The story behind BeWorks is a simple one...
My name is Fidan, founder of BeWorks Automation. I started this company with a simple goal - to increase awareness and to present BeWorks as a catalyst for electric mobility and renewable energy across the UK, offering inclusive solutions that provide a positive impact on our communities in first place. I come from a family of engineers that have always prioritised sustainable living, such as installing solar panels on our house rooftops 15 years ago.
I've been working in the EV & Renewables sector for a few years now, and have led the product development stage and the introduction of various EV chargepoints into the marketplace. In the picture below, I'm demonstrating a residential lightweight wall-mounted EV chargepoint to former Her Majesty's British Ambassador.
Social Challenge
Climate change does not impact every community equally. As we move to an all-electric, zero-emissions future, it is on us to lead positive change and implement inclusive solutions that bring everyone along, especially the vulnerable communities. The stigma of 'unrealistic' disability advocacy is real, and many of us simply don't like confronting people about accessibility problems. The industry today gets accessibility right, partially right, or completely wrong. We are here to challenge the status quo by creating an inclusive EV charger with 3 major elements: user experience, hardware and affordability.
There are a number of accessibility challenges with the charging infrastructure in the UK at the moment. This mainly includes issues with cable management, connectors, complicated apps and etc. But the really important point here is that in order to make the transition into electric vehicles successful, everyone needs to take part and no one should be left behind. So we need to think how to make this infrastructure accessible to all. It's the right thing to do socially, and there's also a commercial case for this.
We know that, later, as more and more people with different needs switch over to EVs, they are going to have hard time with this infrastructure and then people responsible for putting in that infrastructure will have to retrofit it. That's going to be really expensive. So there is a case with designing inclusively from the start, which BeWorks focuses on. The scale of the problem is potentially immense. 1 in 5 people in the UK self-identified as disabled. There are 5.7 million elderly drivers in the UK in possession of a full driving licence. So that's a lot of people who are going to be reliant on a public network that at the moment really doesn't cater to their needs.
Business idea
Our goal is to design, assemble and put accessible charging stations out in front of the community, making them more sustainable. The innovative feature of this EV charger is in its mechanism, in its retractable automated cable management technique. The innovation aims to eliminate the problems with the weight of the cables required to plug electric vehicles (EVs) into the charger, and is a great solution for those who may have difficulties exerting the force required to attach the connector. Our EV retractable charger will be equipped with a state-of-the-art automatic electronic cable management system. The fully retractable power cable and connector will be stored within the units when not in use and will be locked in place. When the power button is pressed and a valid charge activation is received, the charger cables will come to the customer, eliminating the need for unwrapping them from the charging station or picking them up off the ground.
Milestones & Highlights
- Our 'Phase 1' prototype has already been built and validated. The retractable EV cable technology has been assembled!
- Our concept has been welcomed by the local authorities based in South-East England, including Portsmouth City Council and Isle of Wight Council. They are very interested in the concept of accessible charge points and would be happy to support us in development and as a potential user of the technology, subject to our development efforts.
- We're looking to arrange a pilot demo with Motability (Disability Charity) and scale the impact of accessible mobility across the UK!
- We've confirmed the FTO (Freedom-to-Operate) status with the IP Attorney and we are going to file for Trademark Design & Registration once the final prototype is complete!
- Achieved Her Majesty's Ambassador Award for our efforts in green energy in electrification fields
The Team
I'm so proud of our Engineering team. Every single one of them brings invaluable experience from the big companies they used to work for, such as Sky UK, Emerson, they are extremely motivated, and capable of introducing new products into the EV & Renewables marketplace, due to their professional and academic background. Our team of Advisors work for large organisations such as PA Consulting Group and Innovate UK, and they have been confident about BeWorks' future growth and potential since Day 1.
Use of funds
With the money raised from crowdfunding, we plan to continue our efforts in the EV charging unit engineering assembly and do everything to the best of our ability to raise brand awareness in the sector and accelerate the product commercialisation journey.
We want to provide an effortless charging experience to every single EV driver, but we can't do that alone. We are calling out to the crowd to support BeWorks with exciting and lucrative plans for the future. We are looking to raise £25,000 on Crowdfunder, with the stretch target being £30,000.This will allow us to finalise the design & manufacture of the EV charging prototype, sign off on accreditation & testing and integrate it with our software and mobile app. We believe in radically rethinking the way people, products and communities are connected by developing a game-changing technology and applying the major concepts of decarbonisation, accessibility and smarter thinking.
We'd like to appeal to you all :) Please come and back our project, rally up all your friends and family who drive an electric car or are currently looking at investing in one and feel free to ask questions or leave comments, either here or on social media.
We hope we have inspired you to join and support us to make this amazing project happen. Thank you for reading and thank you to all the amazing supporters and volunteers who have helped us get this far! Follow our journey on social media via LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. Your support would mean so much to us!