Statkraft appoints Thoner as CEO of Mer
On February 11th, Kristoffer Thoner started as the CEO of Mer – an EV Charging company fully owned by Statkraft, the largest producer of renewable energy in Europe.
– The era of e-mobility is definitely on the rise! All the way to the top of the EU the shift to electric mobility has a vast focus anchored in solid ambitions like the EU Green Deal and the Paris Agreement. Also the rest of the world is adding more and more focus to electric mobility as demonstrated with Will Ferrell’s advertising for GM at the Super Bowl. EV is about to reach a tipping point and it becomes more evident also outside Norway that the future is electric, he explains.
Customer centric and multidisciplinary background
With over 15 years of experience within leadership sales, marketing, innovation and business development, Thoner’s mission is to integrate and bring together the Mer Group for further expansion.
– I get energy working with different personalities and cultures, and I am a strong believer of building diverse teams with power to the edge, he says and continues;
– There is a fantastic mega trend for Mer to grasp and we are well positioned to ramp up our efforts in Europe. Simultaneously customers experience pain points around eg weak density for public chargers, queuing, trouble with payments and the fact that many of the providers do not operate open source charging capabilities. In short there is a huge potential for those who have the resources and ability to invest in the best locations and simultaneously make the charge journey hassle-free and enjoyable for the customer, Thoner states.
Experienced “newcomer”
Although Mer recently launched, the company encompasses strong companies within the EV Charging industries – giving Mer a strong starting point.
– Through our experience for a decade in Norway, the leading EV country in the world, it is impressive to see what achievements Mer Norway AS (formerly known as Grønn Kontakt Norge) has successfully delivered. This foundation of knowledge paired with additional local expertise through the acquisitions in Germany and the UK, we will now leverage our efforts going forward, says Thoner.
– Mer has clear ambitions for further growth in EV charging in Europe. What started as a start up with Grønn Kontakt in Norway has already grown to also include strong companies in Germany (EWALD Gbmh and eeMobility Gbmh) and Gronn Kontakt in the UK. And on February 9 th we also announced our new partnership with Bee Charging Solutions in Sweden that will be rebranded to Mer Sweden AB once approved by the competition authorities, Thoner announces.
"Our ambitions is to become the best and most customer-oriented EV Charging company in Europe – powered by pure energy from Statkraft. We truly believe this is a strong mix for future success and we need to get going now!"
Kristoffer Thoner - CEO of Mer Group
Let there be no doubt – together with their owners, Mer is ready to take the electric mobility even further, making the customer journey one of their priorities:
– In parallel to structural growth we will focus deeply on the customer journey to make EV Charging and electric mobility easy and accessible for everyone. To make going green simple, we not only commit to on-going product- and service innovation, but also to continuously improving on everything we do in order to become the best and most customer-oriented EV Charging company in Europe, Thoner claims.