The US$11.5m in new funding will accelerate PowerNode charging station production and deployments to meet growing demand for reliable, fast and affordable EV charging stations at convenience stores and quick service retailers (QSRs).
HSBC Asset Management led the Series A financing with participation from SQM Lithium Ventures, Blackhorn Ventures and Proeza Ventures.
The PowerNode charging stations are powered by Electric Era’s real-time and autonomous software platform that brings optimised performance and industry-leading 99.5% reliability to EV drivers and convenience store partners. A PowerNode charging station delivers a 100-mile charge for a typical EV in less than 10 minutes for more than 100 vehicles per day per charging station.
Electric Era’s PowerNode charging system leverages patented charging station technology and an AI-driven software platform to enable autonomous and real-time control of electrical grid power consumption, hardware reliability and a battery buffer. The built-in battery of the device automatically discharges to support increased charging on-demand, lowering the draw on the grid and enabling more charging sessions per day for a lower cost.
A Portland, Oregon Plaid Pantry convenience store will be the first commercial installation site to go live for the PowerNode with convenience stores in nine states expected to be online before the end of the year. Electric Era aims to have more than 10,000 PowerNode charging stations installed at convenience stores across the US by the end of the decade.
