FreeWire Applied sciences raises $125M in Collection D; battery-integrated ultrafast EV charging stations

FreeWire Applied sciences, a developer of ultrafast electrical automobile (EV) charging and power administration options, raised $125 million in new capital. The financing consists of a Senior Convertible Word offered completely by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock Monetary Administration, Inc. and a concurrent fairness increase with institutional and strategic buyers similar to bp ventures, Riverstone Holdings, Octave Ventures, Gly Capital Administration, Blue Bear Capital, and Daishin Personal Fairness amongst others.

The brand new capital will likely be used to help FreeWire’s development plans as the corporate accelerates industrial deployments of its battery-integrated ultrafast EV charging know-how and will increase manufacturing capability to satisfy rising world buyer demand, together with excessive precedence markets such because the UK, Canada, Japan, and Australia/New Zealand.

Proceeds may even be used to increase the corporate’s expertise pool and spend money on R&D to drive continued innovation of its product roadmap and power administration platform.

FreeWire lately broke floor on a brand new 66,000-square-foot R&D facility in Newark, California to develop and manufacture new ultrafast charging and power storage product choices. Building of the power is underway and will likely be absolutely operational by Summer season 2022, placing FreeWire on the heart of the San Francisco Bay Space’s transportation know-how hub.

FreeWire’s proprietary battery-integrated charging know-how, Enhance Charger, addresses grid constraints by packaging charging infrastructure, grid infrastructure, and power storage right into a fully-integrated compact resolution.

Enhance Charger encompasses a 160 kWh built-in Li-ion battery (backside) and Silicon-carbide (SIC) switching know-how (higher left). The unit provides CCS1 / CCS2 and CHAdeMO connectors. CCS output is 150 kW; CHAdeMO output is 100 kW. Two autos can cost concurrently at as much as 75 kW every.

Along with its {hardware} providing, FreeWire can also be evolving its software program platform, which is anticipated to lead to a number of, recurring high-margin income streams over the medium- and longer-term.

In 2022, the corporate expects to roll out AMP Professional, which can present distributed power administration companies that unlock the inherent worth of the battery system by way of load shifting, demand cost administration, resiliency, and extra, adopted by Charging as a Service in 2023. FreeWire’s long-term goal is to supply a turnkey retail power service, whereby it owns, manages, and optimizes the shopper’s utility meter and invoice to unlock alternatives to additional monetize its built-in battery system.

Essentially the most vital barrier to mass EV adoption is the electrical grid, which merely can’t meet the ability demand required for ultrafast charging to sustainably and cost-effectively electrify our transportation system.

FreeWire’s fully-integrated Enhance Charger breaks down this barrier by combining battery know-how, energy conversion know-how, and software program to allow utilities, retailers, fleets, and site-owners throughout the US to scale up ultrafast EV charging shortly with out requiring costly and time-consuming utility upgrades. Along with decreasing whole working prices, FreeWire’s built-in battery allows distributed power companies that will in any other case not have existed.

—Arcady Sosinov, Founder and CEO of FreeWire Applied sciences

Chargers paired with power storage will optimize low-cost renewable power sources and supply extra grid resiliency, permitting EVs to recharge and help essential services when energy is out. FreeWire’s built-in system allows its clients to deploy ultrafast charging and energy options extra shortly, whereas easing the pressure on the electrical grid, with the potential to unlock a completely new class of distributed power companies.

FreeWire has put in practically 5 MWh of power storage capability by way of battery-integrated charging to this point, with greater than 30 MWh booked. FreeWire goals to deploy greater than 5,000 ultrafast battery-integrated chargers by 2025.

Citigroup served as sole non-public placement advisor and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati served as FreeWire’s authorized advisor on the transactions.