UCD and Imperial pair up for DC charging venture

The company’s technology centres around what it calls ‘DockChain’, which allows multiple vehicles to daisy-chain power from a single high-powered DC charger. Rapid DC chargers can generally only service one or two cars at a time, limiting their practicality. Go Eve’s software enables several cars to access DC power at the same time or in sequence, controlled by the company’s proprietary software. The company says it completed a successful pilot installation at the Imperial campus last November.

Go Eve was co-founded by Hugh Sheehy, John Goodbody, Professor Robert Shorten, Dr Pietro Ferraro and Andrew Cullen in 2021. The technology was originally developed by a team of academics and researchers led by Professor Shorten at the UCD School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Shorten subsequently moved to the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial where the technology was further advanced by him and his team. The company has offices in Dublin and London.

“Go Eve offers a technology that can transform EV charging,” said Hugh Sheehy, Go Eve CEO. “For EVs to replace fossil-fuel cars, charging needs to be faster, lower cost, more widely available and most efficiently use available grid capacity. Our technology does all these things, which is why we see a future with rapid charging in every space.

“We have reliable manufacturing partners who can rapidly scale cable and microchip production to meet our expected growth. We currently have capacity for hundreds of installations now – we’re prepared for thousands next year. We anticipate strong pickup for DockChain, particularly for fleet operators and in destination car parks.”

Go Eve says it is using this initial fundraising round to secure its supply chains and scale production, as well as rolling out the first commercial installations of DockChain this summer.

“Given the importance of climate action and sustainability it is fantastic to see Go Eve close this £3 million seed funding round to enable it to take the next steps in bringing its innovation electric charging solution to market,” said Tom Flanagan, director of Enterprise and Commercialisation, UCD.

“We are delighted to continue to collaborate with our colleagues in Imperial College London as we support Go Eve in commercialising its exciting DockChain technology which has potential to make a significant impact on how EVs are charged on the global stage.”