The EV Café, five friends who initially joined forces to talk about electric vehicles on a Zoom call, during the first COVID lockdown, have been shortlisted for the prestigious Green Start-up Awards of the Year, 2023.
The EV Café has grown into to a successful advocacy, training, media and PR agency with the soul aim of accelerating the transition to clean transport. Working with partners from across the automotive , energy and sustainability sectors the team of Jonny, Sam, Sara, Paul and John, have held training events, webinars, live events and grown a community of loyal followers, all working to deliver net zero in transport.
The StartUp Awards is a collaboration between the founders of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards – an established national programme receiving over 5,000 applications annually – and the Wales Start-Up Awards, the only national and regional awards currently celebrating new businesses in the UK.
The StartUp Awards recognises the achievements of those amazing individuals who have had a great idea, spotted the opportunity and taken the risks to launch a new product or service.
Jordan Brompton, co-founder of Myenergi, is the current Great British Entrepreneur and was the first commercial partner of the EV Café. Jordan said “you guys have got your eyes on the wider EV picture and have your finger on the pulse. You are all amazing people individually, but to throw you all together is powerful”.
Jonny Berry, Founder of the EV Café said “we are one big community of people hurtling towards significant environmental challenges in our world. We have net zero, through collaboration, at our core. We are blessed with superb partners who share the objective of doing net zero business. Being shortlisted for this prestigious award is an important step in accelerating the transition to clean transport and getting key sustainability messages to a wider business audience.”
The EV Café consists of five industry experts/ directors and a small media and administrative team. The organisation came together during the first COVID lockdown (March 2020) when the five realised that they wanted to stay in touch to discuss low carbon in the automotive sector. From initial zoom calls with small numbers of attendees, a community of approximately 55k business leaders and low carbon practitioners has been established and work collaboratively to further reduce emissions and to accelerate the transition to clean transport.
Jonny Berry is Head of Decarbonisation for Novuna Vehicle Solutions and founder of the EV Café.
Sara Sloman is the Chief Strategy Officer at Paythru and is the current Barbara Cox Woman of the Year.
Sam Clarke is the Chief Vehicle Officer for Gridserve a leading provider of renewable energy and charging infrastructure.
Paul Kirby is an independent expert in commercial and electric vehicles.
John Curtis is the EV Cafe Operations Director, with the soul focus of pulling activities and team support together, including the EV Café social media channels.