According to German news portal come-on.de, Compleo Charging Solutions GmbH & Co. KG plans to cut around 20 per cent of its workforce and close its production sites in Dortmund-Wickede and Dortmund-Wambel. The report says this would affect about 60 jobs, mainly in production, but also in the headquarters in Dortmund-Dorstfeld, which could become the company’s only remaining site in the city. Compleo’s international locations, which focus on sales, are also expected to “contribute to consolidation.”
Management had reportedly already tried to reduce staff numbers through voluntary programmes, apparently without the desired effect. Talks over a social plan are said to be pending. Compleo may also scale back its charging station business as part of a strategic realignment and focus instead on the future area of bidirectional charging.
Neither Compleo nor Kostal has confirmed the plans. Ev Authority will update the article once the company responds to a request for comment.
After financing talks failed, the manufacturer filed for debtor-in-possession insolvency proceedings in December 2022. Jörg Lohr, CEO at the time, and the board opted for this step to maintain operations. Kostal quickly emerged as a potential investor and announced the takeover in May 2023. Integration into the new owner’s structures progressed, and by June 2024, all charging software activities had been consolidated under the Vaylens brand.
In February 2025, it became known that Lohr, who had led both Compleo and Vaylens, would leave the Kostal Group and hand management over to Kostal manager Björn Dietrich. He announced plans to align the competencies of Compleo, Vaylens and Kostal more closely. Dietrich is understood to remain responsible for Compleo and Vaylens.
According to come-on.de, there has been a key change on the Kostal side: “The situation at Compleo is serious. One indication is that Andreas Kostal, Managing Partner of Kostal Holding, has now made Kostal Energy Solutions, one of the group’s key future areas, his direct responsibility and has also taken charge of operational management. It is understood that Andreas Kostal has assumed leadership of Kostal Industrie Elektrik, Compleo and Vaylens (charging software) as of this week.” The report states that former managing director Gregor Schmeken has been relieved of these duties and will now focus more on strategic alignment within the holding company.
come-on.de (in German)
This article was first published by Sebastian Schaal for Ev Authority’s German edition.
