eVersum Technologies, a company based in Austria's Graz, has been developing and producing electric minibuses across the border in the Maribor area for several years now, carving out a niche for itself in the international commercial vehicles market.

CEO Holger Postl describes eVersum as a Slovenian-Austrian company that is still owned by its senior managers in Austria but in the future they would like to find an investor that will enable their further development.

The company has been developing small electric passenger vehicles in the Limbuš industrial zone near Slovenia's second largest city for five years, launching production there four years ago. They have been expanding their facilities at the site, which currently span 4,000 square metres.

They are designing and producing both autonomous and conventionally operated electric commercial vehicles, including their platforms and chassis. They have recently delivered four of their vehicles that are primed for autonomous driving to the company ZF based in Germany's Friedrichshafen.

In the four years since launching production in Slovenia, the company has sold most of its electric minibuses to Austria and Germany. Ten of their vehicles will make their way to Greece, while they are also striking deals with Canadian partners and planning to break into the Japanese market.

CEO Postl says their revenue has nearly quadrupled since 2021 and they are operating at a profit. The company employs almost a hundred people in Austria, Slovenia and the UK, most of them in Limbuš.

They have opened an office in London only recently, primarily to find the right staff for the development of new technologies, which is harder to find in the region. Incidentally, their first autonomous passenger vehicle was successfully put into service in Belfast some time ago.

Initially they focused on development, but are now increasingly directing attention to marketing and improving production processes. They work with more than 400 different suppliers, including from Slovenia. Their partners include a subsidiary of Volkswagen and Renault.

"We are developing anything from vehicles that need a driver and all the way up to semi and fully autonomous vehicles. The market certainly needs such solutions, although there is still a lot to be done in terms of infrastructure," says Postl.

He acknowledges that there are quite a few much more promising markets than Slovenia worldwide, but they are trying to find opportunities in their home market as well although they are yet to succeed. However, they have tested their vehicles in Slovenia.

Prospective buyers in the global market include both urban passenger transport companies, which are mostly publicly owned and thus dependent on public calls for such deals, and private clients. They also include airports; in June eVersum will deliver two vehicles to Vienna Airport.

The company has ambitious plans for the future, although for the time being they would like to continue to focus on the quality of their products rather than the quantity, as this can help them win bigger contracts in the future.

Their target is to produce at least 500 vehicles a year, which they reckon they could achieve in three to four years. In 2025, they want their output to pass the 100-vehicle mark.

With their product, they have tried to find a market niche for six- to nine-metre minibuses, where there was no major competition on the European market. They have detected activity by one Turkish and one French company, which operate mainly on a regional level, so Postl believes there are still plenty of opportunities for their business.