As electric vehicles gain popularity in the automobile market, EV charging station manufacturer Coulomb Technologies has raised $47.5 million in fourth-round funding.
With Tesla, Nissan, Chevy, and Toyota pushing out economy to down-right luxury electric cars, more people are shunning gasoline in favor of electric models. For EVs to be practical and more widely adopted, there needs to be a strong infrastructure of charging stations for people to fill up their electric tanks. Coulomb Technologies made its way in the green tech market by providing outdoor charging stations for EV owners on the go.
Coulomb Technologies boasts 6,000 charging stations in 14 countries, in North America, Europe, and Australia. Every station is connected to a network called ChargePoint, helping electric car drivers find them on mobile apps and the ChargePoint website. Each station is also capable of sending text message alerts to a driver to tell them when their car is juiced up.
The company has partnered with Nissan to be the official charging stations for it Leaf electric cars. Coulomb Technologies has also worked with BMW, Ford, GM, and Fisker Automotive to create charging station support for their electric offers.
Braemar Energy Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers led the funding round, joined by Toyota Tsusho Corporation and existing investor Rho Ventures. Voyager Capital, Siemens Venture Capital GmbH, Harbor Pacific Capital Partners, and Hartford Ventures also participated.
Better Place is one of Coulomb Technologies biggest competitors these days, because it offers an alternative chargingapproach for EV drivers. Better Place lets you swap your depleted battery for a fully charged one, a process that takes significantly less time than completely recharging a battery. EvoCharge and OpConnect also provide commercial EV charging stations.
“These funds enable us to provide cloud-based solutions to cities, retailers, employers, parking operators and property managers that will drive the adoption of clean transportation,” said Pat Romano, chief executive officer of Coulomb Technologies in a statement.
Coulomb Technologies is based in Campbell, Calif., in Silicon Valley. The company has raised a total of $80.3 million, including this new round.
