⚡️ Connected Curbs and a new EV brand

Happy Monday. This is Electric Avenue, the weekly newsletter that serves you hot & fresh EV news like your favorite Pizza joint - with extra spicy chili flakes.

BTW, if someone forwarded this to you, subscribe now to get the next edition directly to your inbox. You can also access the complete library of previous Electric Avenue newsletters for free:

Here's what we have for you today:

• EV & Charging stock performance

• 1 Pic

• 1 New EV brand

• 3 Links

• EV Meme of the week

US EV startup stocks (TSLA, RIVN, LCID) were slightly down this week. NIO and XPENG on the other hand made up for the losses of last week and are now back at the price levels of two weeks ago. British EV startup Arrival had a pretty tough week in contrast. The company received a warning about a potential de-listing from NASDAQ because it’s stock price has been below $1.00 for 30 consecutive days. Over the last year, Arrival stock is now down 94% from the company’s $10/share SPAC price.

1 Pic 🖼

Ever wondered what Market Dominance looks like? Look no further than the current market position of Electrify America (EA) as defined in this chart. Put together by EVAdoption, this chart nicely illustrates the near-monopoly that the EA charging network has in terms of High Power (150kW+) fast charging sites along major U.S. highways. Specifically, in terms of sites that comply with the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) funding requirements.

1 New EV brand

CEER - that`s the name of the latest "EV startup" OEM. And this one will be based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - that`s right Saudi Arabia is getting it`s first domestic car brand. Ceer will be an interesting combo:

• Saudi funding (by PIF - the country`s Public Investment Fund)

• Chinese manufacturing expertise (Foxconn, Apple`s contract manufacturer for the iPhone, is PIF`s Joint Venture partner for CEER)

• German components (CEER announced that it will be licensing core component technology from BMW Group - potentially EV powertrain components such as drive units, inverters and battery management systems)

The founding of CEER comes in addition to PIF`s majority ownership of Lucid Motors and the recent minority stake purchase in Aston Martin. The plan is for CEER vehicles to be manufactured in Saudi Arabia. This is the country`s second planned automotive plant, after the recent announcement that Lucid Motors will establish manufacturing in the Kingdom.

The initial target market for CEER vehicles will be the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region from 2025. This region currently has very limited charging infrastructure, so we can speculate that CEER and PIF may further invest in this area over the next years.

If this story sounds familiar to you, you might be thinking of Turkish EV Startup TOGG, which recently started production of its first electric SUV. TOGG also has plans to build a national DC fast charging network in Turkey to support the rollout of its vehicle.

3 Links

• Curbside charging? Curb-integrated charging!! German technology company Rheinmetall recently presented this concept of a charging station which is fully integrated into a city’s curbstones. This concept goes one step further than similar curbside charging ideas by companies like Connected Kerb and it`s Chameleon product.

• $40M for apartment charging: Xeal Energy raised a $40M Series B to bring charging to a growing number of apartment and office complexes. The differentiating value proposition of Xeal is a platform called Apollo, which is built on distributed ledger technology. Apollo is meant to help with reducing the need for permanent connectivity between charging stations and a central cloud system. A use case that is particularly valuable in underground parking structures with low cell reception.

• Hubject reaffirms US ambitions: European roaming platform Hubject recently announced the appointment of a new North American CEO. Hubject states that this reaffirms the company`s intent to “expand its influence” within the US market. The company struggled to launch its EV charging roaming platform to the US in past years. While there are over 300 charging networks in Europe, the US market is much less fragmanted - creating less need for central roaming hubs and clearing houses. This could however change with new players entering the market, attracted by public funding and rising EV sales.

BTW, we would love to hear from readers like you:

Meme of the Week

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions.