February 28th, 2025
An Exclusive Chat with Gaurav Lohia, Founder, TOBOR
Q1: What inspired you to start Tobor? How did the idea originate?
The inspiration to start Tobor came about 3-4 years ago after I took a break from providing services to companies in Sweden and the U.S. During this break, I worked on various products, including in the education, IoT, and home automation sectors. The idea for Tobor emerged when I saw the potential in the EV charging space, which was still new at the time. I initially considered creating an advanced socket for charging, but after discussions with my partner, Dr. Vivek, we decided to build the product from scratch rather than import existing solutions.
Though I had experience building POCs, I had little manufacturing experience. What we thought would take a week turned into a couple of months. After realizing that a simple socket wasn’t solving the problem, we pivoted to develop our own charger that communicates with the vehicle. It took over a year of R&D, facing multiple failures, but eventually, we succeeded in creating our own technology. This process became a routine of continuous learning and improvement.
Q2: How did your connection with Peter Norwood begin? What role did he play in Tobor before funding it?
My connection with Peter Norwood began while I was working in consultancy, providing software solutions to companies in the U.S. and Sweden. Peter was an active investor in one of those companies and was impressed by the work we were doing. He wanted to bring me into his own company, which operates in the energy sector and has a global team of engineers. He brought me in to provide engineering expertise for some projects.
As we worked together, I shared with him my focus on the EV charging space and the technology I was developing. We started meeting regularly to discuss the product, and his guidance was invaluable, especially since my background was more in technology than in business management. He mentored us, helping us shape the direction of our product and ensuring it was scalable and met the needs of the industry.
After about a year of collaboration, Peter supported us by funding our first round to help scale the technology and provide infrastructure for our clients. Even now, he continues to assist us in managing sales, CRM, and operations, and his input is incredibly valuable. We trust him deeply due to his vast experience.
Q3: If EV adoption accelerates faster than expected, how will Tobor scale to meet demand? Do you see partnerships playing a role or any plans to expand into the B2C market?
Our strategy is built around scalability. From the beginning, we structured the company to ensure that growth would be smooth. Our team setup is designed so that expansion can happen efficiently without disrupting operations. Right now, our focus is on sales and building a strong customer base. Partnerships could play a role in the future, but our primary aim is to create a stable and scalable foundation before considering major expansions into the B2C market.
Q4: Can you elaborate on the challenges you identified in the EV charging infrastructure before launching Tobor, and the technical challenges you faced during product development?
As I mentioned earlier, the key challenge we faced in developing Tobor was our decision to build our own technology rather than importing components from outside India. This decision led to several technical challenges, and we failed multiple times through several iterations. Each time we were close, we encountered setbacks, but we kept pushing forward. It wasn’t an easy path, but overcoming those challenges has ultimately led us to where we are today. The process of building everything in-house took a lot of time and effort, but it was essential to creating a stable, reliable product.
Q5: What is Tobor’s USP (Unique Selling Proposition)?
One of the key aspects that sets Tobor apart is our decision to develop everything in-house—from the PCB to the final product. Instead of relying on imported components or third-party solutions, we took on the challenge of building our entire technology stack ourselves.
Beyond the hardware, we’ve also built a seamless user experience with our mobile app and RFID card integration, making it incredibly easy to operate our chargers. And for organizations managing multiple charging stations, our Charging Management System Dashboard provides real-time insights and control, ensuring efficient operation and performance monitoring.
By keeping everything in-house, we’ve not only reduced costs but also created a level of flexibility and reliability that sets Tobor apart in the EV charging space.
Q6: If Tobor had unlimited resources, what moonshot innovation would you pursue?
If Tobor had unlimited resources, we’d look to build a complete EV ecosystem, not just focus on EV charging. We’re not just a company working on charging infrastructure; we see ourselves as a technology company. With unlimited funds, we’d want to expand beyond charging and really create an entire ecosystem for EVs. Of course, that would also involve making vehicles because charging is such a big part of the vehicle experience. We’re already working fast on our technology and getting it validated in the market, with users already charging from our stations and generating revenue. If we had the resources, we’d go big and create an entire, seamless EV ecosystem.
Q7: What policies or government initiatives have impacted Tobor’s growth, and which recent ones do you think positively affect Tobor?
Recently, Nathan Nitin Gadkari has been pushing the EV industry a lot, and it’s been great for us. He’s pushing for more EV chargers to be installed and encouraging people to switch to EVs over petrol or diesel vehicles. This push from the government has been huge. And it’s not just the government—EV manufacturers are making vehicles with so many new features, and it’s changing the game. People are getting more excited about EVs, not just as a mode of transport but as a piece of technology. The government’s role in promoting EV adoption is really helping the industry grow exponentially.
Q8: Are there any new features or technologies you are working on for future Tobor products?
We are continuously working on improving our technology. Our primary focus has been to ensure the stability and reliability of our product so that customers don’t need frequent service interventions. The technology we are developing ensures that our EV charging solutions are seamless and efficient.
Q9: Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently in the journey of building Tobor?
Looking back, I think we’ve made a lot of mistakes, but we’ve learned from each and every one of them. If I could do one thing differently, it would be building a team earlier. For the first year, it was just me and Dr. Vivek working on the product. If we had some great minds on board sooner, I believe we would have seen significant growth at a much earlier stage. Team is everything when you’re building something from the ground up. No matter how great you are, you can’t do it all on your own.
Q10: What message would you like to give to potential investors, customers, and EV users who are considering Tobor?
Throughout this interview, I’ve emphasized the technology we’ve built, and we’re incredibly proud of it. Instead of focusing on the traditional business model of trading, importing, and exporting, we’ve always placed a strong emphasis on technology. We’re confident in the new solutions we’ve brought to market, and we’ve worked hard to make them successful.
To our customers, I can say that over the last 7 years, I’ve been in the industry, developing IoT-based solutions, installing devices in over 1,000 industries worldwide. We understand what it takes to provide a stable hardware product. We’ve made sure that our product doesn’t require constant service intervention. In the last 6 months, after installing our chargers, we haven’t had to send any service engineers to those locations. These are fully automated charging stations where users can charge their vehicles, pay upfront, and go about their day.
I still remember when our product wasn’t as stable, about two years ago, and I was using the chargers myself, not satisfied with the product’s performance. But the work we’ve put into stabilizing everything has paid off. Today, we can confidently say that wherever we install these chargers, our technology is stable, reliable, and service-free. That’s the level of confidence we want to offer our customers.
