FreeWire Technologies

On 28 January 2021, Riverstone announced the signing of an agreement for REL to invest $10 million in FreeWire Technologies, Inc. ("FreeWire"), the leading provider of battery-integrated DC fast chargers (DCFCs) and their associated software. Another Riverstone fund also participated in the transaction, investing $10 million for a total investment of $20 million from Riverstone affiliated investment vehicles.

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area and led by co-founder and CEO Arcady Sosinov, FreeWire designs, manufactures, and markets unitized battery-integrated DCFCs to customers such as retailers, utilities, electric vehicle fleet operators, and charging station network operators across the globe. In addition to hardware sales, FreeWire's software platform offers recurring revenues, enabling charger management and third-party platform integration with plans to offer energy management and grid services.

This investment supports the electrification and decarbonisation of transportation. DCFC plays a significant role for electric vehicles when charging time and high utilisation are critical, such as retail, ride hailing/taxi and emergency service fleets or on highway corridors. Yet, conventional DCFC economics are challenged by demand charges, electrical infrastructure upgrades and extended site development timelines. Coupling energy storage with DCFCs eliminates these barriers, accelerating the deployment of critical DCFCs. Further, as battery prices and performance continue to improve, the use cases for the integrated battery charger will continue to grow and increase the addressable market. 

Find out more on the FreeWire Technologies website.