EV adoption is set for long-term growth: Blink Charging CEO

Despite fears of an electric vehicle (EV) adoption slowdown, Blink Charging (BLNK) defied expectations by reporting a 195% surge in gross profit during its first quarter results. To shed light on the company's expansion plans and the broader EV landscape, Blink Charging President & CEO Brendan Jones joins Catalysts.

Jones highlights the company's continued observation of EV adoption globally, with Europe emerging as a significant revenue driver. In this region, EV sales continue to rise, accompanied by an expansion of EV infrastructure. Notably, Jones points out that utilization of charging stations is also on the upswing, reflecting the growing demand for EV-related services.

While acknowledging slowdowns experienced by industry giants like Tesla (TSLA), Jones draws attention to the contrasting strategies of other automakers. Hyundai (HYMTF), for instance, has doubled down on its commitment to EVs, further investing in the sector. "You saw some stuff that said 'hey, we might be slowing,' but then you also saw a lot of encouraging activity that said the space is going to continue to grow over the long-term," Jones tells Yahoo Finance.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Catalysts.

This post was written by Angel Smith

Video Transcript

Charging, getting a boost on the back of his quarterly results revenues.

So more than 70% from a year ago, the company also acknowledging the slight drop that we have seen the EV sales during the first quarter.

But despite that remaining optimistic about the growth of the company expects to see here in the coming quarters for more.

We want to bring in Brendan Jones.

He's the CEO and president of Bling charging Brendan, it's great to have you here.

So talk to us just about the trends before we get into Tesla.

That's a big headline that we wanna get into.

But more specifically talk to us just about the trends that you have seen in your business the most recent quarter.

And whether or not that supports maybe this fear that we've seen about slowing adoption of evs.

So, yeah, we continue to see globally that, that EVs continue to be adopted.

So it's a little bit of a, a different theme than you might see out there.

Um In, in some of the press in general, um specifically in Europe, our numbers are increasing dramatically um both in England, Ireland.

Uh We operate in the Netherlands and Belgium and moving into other countries and the utilization rate and the penetration rate is 2530 as high as 35% in Europe.

And that's the percent of car sales each month, each year of evs representing.

So that continues to increase.

We did see a slowing down a bit in April on our sales side, but we, we haven't fully calculated that revenue yet.

Um But that is buoyed by what we saw uh in Q one which was increased uh penetration of, of uh EVs uh in terms of ev infrastructure going in the ground.

Uh We had our, you know, we beat the previous uh quarter, same year uh dramatically um as was indicated.

So we see that in the marketplace, some consolidation, uh we definitely saw Tesla S sales slow down a bit, but then we saw the other O Auto O Ems picking up uh simultaneously.

And then in the quarter also, we, we saw an enormous investment uh from Hyundai Group that came in with another $50 billion in an effort to secure them as the number three automotive group.

So you saw some, you know, stuff that said, hey, it might be slowing, but then you also saw a lot of encouraging activity.

So the space is going to continue to grow over the long term.

But and there were some uh headlines that add investors at least a little encouraged, maybe about what ultimately uh could potentially happen to your business.

Now, there has been a bit of a flip flop in terms of the headlines coming out from Tesla, Ceo Elon Musk.

So I think some of the plans here may be a limbo for the charging network, the super charging network.

But ultimately, if we do see any sort of shift from Tesla, if we do see any of your competitors fully exit that business, what ultimately does that mean for blink?

So first off, let's say what Tesla means today?

For blank, it's the number one vehicle that plugs into our charges today.

So uh that, that's great business for us, especially uh on the charges that we own and operate.

And if, if Tesla slows down, we've already had phone calls and inquiries uh from a number of companies say, hey, can you, can you pick up the pace, can you jump in and we're fielding those calls?

And in many cases, we can uh for blink, Tesla's been heavy in destination Charger along um with hotels, uh other municipal locations where uh they provide charging services and indeed sell chargers in into.

So those opportunities are presenting themselves to us today.

Um And then I I in terms of uh fast charging, we may see, but that's gonna be uh less of an impact than on the L two side, the level two charging.