ELECTRIC MOBILITY

VISION

Reinforcing their positioning as one of the main references world-wide in the charging stations’ sector for electric vehicles

MISSION

To make electric vehicles a part of people’s lives, offering a complete range of  chargers for the private, public sector, fast and wireless

STRATEGY

• Relying on innovation and time-to-market and also on a broader portfolio of solutions
• To develop an on-going policy for partnerships, world-wide

WHICH GEOGRAPHIES?

Innovation and high performance reflect a product portfolio that is in continuous development, reaching the most demanding and emergent areas of the market.

* Due to the incorporation of the Feeding Systems, Inverters and Space in Efacec Energia, the official indicators that were shown are not comparable. Yet, to analyse the business’s evolution, in order to perform a comparative analysis, and as far as orders, sales and gross margins are concerned, we’ve excluded these activities from 2015’s numbers.

STRATEGIC PILLAR

• Developing new charging solutions (e.g. induction charging)
• Developing the service business

• Increasing production efficiency through operational improvements
• Increasing production efficiency through operational improvements

• Diversifying our footprint with potential emerging markets
• Broadening our partnership network to make it global

• Establishing partnerships with clients to develop products and solutions

• Building a dual career model, one that instigates the professional development of technical tasks, as well as management tasks
• Revising our performance assessment model, transversely incorporating into EFACE the functional families specificities versus functional groups
• Revising our compensation and benefits model, promoting guidance to our strategic goals (e.g.: commercial proactivity) and tactical goals
• Defining a talent management model that allows us to identify any employees with higher potential, guiding them into faster paced professional development tracks
• Putting together a behavioural, functional and management training plan that enables us to prepare our employees to fulfill the 2020 EFACEC vision

The outlined strategy  is materialised 11 initiatives, which foreseeably will have a positive impact on the EBITDA around mid-2017.

GLOBAL VISION OF THE MARKETS

In 2016, the global market for chargers kept growing, meeting the growing offer of electric vehicles that important car manufacturers made available.  The increasing autonomy in these vehicles and the demand for shorter charging times thrusted the growth of DC (Direct Current) solutions for more powerful fast chargers. The regions that showed greater growth continued to be, in 2016, North America, Asia Pacific and Western Europe, due to important factors like increased demand by end-users  and also the governmental incentive programs for public charging networks as well as the investment on behalf of some utilities and car manufacturers.

OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE

In 2016, Europe and the USA remained the main focusmarkets for the Electric Mobility Unit (EEM). We also witnessed a broadened performance in high-potential markets, namely in Asia and Latin America, largely because of the partnerships we’ve established in those regions.

2016 was the best year ever for EEM, since we experienced pronounced growth in placed orders when compared to the previous year, consolidating its position in the market as a reference and being acknowledged by various players (car brands, charging networks’ operators, users) for its ability to innovate and for its technology also. For us to show such results, we must recognise the role played by the European market, namely by Allego GmbH, Innogy SE, Garo AS and Porsche AG, the great contributors to the turnover we’ve achieved.

In 2016, we also introduced the high-power charge range to the market, and we fulfilled the first few contracts. We also started the first wireless charge project. In the future, we expect to continue to see a growing demand for charging equipment in countries where electric mobility is still taking the first steps, and also for high power charging systems in more mature markets.

In 2016, we also introduced the high-power charge range to the market, and we fulfilled the first few contracts. We also started the first wireless charge project. In the future, we expect to continue to see a growing demand for charging equipment in countries where electric mobility is still taking the first steps, and also for high power charging systems in more mature markets.

2016 is also marked by our transferring to the ASE BU the electric mobility  non-core activities – Feeding Systems, Inverters and Space projects –, thus reinforcing its strategic focus on Electric Mobility.

We should also highlight the following events in 2016:

• Launching new products in the market, particularly the high tension and high power chargers designed for long range vehicles, and the beginning of wireless charge projects.
• Supplying fast chargers for the Fast-E Project, for our client Allego, the largest fast charge project in Europe financed by the European Union.
• Continuing the Tank&Rast project for our client Innogy, the largest fast charge project in Germany.
• Order for a set of chargers, for internal usage, to be installed in 7 sites in 3 countries, for Porsche, enabling EEM to install the first 350 kW chargers for light vehicles in the world.
• Entry into the Southeast Asian market, with our first orders from Macau and Hong Kong.
• Several development projects, in partnership with clients, of which we point out:  Wireless charge with car manufacturers, opportunity chargers for omnibuses and ultra-fast chargers with charging operators.

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

EXPECTATIONS FOR 2017

A GLANCE AT THE BUSINESS

PEDRO
SILVA

ELECTRIC MOBILITY BUSINESS UNIT

2016 was a year of significant increase in EEM’s capacity for on-going production. What caused these results?

In the past few months, we’ve had construction work done on our factory and office buildings to adapt, when it’s completed, to EMM’s need of increasing its production capability to more than double of what it is right now, as well as overall improvements at other relevant levels. For instance, the offices will be detached from the factory buildings, the R&D labs, the end-of-line and product engineering tests will have increased capacity, the factory will solely and fully be attached to the EEM, the influx of materials will be improved, as well as all the layout

At the same time, we’re implementing several projects that include new IT tools for project management and for releases, for procedure automation and production planning, as well as new methodologies, like a lean project and the implementation, for future certification, of the automobile sector’s quality standard  IATF 16949. All of these initiatives directly contribute to EEM’s growth in the next few years.

How do you envision the evolution of charging power to 350kW for electric vehicles? In what way has EMM been adapting to this new market trend?

The announcement of electric cars with hundreds of kilometers of autonomy will bring about the possibility of driving for long distances on one single charge. For this to happen, while at the same time we ensure acceptable charging times, the charging power has to increase significantly, since the batteries’ capacity will forcibly have to be greater. From EEM’s perspective, the high-power chargers (above 150kW and up to 350kW) will be fundamental for the electric mobility’s acceptance at a broader level, and should be present, most of all, on highways.  In turn, the current 50kW chargers should increase in numbers, especially in urban areas and on secondary roads. With this in mind, EEM has been relying on a timely retainement of this technology, through our involvement in major projects, guaranteeing its availability as soon as it becomes necessary.

In which markets and/or segments do you think you’ll grow most significantly in the next few years?

We envision that the electric vehicle-charging sector will experience an intense growth in practically all the segments: fast charge and super-fast charge, private charge at a lower power for refilling of the spent capacity on an average day, public transportation charges particularly plug in,  but also the opportunity charge, and a segment that should come about soon which is the wireless charge.

Geography-wise, Europe and the USA should continue to be the base for our business. Yet, we should never neglect the relevance of other markets that are, even today, becoming critical for our sustained future growth.