The race is on to get American roads ready for more electric vehicles (EV). Atlanta-based Resilient Power — backed by some impressive new investors — is looking to lead the pack.
The team announced this week it closed a $5 million seed round from Texas-based Energy Transition Ventures, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, and GS Futures.
Josh Keister, Resilient Power’s President, said the funds will be used to expand the sales/marketing team and open up participation in a “voice of the customer” pilot program to select fleet owners and manufacturers.
Keister told Hypepotamus that while EV is currently wrapped up in the partisan 2021 Infrastructure Bill, his team is focused on the large economic impact that is to come from building and installing fast-charging technologies across the country.
“In 3 out of 4 cities in the U.S., EVs already represent the lowest TCO (total cost of ownership) for last-mile delivery,” he told Hypepotamus. “The time is right, because size and grid capacity issues are a critical bottleneck limiting the adoption of EVs, and we solve these issues. We consider our technology disruptive because we offer EV charging in one-tenth the size or 10x the charging speed at a lower overall cost.”
The funding news comes as Amazon, UPS, Ford, GM, and even Hertz all announced plans to increase investments into their EV fleets.
“Electrifying Amazon’s delivery fleets is a critical piece of ensuring our company meets the goals of The Climate Pledge and achieves net zero carbon emissions by 2040,” said Amazon Vice President and Head of Worldwide Sustainability Kara Hurst in a statement. “We plan to have 100,000 electric vehicles deployed on the roads by 2030, which is projected to save millions of metric tons of carbon per year. Resilient Power is building products that accelerate the deployment of EV charging systems everywhere we deliver packages to customers, and its technology could help bolster our infrastructure to support our vehicles and drivers.”
Alongside Resilient Power, Amazon announced this week its Climate Pledge Fund is also investing in Italian startup CMC Machinery and Sacramento-based Infinium.
