Omar Zhandarbekuly is CEO of Ohm Charging. He leads a new tech startup that streamlines home EV Charging procurement, installation and cost optimization in just a few clicks. We talked to Omar to learn more about his experience, inception of Ohm Charging and his vision to facilitate the millions of single family homeowners transition to sustainable transportation.
Omar is an experienced program manager, with the Business Intelligence experience at Katerra – a vertically integrated construction tech startup. With $1.2 billion in funding from Softbank, the company's mission was to disrupt the construction industry through vertical integration, productization, and technology - a vision that strongly resonated with Omar. As an ideal candidate to lead the Business Intelligence team, Omar was tasked with developing an operating model and BI tool to deliver scalable residential products across the US. This was an incredibly challenging project that required coordination among multidisciplinary professionals from diverse backgrounds. The project was a success, resulting in the development of a highly scalable and efficient BI tool that allowed Katerra to streamline its operations and deliver high-quality residential products across the US.
In 2021, Omar joined Rivian, an electric vehicle company, where he played a crucial role in scaling up the company's infrastructure. As the lead of the Center of Excellence in the Facilities Technology and Controls group, Omar developed analytical capabilities to manage and expand Rivian's charging, production, workplace, service, and retail footprint in more than 30 states. He developed the internal portfolio management and analytics solutions that tracked and analyzed spending, project schedule, and risks to ensure timely and efficient growth. Thanks to Omar's contributions, Rivian was able to expand its physical presence and promote initial sales of R1T and R1S vehicles across the United States.
Being an early adopter of the R1T pickup truck himself, Omar has experienced firsthand the difficulties of finding reliable chargers and navigating the installation in homes. This experience inspired him to start Ohm Charging.
There has been a surge of new EV startups in recent times, focusing on various aspects of the EV ecosystem, such as charging payment integrators, fleet management solutions, and operating software. One critical issue that requires immediate attention is home EV charging installations. Most EV manufacturers do not include a Level 2 home charger with the purchase of their vehicles, leaving new EV owners to navigate a complex home EV installation journey. To address this specific pain point, Omar has partnered with his college friend Umar to make home charging installation more accessible, user-friendly, and cost-efficient.
The story of Ohm founders goes back to Duke University. Omar and Umar initially collaborated on developing trading algorithms for the stock market and presented in investing and quant trading meetups Raleigh-Durham. After graduation, they pursued separate career paths in the tech industry but stayed in touch and continued to discuss new developments and emerging trends. Umar focused on expanding his software development and machine learning expertise, while Omar pursued a career in the construction tech and infrastructure deployment space.
Years later, both Omar and Umar became electric vehicle (EV) owners and experienced similar frustrations with public charging. They faced challenges when installing chargers in their own homes, as it was a complex process that required a lot of time for product research and installation coordination.
After successfully installing home chargers for themselves, they started helping family and friends, saving time by sharing their top curated list of charging products and recommending installers in their cities. It was during these discussions that they realized there was a need for a reliable and efficient home charging solution for EV owners. It was then that they decided to combine their expertise and create Ohm Charging.
Ohm's original idea has been developed and improved into a company that provides dependable and effective home charging solutions for electric vehicle (EV) owners. Moreover, Ohm started partnering with certified local electricians to onboard them into the platform, while not only improving the bar for quality of the installation but also helping promote local home electrical service providers. To fully close the circle and become a true all-in-one platform for home ev charger installations, Ohm started providing support with rebates and incentive optimization as well as other energy monitoring and efficiency products to maximize homeowner return on capital investment.
Omar’s and Umar’s experience in tech, business intelligence, and infrastructure scaling has led them to start Ohm Charging, a tech startup that streamlines home EV charging procurement, installation, and cost optimization. Ohm Charging addresses a critical issue in the EV ecosystem, providing a reliable and efficient home charging solution for EV owners. Today, Ohm has started providing their services in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and plans to expand into San Francisco, Phoenix and Houston markets.
If you're interested in learning more, check out their website at https://ohmp2p.com.