Respected EV Charging Analyst Loren McDonald Joins ChargeMate as a Business Advisor, Investor, and Collaboration Partner

On May 14, 2026, EV industry veteran and expert Loren McDonald announced the following on his Linkedin account: 

“Big news: I’m joining ChargeMate as a Business Advisor, Investor, and Collaboration Partner.

If you’ve followed my work, you know I’ve spent years analyzing and writing about the gaps in public EV charging and the transition to the next phase of the industry, which a few years ago I coined as “Charging 2.0.”

And one of those gaps is what CPOs report as reliability and uptime vs. what EV drivers experience.

Many operators will report ~95% uptime. But a lot of EV drivers experience something closer to 70–80% successful charging sessions.

That gap is where revenue leaks. And where trust breaks.

It’s also the problem ChargeMate is solving.

I’m excited to share that I’ve joined ChargeMate as a Business Advisor and investor, and will be collaborating closely with founders Brad Crist (CEO) and Brian Lange (CTO) on:

💡 Product and service innovation

📈 Data and industry analysis and trends

👫 Strategic partnerships

📄 Thought leadership and market education

What drew me in?

ChargeMate isn’t just another “monitoring” or “support” tool. They’re focused on what matters in Charging 2.0: Successful charge rates and real driver experience.

Their AI-powered platform is already helping leading charge point operators achieve:

⬇️ 48% reduction in call volume after adding AI chat support

🆙 A 5.5-point lift in visit success rate for one major national CPO

📵 2-3x more drivers served than incumbent call centers

😍 Improved driver confidence and satisfaction

We’ll also be working on joint content, product offerings, and research initiatives to quantify what drives successful and unsuccessful charging sessions — real data operators can act on, not just dashboards.

If you’re a CPO, I’d love to hear about your reliability and customer experience challenges — and show you what ChargeMate’s AI agents can do. Feel free to reach out, and I’ll arrange a call and demo with Brad and Brian.

If you’re in the EV charging ecosystem, this is a space to watch closely — more to come in the months ahead.

Press release on the ChargeMate website: https://lnkd.in/gKuyWE9W .”

ChargeMate, an Innovative AI-powered EV Driver Support Platform

ChargeMate, an AI-powered reliability and EV driver support platform designed specifically for EV charging providers, has announced that veteran EV and charging industry analyst Loren McDonald has joined the company as a business advisor. McDonald, who serves as CEO and Chief Analyst of Chargeonomics, has also made an investment in ChargeMate and will work closely with the company’s co-founders on developing new products and services, strategic partnerships, data platform initiatives, and thought leadership efforts.

Before launching Chargeonomics, McDonald served as chief analyst at Paren, a leading EV charging data platform that acquired his previous analyst firm, EVAdoption, in 2024. Since 2016, he has provided EV and charging industry analysis, forecasting, market trend insights, and content services to a wide range of companies across the transportation and energy sectors.

“Loren is one of the few people in this industry who has consistently called out the gap between reported uptime and real driver experience — which is the gap ChargeMate exists to close,” said Bradford Crist, CEO and co-founder of ChargeMate. “We’ve been collaborating with Loren behind the scenes for a few months and he has already brought several exciting business opportunities and product offerings to the table which we hope to bring to market in the coming months,” added Crist. 

Over the past decade, McDonald has become one of the EV industry’s most recognized analysts, frequently cited for his expertise on charging infrastructure, electrification trends, consumer adoption, and fleet transition strategies. In addition to his work in the EV sector, he previously built a distinguished 30-year career as a marketing executive, consultant, and technology evangelist, working with organizations including IBM, Arthur Andersen, USWeb/CKS, and Silverpop.

 “A few years ago I coined ‘Charging 2.0’ to describe where this industry needs to go: real driver experience, real loyalty, real economics per station. ChargeMate is one of the few companies actually building toward that — their AI chat and voice platform is already lifting successful charging sessions at leading CPOs and cutting support costs by up to two-thirds,” said McDonald. 

“We are truly excited to collaborate with Loren as his vision, data-centric industry analysis, and future trends, combined with his deep relationships in the industry and expertise in marketing, and thought leadership will help propel ChargeMate to its next phase of growth,” added Crist. 

The appointment reflects ChargeMate’s continued focus on expanding its role within the rapidly evolving EV charging ecosystem, where charger reliability, customer support, and operational intelligence are becoming increasingly critical as EV adoption accelerates globally.