Being in the right place at the right time is critical for small businesses. The right timing came for U.S. Navy veteran Edward Morgan after watching a morning news segment about the electric car market and challenges with charging. He immediately saw the business opportunity.
Bootstrapping his company while working his day job as a technical engineer, he created an EV charging prototype before there was even an infrastructure for electric cars. But being early in an evolving industry paid off as he was awarded an EV charging pilot in 2015 from the City of Fort Worth. It was the first of many commercial contracts. To continue capturing EV momentum, Morgan also developed a charger for electric car owners to charge their cars at home.
“We knew if we kept moving, eventually the industry would come around and it did,” recalled Morgan, CEO and founder of Revitalize Charging Solutions. “We’re excited about where we are and how we’re helping America become green.”
Revitalize Charging Solutions is seeing consistent 20% Amazon sales growth year over year since 2022, with their home EV chargers selling across the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico. He’s now growing his workforce in Fort Worth from four full-time employees and 10 contractors to 30 full-time employees. His footprint is also growing, as they plan to bring all of their manufacturing in house, and open a 40,000 square foot facility in Arlington, Texas, that will handle assembly, manufacturing, design and testing.
“Our goal is always to build a product that is 100% built in America, and we’ve been able to achieve that on our commercial products since day one,” said Morgan, who also shared that the company is ‘Buy America’ certified, a standard required by government agencies to purchase products primarily made in the United States.
While his commercial solutions are sold through government procurement channels, Morgan started selling his residential chargers in the Amazon store at the end of 2022 knowing that most electric vehicle drivers were making their charging equipment purchases online. Amazon provided the infrastructure and reach they needed as a growing company. But capturing consumer demand is not as easy as just listing a product in the Amazon store, especially given the newness of the EV market. There were no sales in the first three to four months, but as more customers tried the product, interest started to grow.
“Selling in the Amazon store is a seamless experience whether you’re in the U.S., Canada, Brazil or wherever,” Morgan said. “It gives us a bigger footprint without the big marketing budget.”
Having access to sales data and revenue projections and being able to explain their products succinctly is also critical for sellers.
Amazon’s A+ Content program was essential in explaining how the home EV charger worked, particularly for first-time electric car owners. Morgan said A+ Content, which helps sellers enhance their product detail pages with rich text, engaging image carousels, and videos, was particularly helpful for a company of engineers with little marketing or advertising experience.
“For us, A+ Content is mandatory for products because it helps you present your product to an end user,” he said. “It’s a great tool to allow you the best opportunity to sell your product in the Amazon store.”
Sales data has also become valuable, allowing Morgan to track performance, product reviews, and revenue projections.
“The dashboard for me is critical because it tells me exactly what I’m doing at the time,” said Morgan, referring to Seller Central, which Amazon sellers use to manage their sales. “It integrates a lot of different snapshots that give you an overview and recommendations to increase sales.”
Morgan’s long-term goal is to sell the company within the next 2-3 years, ensuring employees and investors are well-compensated while maintaining the company’s environmental impact mission. But first he has several new product ideas, including a mobile charger for EV owners to charge on the go. He plans to launch it in the Amazon store in the next few months.
“Amazon gives you the impact to get somewhere fast,” said Morgan. “You can get started without having to put any money up front. It’s just a win-win for any business.”