Student entrepreneurs spark electric vehicle revolution for education sector

Two Exeter students are making inroads in business by supplying colleges and universities with electric vehicle chargers.

Ruairi Duignan, who studies Business and Environment, and Ammar El Beik, a Law with Business student, started a startup called Turbo Zone in their first year of studies at Exeter’s Penryn campus.

They initially planned to manufacture their own EV chargers but were steered towards a different business model after consultation and mentoring from the University’s Student Startups Incubator.

Turbo Zone emerged as a value-added reseller of electric vehicle chargers, where host institutions either get EV chargers installed and maintained with no upfront costs, or they can opt to buy the chargers directly if they want to own and operate their own EV infrastructure.

Ruairi and Ammar’s first client was FX Plus, which manages services on Exeter’s Cornwall campuses, and they have since gone on to supply EV chargers to other education sector clients, helping schools, colleges and universities access EV charging while supporting the UK’s transition to a zero-carbon economy.

They oversaw the installation of EV chargers for the Herefordshire, Ludlow & North Shropshire College Group, with 14 chargers installed across five campuses including Herefordshire College, North Shropshire College, Holme Lacy College, Walford College and Ludlow Sixth Form College

None of the colleges previously had EV charging facilities, so it’s hoped the rollout will significantly support EV uptake while enhancing the Group’s sustainability credentials. 

Turbo Zone has since secured further partnerships across the education sector.

Ruairi had the first rumblings of an idea about starting a business before even arriving at university.

“I remember talking to people from Exeter’s Student Startups Incubator programme and even in those early days they were great in helping me flesh out my ideas, getting me to think about what might and might not work,” he says.

Ruairi met Ammar on an Economics group project and found common ground talking about businesses and startups.

They decided to take Turbo Zone forward together, but their initial idea of manufacturing chargers proved inhibitive due to the number of competitors and the high upfront costs.

But through the University and its Incubator programme, they became connected with industry mentors who helped them define their business model as a value-added reseller.

 “It took us a whole summer to really get to grips with understanding how to sell and who we’re directly selling to,” Ruairi recalls.

Starting a business is a life-long ambition for Ruairi, and the focus on environment and sustainability that runs through Exeter’s courses helped shape his idea of how that might take form.

“I wanted to set something up based around sustainability and climate finance and felt this was the right area because the internal combustion engine is where a lot of the emissions damage is really coming from,” he says.

Along the way, they’ve been able to make good use of their studies – Ammar’s legal background proving invaluable in helping them navigate contract law, and Ruairi’s degree in Business and Environment providing a broader view of sustainability and the EV market.

While still focused on improving access to EV infrastructure at schools, colleges and universities, their vision is to create a charging network across England, for which they would take out leases on sites, install rapid chargers and operate them like a petrol station network – only for EVs. They are currently raising funds for their first site. 

Ruairi and Ammar were recognised at last summer’s Student Entrepreneurship Awards, where they won the Environmental Impact Award.