Voltera, a provider of critical infrastructure necessary to electrify transportation, announced its launch on Aug. 9 as an EV industry service vendor with major investment support.
The company builds, owns, and operates charging facilities that enable electric vehicle (EV) deployment and operation at scale. With equity backing from EQT Infrastructure, critical infrastructure expertise and ongoing partnership with EdgeConneX, and a team with deep experience deploying charging assets, Voltera aims to help solve the EV infrastructure challenge.
“Fleet operators, automakers, and consumers alike are adopting electric vehicles at a rapidly accelerating pace,” said Voltera CEO Matt Horton in a news release. “Lagging far behind, though, is the power infrastructure needed to support EVs at scale,” added Horton, who has deep industry experience including as executive vice president of energy and charging solutions at Rivian and chief commercial officer at Proterra. “We have to bridge that gap if we’re going to make zero-emission transportation a reality.”
Voltera’s customers are companies that have a pressing need to power EVs at scale. That includes organizations looking to electrify without disrupting operations or investing significant time and upfront capital to install EV charging capacity as well as automakers looking to deploy charging infrastructure to support EV sales.
To support those needs, Voltera plans to invest several billion dollars on deployments located where customers are based and where their electric vehicles need to be. This approach speeds time to market and enables customers to meet their deployment timetables.
“Charging infrastructure is one of the most critical requirements for EV deployment at scale,” Horton said. “As companies take initial delivery on large EV orders, they’re finding that the charging infrastructure does not exist at the scale needed to support those, or future, deployments. A key part of the challenge is that charging facilities need to be strategically located and require vast amounts of power. In the U.S. and Europe, almost 150 gigawatts power – about equivalent to the annual power consumption of all U.S. households – will be required by EV fleets by 2030.”
As a turnkey solution provider, Voltera delivers at every stage of the value chain – site identification and acquisition, power procurement, facility design and construction, charging hardware deployment, operations and maintenance. The company provides EV charging facilities as a service, taking on the CapEx so customers can focus their capital on their businesses.
“EQT takes a long-term view of investments and aims to partner with promising companies that can drive positive change, helping solve some of the biggest challenges society faces today,” said EQT Partner Jan Vesely. “EQT Infrastructure aims to help support the global energy transition, including by having made several investments in the electrification of the transportation sector, and was looking for opportunities to help develop the EV charging infrastructure necessary to support vehicle electrification at scale.”
Citing EQT’s $78.7 billion under management across 36 active funds, Horton added, “The backing of a leading global private equity firm like EQT is further evidence that EV infrastructure is maturing as an asset class, and it signals a significant shift in the EV market. The market is past the pilot phase.”
Voltera’s partnership with EdgeConnex will help it navigate the challenges many EV fleet operators and automakers face, such as acquiring, permitting, powering and operating sites in strategic locations, said EdgeConneX CEO Randy Brouckman in the news release. “It’s a highly logical and practical application of our long-developed data center innovations to solve another very real and significant challenge.”
Voltera also will tap its growing team with deep experience and ability to deploy charging infrastructure at scale. Team members come from companies such as Greenlots (now Shell Recharge Solutions), Rivian, Electrify America, EVgo, Proterra, Arrival, and Ford Mobility, in addition to EdgeConneX.
