Charged: 15 questions with... Be.EV
Following Be.EVs recent acquisition of the Mer public charging network and a major investment to expand even further, we caught up with Be.EV CEO and co-founder Asif Ghafoor to talk about the company's rapid growth, why convenience is at the heart of every charging hub, and what the future of public charging looks like. From subscriptions and charging "oases" to EV road trips and etiquette, here's what he had to say.
Let's get plugged in...
(*You can check where your nearest Be.EV charger is by searching the Electroverse map or using the app filters)
Whether it’s your first public charge or your hundredth, we're focused on making sure Be.EV gives drivers across the UK access to ultra-rapid, super-reliable, great-value charging.
Not charged with Be.EV before? Here’s another reason to plug-in with us…
Power-up with Be.EV for the first time and get £10 free charging credit to use on your next charge with Be.EV on Electroverse!
Make sure your first charge is over £10, then your £10 free charging credit will automatically apply to your next Be.EV charge for the next 6-months.
Give us a bit of background - how did Be.EV start?
Be.EV is the story of a proper UK start-up, that believe it or not started around my kitchen table!
I’ve got a long career in infrastructure projects, but I was always building new disruptive businesses for other people. I wanted to build something myself. The transition to EVs is a once-in-a-lifetime moment, it's like the industrial revolution and I wanted to be part of it.
My co-founder Adrian Fielden-Gray and I are both passionate about the environment. During the first COVID-19 lockdown, we came up with a business plan for Be.EV and made connections with the community at its heart. I genuinely believe that building a community-focused charging network is an opportunity to change the planet and leave a legacy.
We’re not just building EV charging hubs and reducing emissions, we’re making a positive impact with our infrastructure. If you look at every infrastructure project in the last 20 years, normally the public reaction has been negative. People moaned about headaches when we switched the streetlamps to LED bulbs. There are always complaints about the design of a new local school or bridge.
So, our mission is very much about building this vital infrastructure with people and communities, not forcing it upon them, based on elements they really value: whether that’s big bays for easy parking, lighter cables for easy plug-in, extra lighting for safety, clear wayfinding signage near a hub or anything else drivers tell us about – it’s fundamental we build the right charging experiences for drivers and communities across the UK.
How many chargers does Be.EV now operate? And what does Be.EV prioritise when building a new charging location?
With the adoption of the Mer UK Public Charging network, combined we now have over 2,500 charging bays across the UK, at more than 650 locations.
Even with our recent acquisition, we’re not stopping! We’re still going full throttle building even more ultra-rapid locations around the country.
However, our priority is not just growth for growth’s sake. It’s to be the most convenient and reliable charging service in the country. I want people to see one of our green Be.EV chargers and know that they can charge with confidence and be pleased by the price. That’s how we get to net-zero – providing people with an experience that is so seamless that making the switch to EVs is easy!
Be.EV chargers are supplied by Octopus Energy, meaning 100% green energy for EV drivers, which is fantastic! Was a network powered by renewables always the goal?
We always wanted our network to be powered through 100% renewable energy, and I’m proud of the fact it powers every electric mile.
For me the most important thing is clean air. It’s crazy to think that we’re just throwing out pollutants in the places where we live! You can really see it in the places where EVs have become more popular. The smog of the UK’s cities is disappearing. I see a bright, clean future for the UK, plus the health benefits for local communities is undeniable.
It looks like you work closely with retail parks to increase charger availability – why are these partnerships important?
Be.EV places customer experience at the forefront. We believe that charging hubs should always be convenient for the customer. Long gone are the early days of the industry where there was a mad scramble to install charging everywhere and anywhere.
Nowadays, it's all about convenience. Retail parks are well-suited for hosting EV charging hubs. There’s no need for drivers to go out of their way just to only charge their car, instead they can go shopping, grab a bite to eat or a coffee whilst they power-up.Especially for drivers without access to home charging, it’s all about making charging fit into your daily routine. This is where Be.EV is turning its focus to. Ultimately, charging should be forgettable, an experience so seamless that you don’t give it a second thought whilst you’re doing something else much more interesting!
What does Be.EV think the future looks like for EV drivers?
The future for EV drivers is speed and convenience. We’ve seen this future already, and not in a crystal ball.
Our Manchester Charging Oasis was designed to be a flagship, state-of-the-art EV charging hub. It’s a purpose-built location with lots of on-site amenities and ultra-rapid speeds up to 300kW. We went to great lengths to design the site for convenience, all the way down to the signage and traffic flow.
The numbers speak for themselves, with it being our busiest site on our network. Now with our national footprint expanding, we are applying these principles and learnings across the UK.
Why are partnerships like Be.EV and Octopus Electroverse crucial to accelerating the public charging infrastructure?
Convenience isn’t just about physical location and amenities. It boils down to having an easy experience and delivering the best value for money.
Electroverse is a seamless way to pay at every single Be.EV charging hub, with access to great offer's like Be.EV's 51%-off subscription through Electroverse too.
But it doesn't stop there. We receive renewable energy supplied by Octopus Energy, there’s exclusive deals for customers getting an EV through Octopus Electric Vehicles and Be.EV is even majority owned by Octopus Energy Generation. All this amounts to a great customer experience for Octopus customers using Be.EV.
Be.EV are thrilled to work so closely with Electroverse and many other tentacles of Octopus.
You’ve recently had quite a big acquisition! How has bringing the Mer network into Be.EV changed your overall footprint across the UK?
The acquisition of Mer Public Charging was extremely complementary to our network, with most of our sites being in the North, whilst Mer was largely based in the South. This has meant we have expanded our reach across much of England. There are some really pretty sites along the south coast, especially around Bournemouth.
You can now road trip down the length of the country using only Be.EV chargers, From Newcastle to St. Agnes!
With the recent £55m investment to grow your public charging network, what are the main areas you’re focusing on first?
We’re always on the lookout for great new homes for EV charging hubs across the UK. It’s no secret that EV charging infrastructure is expensive, but we aren’t waiting around – investing hundreds of millions of pounds now, ahead of demand. This means that the drivers of today (and tomorrow) have the number of hubs, bays and power they need to make the switch to EVs with the highest level of confidence.
This means we’re actively investing in locations where drivers already are – such as retail parks, drive-thrus and on key routes, so going electric feels like the natural, seamless next step for drivers across the UK.
Looking ahead, do you see subscriptions becoming a standard part of the public charging experience?
It’s all about giving the customer options, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for making EV driving easy and affordable. Instead, it’s providing different solutions and allowing the customer to pick the right one for them. Whether that’s with an app, Charge Card, roaming partners such as Electroverse or Contactless; just like paying for a coffee with a tap.
As for our subscriptions – success speaks for itself. Since launch, our subscription models have been incredibly popular, and they’re only speeding up! If you drive regularly or have certain preferred local charging locations that you use routinely, it makes perfect sense to subscribe and save. This makes ultra-rapid charging cheaper (51% cheaper!), and crucially, cheaper than petrol and diesel, so those considering the switch can see it’s an affordable one too.
So in a word, yes! We think subscriptions give drivers a chance to get some great value, but most important for charging networks is to offer flexibility for EV drivers.
With sites like The Oasis designed as more than just a place to plug in, how important is the overall charging experience when choosing locations?
More than anything else! There’s a reason we were chosen by drivers as the UK’s 2nd top-rated medium rapid and ultra-rapid charging network by Zapmap drivers. We spend a lot of our time speaking to drivers to understand their needs at every stage of driving electric.
Take the Manchester Charging Oasis, by this point having amenities on-site are the bare minimum! It’s all about taking those extra steps for convenience and customer experience. It’s why we’ve taken great pains to ensure our signage is clear, that people know whether bays are available for use and that traffic flows smoothly.
Even the aesthetics of a site is important! You can’t call something an Oasis if it doesn’t have any plants, so we even made sure that the site is well planted and pleasant to be at. I never thought in my career that gardening would be a factor in EV charging!
About you...
Asif Ghafoor, CEO and co-founder of Be.EV
What’s your dream electric vehicle?
I actually don’t like driving, can you believe it! But, to make sure I’m able to really be the electric customer, I recently got my hands on a Volvo EX30. It’s smooth, techy and speedy – that’s all I could ask for!
What’s the longest journey you’ve completed in an EV - and can you share the total mileage?
I call myself the Roving CEO because I’m always on the move, but usually by public transport, so I can work en route. That said, with the adoption of the Mer UK public charging network in 2026, I’ve been doing a fair few roadtrips to visit as many sites as possible – from the Isle of Wight, to Durham, to South Wales… I’ve done a fair few electric miles this year!
Do you have an EV life hack to share with the EV community?
Often it makes sense to charge to about 80% then carry on with your journey, instead of charging to completely full. Sometimes you need those extra miles, but most of the time you can save yourself ten or twenty minutes by powering-up and powering-on when the car starts slowing the charging rate as it nears full.
You can speed-up your charging stop by pre-conditioning before charging too. Arriving with a warmer battery can cut a good few minutes off an ultra-rapid charge. If your EV can do it – I highly recommend it to get back on the road sooner!
What advice would you give someone looking to use a Be.EV charging location for the first time?
Don’t stress! With Be.EV just plug in, pay and get on with your day!
And finally - an EV etiquette question - what would you say is the golden rule to using a public charger?
Just like refueling with dinosaur juice - don’t park up in a charging bay without charging, and once you’re full, make sure to move along so another driver can charge-up after you. It’s just good manners; the rest is easy!
Feeling enlightened or do you think something was missing? Let us know by sharing your feedback.
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