Interview with Driivz CEO Doron Frenkel: “It’s really complex beneath the surface.”

Doron Frenkel, CEO at Driivz, the forefront software firm in simplified EV charging, shares insights into the intricacies of the charging industry in our latest interview. Mighty network partners such as Statkraft's Mer, Shell or Japan's eMP, enable the company to gather big data that informs its "self-healing algorithms". Frenkel keeps end users in mind, but knows that his business "is really complex beneath the surface". So, we dive straight in.

Current complexity is also why “users need roaming solutions,” says the CEO when summarising Driivz’s reason to be. At the same time, while some charging sessions may appear seamless to drivers, Frenkel says his company’s products also “make it easier for the operators to use plug and charge and provide it to their customers”.

This, he says, concerns all cases of charging, public, semi-public or at home. The latter two have grown considerably, and Driivz is working to serve specific needs.

How do you know the driver now can share more energy or consume more energy? “It’s about statistics and AI.
Doron Frenkel, Driivz CEO

“We see more fleet charging and managed charging at home, so we are looking into creating an integrated environment for the drivers.”

Going back to B2B requirements, Frenkel says, “We need to serve all the different business models,” and adds, “Billing is becoming more complex but also the flexibility market” – meaning EVs as batteries on wheels.

“The next future is part of the energy management around EV charging,” he says, which means ensuring that there is enough energy to cover demand.

To do this requires what Frenkel calls “operational excellence, to make sure that we have additional means, to ensure that chargers are ready for the drivers”.

We are already doing V2G, still, the number of projects is not as much as we would like to see and that will become more viable in the coming years.”
Doron Frenkel, Driivz

So far, so good, but “How do you know the driver now can share more energy or consume more energy,” asks the Driivz CEO. “It’s about statistics, and statistics go through AI.”

The company has been gathering data to feed statistics to artificial intelligence since 2014. Still, Frenkel says, “We believe that only now do we have enough data so that the AI algorithm will start getting effective on how we forecast.”

And yes, he says, “Eventually, it makes it a lot easier for the users, but until you get there, it’s a lot of hard work.”

See the kind of work Driivz has been doing and what the medium-term future holds on our social channels.

Just this much: “It’s a journey, and we are part of it, and the journey is different in different countries,” according to Doron Frenkel.

Driivz software enables real-time monitoring of chargers and remote service functions through “self-healing algorithms”, which claim to proactively solve up to 80 per cent of charger problems remotely.

Driivz also pushed the Plug&Charge standard ISO 15118 early on, and Mer Group reportedly switched its entire charging infrastructure in Europe to the company’s operating system. St1 Nordic Oy also decided to use Driivz software to manage new high-power charging hubs across Scandinavia this year. Most recently, Driivz developed a platform with Volvo Group to manage the charging requirements of heavy-duty electric vehicles.

Since 2022, Driivz has been owned by Vontier, a global industrial technology company focused on mobility and transport with over 8,500 staff worldwide and headquarters in North Carolina, USA.

Interview by Carla Westerheide at the ICNC in Berlin.