The Berlin work on technology and software for charging e-cars. Of three large corporations now flow 20 million euros to the start-up.
An own charging cable for the car, a compact charging point for lantern or house wall: The Berlin start-up Ubitricity works since 2008 on hardware and software to expand the infrastructure for electric cars. Three major industrial groups are now investing € 20 million in the company: The French energy utility EDF and a subsidiary of Siemens are increasing their shares in the current financing round.
Also new is the Japanese carmaker Honda – who had announced this week at the Geneva Motor Show, from 2025 to deliver only electronically powered vehicles in Europe. The portal Deutsche-Startups.de had already reported on the entry of Honda at the end of January.
Cable in the trunk
Ubitricity works – as one of many actors – on the infrastructure that wants to facilitate the charging of electric cars. At the heart of Berlin’s business model, with just under 50 employees, is a mobile charging cable that has its own electricity meter integrated into it. The idea: Vehicle owners can attach themselves more easily to possible charging points – and load the car at their own electricity tariff. In combination with a billing software, the start-up is also aimed at the operators of fleets.
At the same time, the company is installing its own charging points, which should be less expensive than other charging stations. According to own data Ubitricity also works in federally funded “emergency program Clean Air”. In this context, the start-up plans to build 3000 charging points in Berlin, Dortmund and Hamburg. Ubitricity has been active in the capital for some time. “We are now putting charging points right on the doorstep of people – where millions of Europeans park their vehicles today – and at a time when more and more electric vehicles are being sold,” says Knut Hechtfischer, co-founder of Ubitricity, in a press release.
Many start-ups are moving forward in the field of charging infrastructure
ChargeX, for example, specializes in retrofitting charging points in and around buildings – and convinced investors at the beginning of the year. Chargery wants to go the other way and bring batteries to parked cars. The interest of such ideas in the energy industry in particular is great. The Finnish utility Fortum took over the loading network of Plugsurfer last year – behind its competitor Hubject are, inter alia, EnBW, Innogy and German car companies.
Also published on Medium.