Happy Tuesday. This is Electric Avenue. The e-Mobility newsletter that brings you EV news, insights and analysis. Easy to digest and yummy - like Applesauce 🍎

Here’s what we have for you today:

• EV startup funding news 📈

• 1 Pic 🎆 - EVGo copies Tesla? 👀

• 3 Links 🔗

• Meme of the week 🤡

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Let's dive in with our brand-new design (Thanks Tony for the support)! 🥳

EV Startup Funding News 📈

Guess what day it is? It's our monthly Money Monday 🤑  - this month we've seen a lot of corporate investments and restructuring, and some EV startups getting funded (but less than usual 🙃). Here's who secured the bag 💰 and which newly founded business you should keep an eye on 👀:

• ChargePoint raised $232M. The funding shall support the company in achieving adjusted EBITDA profitability in Q4 2024.

  • Editor Note 9th of November 2023: ChargePoint raised equity and not as previously outlined convertible notes. In total, $57M of new equity was raised in Q3 by Chargepoint. Additionally, the previous convertible note lender led a direct stock purchase for $175M by institutional investors.

• EVPassport, a provider of charging hardware and software, had a majority stake acquired by Notleaf Capital Partners for $200M.

• myenergi, a UK-based smart home management platform, raised $37M in growth funding from Energy Impact Partners.

• numbat raised €140M for its battery-powered fast charging stations from PATRIZIA and a banking consortium.

• e.Go Mobile, a manufacturer of EVs, went public (ticker: EGOX) on Nasdaq by being acquired by a SPAC (Athena Technology Acquisition Corp).

• Leapmotor, a Chinese EV manufacturer, had a 20% stake acquired for €1.5 billion by the Stellantis group. Within the strategic cooperation a new joint venture, Leapmotor International, is founded in which Stellantis owns 51%. The JV will have the exclusive responsibility to export and sell Leapmotor’s products beyond greater China. Stellantis will utilize Leapmotor’s EV platform in China.

• Volteras, a London-based car data platform specialized in charging use cases, raised $2.9M in seed funding.

• Efacec, a Portugal-based manufacturer known for its 50kW DC charging stations, was acquired by Mutares which ended the privatization process.

• Volvo, a Sweden-based EV manufacturer and a subsidiary of the Chinese company Geely, founded a new business entity, Volvo Cars Energy Solutions. The new company will bundle all products and services related to energy which includes services based on bidirectional charging like Vehicle-to-Grid and Vehicle-to-Home.

• ABL, a manufacturer of electrotechnical products including AC charging stations, was acquired by Wallbox

Do you know any E-mobility companies that raised recently? -> Send us a link to [email protected]!

1 Pic 🎆 - EVGo copies Tesla? 👀

While Tesla has had prefabricated Supercharging units before, EVgo gave us some insights on expected improvements for its own prefabricated charging infrastructure in their recent press release.

• ⏱️ 50% less installation time → also means, closeby businesses and residents will benefit from a quicker construction process and less noise.

• 📉 15% construction cost savings

• design is scalable and starts at a minimum of 6 charging stations

• optionally, the unit can be equipped with WiFi infrastructure, lights, security cameras, and canopies.

• skid frame will also be covered with synthetic turf once installed on-site, providing a layer of cushioning to help safeguard connectors that may be dropped.

Quick Thoughts 💭: We see those advancements as exciting news 😍. They showcase how charge point operators fine-tune their products and processes. These are incremental improvements that are required for a scalable and profitable business that makes EV charging ready for the majority market of electric vehicles. And it doesn’t matter if one copied the other, industry players need to learn from each other and the best solution(s) must win.

3 Links 🔗

• Rivian raises rates💸: Well, technically introduces rates - the Pickup and SUV-focused EV startup has been steadily building out its Adventure Network - a Rivian-branded fast charging network currently available for free and exclusive to its vehicles. The network has recently crossed the milestone of 50 open sites across the US and Rivian has now announced that they will begin billing customers for usage from early November on. We’ll be curious to see how pricing compares to competitive sites from networks like Tesla, Electrify America, and EVGo.

• Tesla’s VPP with up to 300 MW in 🇵🇷🔋: The company launched its virtual power plant product for Powerwall users in Puerto Rico in partnership with Sunova and Sunrun. With more than 75k power wall owners in the region, the VPP could significantly stabilize the grid.

• 259 public AC 🔌 with integrated 875 kWp PV ☀️: Merklingen train station located in southern Germany opened equipped with 259 AC charging stations at its park + ride spots. 75% of the €5M project costs came from state funding, but the charging price (0,5€ / kWh + 0,99 € starting fee) will certainly not appeal to many EV drivers that can charge @home. It remains questionable if utilization expectations can be met and whether a step-wise extension based on demand isn’t more appropriate.

Most-clicked link last week: Was our link to the leaked Tesla v4 Supercharger Installation Manual (Link).

Electric Avenue - Podcast 🎙️

Bonus links 🎧: Over the past month we’ve been invited as guests on a couple of podcasts. Check them out if you wanna learn more about us, the people behind Electric Avenue:

• #1 For the English speakers: Janek appeared on the Out of Spec Podcast to discuss Electric Avenue and the benefits of Open Source software for EV chargers with Francie. (Link)

• #2 For the German speakers: Julius and Janek went on the Bytes’n’Batteries podcast hosted by friends-of-the-newsletter York from Brands In Green and Simon. (Link)

These interviews have been quite fun and they got us thinking - should there be an audio version of Electric Avenue?

We received a couple of write-ins during our Reader Survey that asked for an audio version of the Electric Avenue newsletter. So its been on our mind, but we haven't decided yet if we’ll do it and what the format should be.

We’d love to hear what y’all think about this so please send us your thoughts via the poll!

Meme of the Week 🤡

🤣🤣🤣

That's a wrap for this week! Let us know how you feel and leave some feedback (We read every review 🙂 ):

Reader Review of the Week

Selected ⚡️⚡️⚡️ Pretty decent on⚡Electric long-haul trucks on the horizon🌅 and wrote:

“loved the details and coverage - always looking forward to the next week's read (+ meme) :D"

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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. The Electric Avenue team may hold investments in or may otherwise be affiliated with the companies discussed.