Podcast: Exploring the charging business
Published on: Jun 17, 2025
In this episode of Talks on Mobility, Oscar Smith Diamante is joined by Jan Harmen Akkerman (MoveYou), Marek Gutt-Mostowy (Willbert by EUROLOOP), and Jorrit Berkhout (Virta). Together, they unpack how innovative business models, technology, and customer-centric approaches are shaping the next era of e-mobility services. The discussion touches on building hybrid fueling networks, bridging the gap between EV charging and retail convenience, and the crucial role of smart software in making e-mobility reliable, profitable, and engaging for customers.
Jan Harmen Akkerman
Jan Harmen founded his first company, the internet agency ICIT, at just 16 years old in 2000 and remains involved as a shareholder today. He later launched Elektrokoopjes.nl, a successful consumer electronics webshop sold in 2011. After various ventures in acquisitions, real estate, and startups, he focused on the mobility sector, introducing the interactive loyalty concept TanQyou in 2016. What began with a single station has grown into a platform operating over 30 locations and providing integrated mobility services. In 2020, he founded MoveYou, delivering white-label MaaS, payment, and data solutions across Europe.
"We're convinced that the end consumer, and especially the B2B end consumers of our customers, will have hybrid fleets for the next decade. You’re seeing that some of the EV-only parties are struggling in how to find a profitable operating construction. That’s exactly why we believe that there's a huge chance for wider players or traditional fuel players, because they're able to operate way more services to that end consumer than only managing that pure EV car."
Marek Gutt-Mostowy
Marek spent his professional career working on various groundbreaking technological projects. Starting from product development at Bang&Olufsen, through CO2 cooling systems for ATLAS - a Nobel Prize winning experiment which is part of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. Before starting EUROLOOP Marek was a Team Lead at rLoop, organisation which won the most innovative Hyperloop Capsule award at SpaceX Hyperloop Competition. Willbert by EUROLOOP is a bespoke EV charging platform based on fast charger that helps retailers better connect with their customers.
"Reliability can be already achieved if everything is organized well in terms of support and maintenance. But there is definitely an issue when it comes to trying to attract the EV driver from the charger to the shop. We are trying to create a synergy within the service station business and charging."
Jorrit Berkhout
Jorrit serves as Sales Director for Strategic Engagements at Virta, a leading European EV charging services provider and smart charging pioneer. In this role, he advises customers on how to best deploy the Virta platform and maximise commercial outcomes. A SaaS professional with a background in licensing, proposal, and contract management, he has spent the past four years helping charge point operators and e-mobility service providers unlock the value of software solutions.
"People are now really considering the choice between a traditional combustion engine or an electric vehicle. If I drive up to a convenience store at my local fuel station or maybe along the highway, I probably want to be well-informed about the conditions I'm facing in terms of availability and pricing. At Virta, the tooling that we have developed is an aggregator for this information."
By Oscar Smith Diamante
