From Frustration to Innovation: How Two College Friends Started an EV Charging Startup

There has been a surge of new EV startups in recent times, focusing on various aspects of the EV ecosystem, such as charging payment integrators, fleet management solutions, and operating software. However, not all of these startups are adequately addressing the immediate needs of new EV users. One of the most critical issues that require immediate attention is home EV charging installations.

Most electric vehicle OEMs do not include a Level 2 home charger with the purchase of their vehicles. Newcomers to the world of electric vehicles may find themselves facing a challenge when it comes to selecting the appropriate charger from a vast array of over 300 products, managing the intricate installation process, and taking advantage of incentives and rebates to make the most of their investment in the charger and electrical system upgrade.

To facilitate wider EV adoption, it is essential to make home charging options more accessible, user-friendly, and cost-efficient. This exact issue is being addressed by Ohm Charging – a new robust platform that simplifies the entire process of getting and installing a charger at home using just a few clicks.

Ohm was founded in Los Angeles, by two college friends (Omar Zhandarbekuly and Umar Ayub) from Duke University. Their journey started in 2018 in Durham, North Carolina where both of them collaborated in developing trading algorithms for the stock market and presented in investing and quant trading meetups. Following their graduation, the duo went on to pursue separate career paths in the tech industry but stayed in touch and continued to discuss new developments and emerging trends. Umar focused on expanding his software development and machine learning expertise in marketplaces, while Omar pursued a career in the ConTech and PropTech space which brought him to EV infrastructure deployment space.

Years later, both Omar and Umar became electric vehicle (EV) owners and experienced similar frustrations with public charging. They faced challenges when installing chargers in their own homes, as it was a complex process that required a lot of time for product research and installation coordination.

After successfully installing home chargers for themselves, they started helping family and friends, saving time by sharing their top curated list of charging products and recommending installers in their cities. It was during these discussions that they realized there was a need for a reliable and efficient home charging solution for EV owners. It was then that they decided to combine their expertise and create Ohm Charging.

Ohm’s original idea has been developed and improved into a company that provides dependable and effective home charging solutions for electric vehicle (EV) owners. Moreover, Ohm started partnering with certified local electricians to onboard them into the platform, while not only improving the bar for quality of the installation but also helping promote local home electrical service providers. To fully close the circle and become a true all-in-one platform for home EV charger installations, Ohm started providing support with rebates and incentive optimization as well as other energy monitoring and efficiency products to maximize homeowner return on capital investment.

With Omar’s background in ConstructionTech and Umar’s expertise in data analytics and software development, they were able to create a platform that was not only convenient to use but also addressed one of the largest ev user pain points. Currently, Ohm offers services in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Houston metropolitan areas. As the company scales, Ohm’s vision is to grow and become the largest home ev deployment solution for 80M+ owners of single-family homes.