Carge makes appointments for ‘charging’ anywhere in Europe

Lefteris Karaipatsakis (26 years old)

BRANCH: Application for vehicle charging – CARGE

Lefteris Karaipatsakis 18 years ago traveled for the first time in an electric car. In order to be able to find and use the nearest charging station, he had to register in different applications, commit a certain amount of money and, finally, wait for the card that activates the plug of each provider.

At the same time, as a result of the pandemic, many European countries (including Greece) had already announced a series of new incentives to adopt e-mobility aimed at green growth and CO2 emissions reduction. Then he decided to be the first in this field and build from scratch a solution that will help electric vehicle drivers to locate and book any station in Europe, so that they can charge their battery smoothly without any stress. On this business trip, he co-founded Carge with Peter Benoit (CTO) in 2020 (over 30).

What differentiates Carge’s application is that it comes to solve other, obvious problems related to the distribution of electricity network. “Through state-of-the-art technology, we gain access to each vehicle individually and control the load at each charging session, so as to balance consumption and avoid peak points for the power suppliers. “This is the first application in the world that uses smart charging as a means of boosting energy providers, creating a competitive supply at the entrance to the new Lefteris.

Carge has received funding of 330,000 euros (pre-seed), while at this stage it is in discussions with venture capitals for the next round of financing (seed round). Today Carge has more than 12,500 registered users in 5 countries (Greece, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Italy), and has signed agreements with the largest charging infrastructure providers, gaining access to 95,000+ recharging stations. Lefteris’s vision is for Carge to become the largest provider of electric services in Europe.

Methodology: Out of the more than 100 nominations collected by “Forbes” – either through applications of the interested parties themselves or through proposals from institutions and competent bodies – the editorial team made a first selection and came up with 50. The jury, which consisted of Mr. Spyros Theodoropoulos (CEO of Chipita), Nikos Karamouzis (former President of Eurobank and the Hellenic Banking Association, President of Grant Thornton), Michalis Bletsas (Director of Informatics at MIT Media Lab), Theocharos Filipos Capital.gr, president of Attica Publications), evaluated the 50 candidacies with scores from 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest), based on which the final ranking was formed. The order of publication is defined according to the members’ rating (from highest to lowest) and then alphabetically. Conditions for participation in the list “Forbes 30 Under 30 Greece 2022” were met by those born from 1/1/1992 onwards.

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* Project Parenting is the first educational platform that supports parents

* Staiatis Voglis: The startupper who shares the same passion for sustainable fishing and information services

* Stefanos Douskos: He did not give up and was justified

* Marialina Tsinidi: The 17-year-old student whose experiments travel in space

* CollegeLink: The platform that connects young people with the job market

* Nikolas Varveris and OVIVIEW open the door of employers to young people

* Authentic fishing experiences in the Mediterranean via Fisea

* Thanasis Gavelas: The gold paralympian who twice broke the world record in Tokyo