We have had a quick chat with Andreas Schaathun, director of Zaptec Norway about the green shift, jumping from the 10-meter, and having an office on the move.
🔌 Hi, Andreas - who is Zaptec?
Zaptec is a company that works with charging solutions for electric cars and is one of the market leaders in Norway. We have big international ambitions and work hard every day to make the world better and more sustainable. The green shift is very relevant these days, and it is an industry in the tailwind. There is a large deficit of chargers in relation to needs and we must do our part to electrify the world.
💼 How long have you been with Evolve?
We are on our way to Evolve in Nedre Slottsgate, but will not move in until 1 October - so now we have temporarily moved into Evolve Barcode at the beginning of August. Here we have a separate team agreement which gives us a separate small Zaptec cubicle. So far, Barcode has been top-notch. Beautiful and with a premium location. There is also a canteen in the building, it will be hard to let go of. Here there is good hot food and a full buffet. So it's very cool. That's not exactly the case in Nedre Slottsgate, so we have to find other solutions there.
📍 What are you looking forward to about moving to Evolve in Nedre Slottsgate?
What I'm most looking forward to there is the centrality of the location. It is easily accessible and easy to get there for those who are going to visit us. Whether it's colleagues from the head office in Stavanger or customers. In addition, we get more space than we had before when we put many drawers into a room that was a little too small. And, in Nedre Slottsgate we also have a separate department with 2/3 private meeting rooms, in addition to the shared meeting rooms Evolve offers. The teaming agreement with a separate cubicle also gives us room to create a bit of a showroom and a bit of an environment with Zaptec branding. Then we can decorate with some Zaptec things to ~Zapify~ the office a bit.
🥇 Why is renting an office at Evolve such a good fit for you?
In short, we needed more space. We grew out of you we sat before. We also wanted to sit as centrally as possible, as we have visitors both from home and abroad. Not least, it will be even easier for our good colleagues from the head office in Stavanger to travel to the new premises. In Nedre Slottsgate, it is easy to take the train to Oslo S and walk straight onto the Evolve office.
🏙 What do you value most in the immediate area around the Evolve office?
The office has a central location and is located in the middle of Oslo-gryta. It is easy to get to and from everything, and with a good selection of food, drink, and activities in the immediate vicinity. We get to take part a little more in Oslo, which has become a very nice little metropolis with lots of fun things to do.
🍁 What are you looking forward to happening at Zaptec this autumn?
We work every day to make things better for both our customers and our partners, and this autumn we have lots of exciting plans underway.
Now there is a great demand for our products and slightly longer delivery times than we would like. We are actively working to cover the backlog, which is a pleasant luxury problem. More and more electric cars are being sold, and there is an urgent need to develop infrastructure so that as many people as possible have the opportunity to charge their electric cars at home. We believe it is important that Norway prioritizes a good infrastructure for destination charging, charging in places where the car is likely to be left for a long time. Whether it's in an amusement park, hotel, shopping center, or similar. We can then make use of existing infrastructure in the power grid to install even more "home chargers" (AC chargers), they both cost less and are easier and faster to project than fast chargers (DC chargers). We do not work with DC chargers (fast charging), but only with what is called AC chargers and which are often associated with home chargers.
Many people want our products and our goal is to get even more Zaptec chargers and solutions onto the market. We are a growing company and are constantly hiring new people, maybe you who are reading this are one of our future colleagues, here at Evolve?
🎭 What was the best thing about this summer?
It must be spending quality time with family and good friends. Fortunately, we didn't travel with SAS this year, haha. We enjoyed the summer in Norway with family in Sørlandet, took a trip to Gothenburg and Liseberg, and enjoyed ourselves at the cabin. I also booked a trip to the Fringe festival in Edinburg and saw the best of stand-up. It is a fantastic cultural festival that lasts over a whole month and which even more Norwegians should discover.
🌊 Do you have a nice summer memory you want to share with us?
To see the son jump from the 10-meter and swim at Frognerbadet in the fantastic Oslo summer weather. I'm generally not too fond of cold water, but if you're going to swim in Norway and not in the South, Frognerbadet is very nice in terms of the temperature.
🎧 Podcast, music, or book on the beach?
Book, yes. One of the last books I read was "Helt Konge" the book by Øystein Pølsa Pettersen. I can certainly recommend it for both inspiration and reflection
