It’s not just electric vehicle makers attracting investors these days as EV charging network company ChargePoint just secured $127 million in new funding, raising its total from investors to $660 million in just more than a decade.
The latest round of funding is designed to help expand the California-based company’s global commercial and fleet businesses, particularly in Europe.
“The shift to electric drive is intensifying for mainstream businesses and fleet operators, a transition poised to be one of the most significant transformations in modern history,” said Pasquale Romano, president and CEO, ChargePoint, in a statement.
(California regulators orders massive shift to battery, hydrogen power for trucks and vans.)
“The additional $127 million in funding provides capital to expand our investment as the market grows, underscoring investor confidence in the unprecedented potential of electric mobility as well as ChargePoint’s leadership across continents. With more than a decade of category leadership, ChargePoint is well positioned to continue the buildout of 21st century mobility infrastructure that will pave the way to the mass adoption of EVs.”
The new funding came from existing investors in the company. ChargePoint investors include automakers Daimler AG and BMW, and the trading affiliate of Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp., according to Reuters. The steady investment and moves by automakers to partner up with charging networks reflect new excitement in the segment.
“Investor confidence in this segment has gone through the roof,” Romano told Reuters. “Big investors like the Canada pension board and the Singapore sovereign wealth fund often come in at a later stage to help (a young company) scale up.”
(West Coast group outlines plan for 1,300-mile EV charging corridor.)
ChargePoint competitor EVgo just announced late last month an expansion of its partnership with General Motors to build 2,700 new charging stations across the U.S. during the next five years. Prior to that, the company and Nissan said they were teaming up for another 200 chargers.
The deal with GM triples the number of stations EVgo already operates. The move will help back up the upcoming wave of new, all-electric products GM plans to bring to market, including the GMC Hummer pickup, Cadillac Lyriq SUV and the extended length Chevrolet Bolt EUV. Nissan is expecting the same.
Automakers are taking a page from Tesla’s SuperCharger playbook. EV makers eliminate the claims about it being difficult to find places to charge vehicles while on the road if they set up or help a charging network establish more charging stations.
(Utah proposing $50M to create a statewide charging network.)
ChargePoint says its global network currently has 115,000 charging ports, most of them in the United States, and it aims to build that to 2.5 million by 2025. In comparison, Tesla said it has nearly 2,000 supercharger stations with about 17,500 chargers worldwide.
