Pioneers

Abdel Ali, founder and CEO of Kiwi Charge, shares how broken EV charging becomes when you don’t control the parking space, electrical capacity, or building ownership. Instead of accepting the limitation, he built a radically different solution: mobile, robot-based EV chargers that bring power directly to parked vehicles. What you’ll discover today… (04:20) Why EV charging in multi-tenant buildings is one of the biggest bottlenecks in EV adoption (05:30) The real cost problem with fixed chargers—and why 80% of installation spend isn’t value-adding (09:30)  Subscription vs pay-per-use: rethinking the EV charging business model (12:30) How one robot can replace up to 30 Level-2 chargers using AI and scheduling (15:30) Building a robotics startup without an engineering background (17:50) From pilots to partnerships with developers and automakers (21:25) How SmartTO supports hard-tech founders through long development cycles (29:50) De-risking hardware startups with pilots, living labs, and digital twins (35:10) The hardest lessons learned scaling a physical, infrastructure-driven company (36:50) Advice for founders tackling climate and infrastructure problems (41:00) Kiwi Charge’s vision for EV charging five years from now More about the episode In this episode of Siemens Pioneers: Startups from Dream to Reality, host Pang Cau sits down with Abdel Ali, founder and CEO of Kiwi Charge, and Paulina from SmartTO, a Toronto-based mobility incubator supporting hard-tech innovation. Kiwi Charge is tackling one of the least glamorous—but most critical—challenges in the EV ecosystem: charging in existing buildings. Rather than retrofitting parking garages with costly fixed infrastructure, Kiwi Charge uses autonomous mobile robots that navigate parking lots and charge vehicles overnight. The result is a flexible, scalable, and capital-efficient alternative that works within today’s electrical constraints. Abdel shares how his background in venture capital shaped a market-first approach—validating willingness to pay before committing to expensive hardware development. Paulina offers a behind-the-scenes look at how incubators like SmartTO help founders de-risk deep-tech ideas through mentorship, applied research, living labs, and digital twins. If you’re building in climate tech, infrastructure, robotics, or any hardware-heavy space, this conversation offers practical insights into turning constraints into competitive advantage. Connect with us Peng-Sang Cau LinkedIn Website Abdel Ali LinkedIn Website Dr. Paulina Karwowska-Desaulniers LinkedIn