Kitchener-based startup Clockwork is fixing the unreliable electric vehicle (EV) charging network one software solution at a time. 

“Think about pulling up to the gas station pump, putting the nozzle in and no gas, nothing flows,” said Andrea Curry, co-founder and CEO at Clockwork. “So with charging, you might be putting the charger in, taking it out, putting it in again. You’re expecting a charge to take 10 minutes, but those electrons are flowing really slowly, so it takes an hour.” 

Clockwork developed software to solve that problem for drivers. 

“The charging experience should never be a reason a driver doesn’t love their car,” said Jennifer Buchanan, co-founder and COO at Clockwork. “Yet, one in four times when you try to charge your car, it doesn’t work at all.” 

Right now, Canada’s EV charging network relies on many different operators to function, so diagnosing and resolving the issue becomes difficult when a charging station goes down. 

By providing data and information to charge point operators, Clockwork envisions a future where drivers achieve what Curry calls ‘first charge success’ every time they charge. 

Clockwork’s software platform monitors and condenses data from charging stations and relies on automated issue detection to resolve charging issues. 

“We’re sending service techs with all the information they need,” said Curry. “Here’s what the problem is. Don’t forget these parts. We step them through the issue resolution, getting it resolved in a single visit.”

Clockwork then takes that data and integrates it into its diagnostic algorithm. 

“Our algorithm just gets better and better over time,” said Curry.

Their journey began in 2024, when Buchanan and Curry co-founded the charging software development company First Harmonic Group. 

Combining their product and project management experience, they set out to provide in-depth consulting services and solutions to create an accessible network of EV charging stations across Canada. 

“As product people, we wanted to dig in deeper and understand the space,” said Curry. “We started with the consulting side so we could get our hands dirty, talk to the owners, operators, drivers, and understand the moving parts and feel the pain.” 

“We always knew we would return to software development. We just needed to find the right problem worth solving,” said Buchanan. “But before we built anything, we hit the road.”

Buchanan and Curry charged up for a cross-Canada road trip.

Sponsored by Vancouver Volkswagen, they took off in an all-electric 2025 ID.4 SUV, which promises a range of up to 468 kilometres on a single charge.

“It was a great chance to charge our way across the country and understand what the experience looked like for drivers in each province,” she said. “The charging experience was frustrating, like really frustrating.”

“We started at Mile 0 in Victoria, and by the time we hit Saskatchewan, we knew what the problem was,” said Curry. 

One year later, they built Clockwork to redefine the EV charging experience.

“What started on the side of the road had turned into something tangible,” said Buchanan. “We launched Clockwork to create a product that will remove friction and make the driver experience seamless.” 

And when they did, they knew they wanted to start their journey at home in Waterloo Region.

“The tech community here is so interconnected,” said Buchanan. “The access and support that we give and get from each other are so important. Everyone is rooting for each other, and everyone is cheering on the success of KW across the country.” 

“There is no better place for innovation than Waterloo Region,” said Curry.

While EV adoption remains critical to Canada’s climate action plan, with more than a quarter of a million EVs on Canadian roads in 2024 alone, chronic reliability issues with Canada’s EV charging station network will halt adoption. 

“The industry knows at a big level there’s a problem. Everybody’s talking about reliability, but we haven’t come to first charge success as a metric yet,” said Curry.

Charging issues are not the same across the board. Tesla manufactures the vehicles and charging stations, making the driver experience seamless at the ‘pump’. 

“That is what we want for all the non-Tesla drivers,” said Curry.

As Canada continues to invest in EV technology and address climate targets, we are going to see more EVs on our roads. Buchanan says inconsistent infrastructure needs to be addressed to account for this transition, making EV adoption easier and more appealing. 

“The charging experience in public needs to be as seamless and easy as charging at home.”