New boss of Zaptec in Denmark has high hopes for country’s electric vehicle boom

“The market is experiencing explosive growth and it’s like being in the wild west here right now,” says Mette Marie Knudsen at the new Zaptec office in Copenhagen.

The electric vehicle market in Denmark has experienced substantial growth in a short period of time.

In December, more than 50 per cent of all new car sales in Denmark were electric or chargeable hybrids and this trend was growing throughout all of 2021, according to bilstatistik.dk.

One of the people keeping a close eye on the growth is Mette Marie Knudsen. After more than ten years in the electric vehicle industry, Knudsen has recently assumed the Managing Director role in Zaptec Denmark, working out of the newly established Copenhagen office.

The company was already a well known brand in Denmark, in no small part thanks to the excellent partners that have sold Zaptec solutions to private and public sector customers. Today, Knudsen believes that there are great opportunities to take the company to a whole new level in Denmark.

“Joining Zaptec has been an incredibly positive experience. The market is booming and there will be plenty of competition. I think the next few years will be challenging, but also extremely exciting,” Knudsen says.

Excellent market position

Knudsen formerly worked as a business engineer and possesses excellent knowledge of technology and communications.

Her keen interest in the green transition and the electric vehicle industry took her to major players within the field, such as E.On and the Israeli company Better Place. It was there Knudsen first got to know Zaptec’s products.

She actually bought a Zaptec charging station for the apartment complex she lives in long before applying for a job with the company.

“I spoke to other people in the industry and the company that installed the station and I was told that the Zaptec charger was easy to configure, that the technology was second-to-none and that it would create savings due to avoiding the expensive connection fees associated with the electricity grid. The charging station has absolutely lived up to my expectations,” Knudsen says.

These are the qualities she believes Zaptec will benefit from in a market that is virtually overrun with new players.

“It’s like being in the wild west.”

After establishing Zaptec offices in Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and the UK, it was time to focus on the Danish market.

“The experience so far has been fantastic. There has been a certain amount of chaos since the market exploded, but in a positive way. It’s like being in the wild west here right now,” Knudsen explains.

She says that the strategy that will turn Zaptec into a leading name in Denmark differs from the approach taken in Norway and Sweden.

“In Norway and Sweden, a lot of the success has come from selling the products to electricians and installers. Denmark has, among other things, tax incentive schemes for electric vehicle charging and charging subscriptions, so we need to apply a slightly different strategy here,” Knudsen explains.

Customer experience is key

During the Danish launch, Zaptec will focus on the factors it considers to be the main challenges, including price.

“One of the challenges we will face will be to maintain affordable prices, while avoiding making big price cuts to secure a position in the market,” she says.

She also stresses that the most important aspect of the strategy is investing in an excellent customer experience. Through close dialogue and collaboration, she will create close and lasting relationships with partners.

“It must be easy to install and use a Zaptec charger. We will therefore prioritise customer and partner support,” she says.

Seeking employees who are passionate about the green transition

Knudsen is now embarking on the task of composing a team that finds the market situation just as exciting as she does.

“I want to do this together with other people who are passionate about the green transition in the transport sector, people who value networking and communication, as well as the use of ground-breaking technology. I plan to focus more on personal skills when recruiting people. Working at Zaptec should be fun,” she says.

Close collaboration and positive dialogue will characterise the strategy and the company going forward, both internally and externally.

Knudsen notes that one of the things they will do is to enter into joint marketing agreements with partners and give the partners a say when choosing which products Zaptec will develop in the future.

“We need to bring out the best in one another,” she concludes.