energiezone.org. Thanks for listening. Stay energized and until next time.

That's it for now from your Ilan. Bye, bye.

Episode notes

In dieser Folge spricht Ilan von Onu Energy mit Claudio Geyken, Gründer von RiDERgy im Energiezone Podcast. Die beiden kennen sich seit ihrer Zeit an der KTH in Stockholm und sprechen über Claudios Weg vom internationalen Macher mit großem Unternehmergeist hin zum Aufbau von RiDERgy. Im Gespräch geht es um Smart Charging, E Flotten und die Frage, warum pragmatische Lösungen für die Energiewende jetzt wichtiger sind als perfekte Konzepte auf dem Papier. Claudio erzählt, wie RiDERgy große Kunden wie HelloFresh und Audi unterstützt und warum intelligente Steuerung von Ladevorgängen ein entscheidender Hebel für die Zukunft des Energiesystems ist. Außerdem geht es um die Rolle von Preisvolatilität, Regulierung und Digitalisierung - und darum, was Europa bei Umsetzungsgeschwindigkeit und Fokus von anderen Märkten wie China lernen kann. Eine Folge über Unternehmertum, Energie und die praktische Seite der Mobilitätswende.