Electric Vehicles

Scale Microgrid, EO Charging Partnering on Future Fleet Electrification Stations

May 21, 2024

The non-exclusive partnership agreement will utilize Scale’s ability to provide on-site power resources and microgrids to facilitate EO Charging’s stations to be built across the country.

Rod Walton, Managing Editor

New Jersey-based developer Scale Microgrids is going to partner with British EV infrastructure firm EO Charging to build out charging stations to meet future demands of fleet electrification in the U.S.

The non-exclusive partnership agreement will utilize Scale’s ability to provide on-site power resources and microgrids to facilitate EO Charging’s stations, which are to be built across the country. Both companies are free to pursue similar partnerships with other companies in the sector.

In Europe, EO Charging has developed charging stations for many of London’s transit fleets. Those electric public buses have totaled more than 25 million miles in emission-free routes, according to the company.

“Fleet operators cite electricity supply as a major concern for their transition to EVs,” John Walsh, president of EO Charging, Americas, said in a statement. “By partnering with Scale, we’ll be able to offer our customers a complete fleet electrification solution that gets their vehicles charging sooner, at a lower cost and with unprecedented reliability.”

Scale will develop microgrid planning and control technologies to balance the power generation, storage and charging capabilities. The company also will lead work on the project financing side.

Originally backed by private equity fund Warburg Pincus and new creditors such as KeyBanc Capital Markets, Scale Microgrids has developed and acquired numerous microgrid projects for a variety of industries, including food, cannabis, electric fleets, education, water treatment and city services.

The company is also broadening its scope into investment for community solar projects.

Although many of its projects are in Europe, EO Charging has partnered with U.S. firms including a collaboration to electrify one of Aero Corp.’s rental car locations near the Harrisburg Airport in Pennsylvania.

Given constraints on the utility-scale grid side, many proponents of electrification see microgrids as a smart long-term investment. Costco recently contracted to have off-grid solar installed to power its fleets at various locations, while Rove Charging is working with controller technology firm PXiSE Energy Solutions on its charging stations.

At last month’s Microgrid Knowledge 2024 Conference at the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront Hotel, several sessions focused on the potential of microgrids to supply widescale EV charging infrastructure.

Many electric vehicle planners see transit systems, last-mile commercial fleets and school districts as tailor-made for charging infrastructure, considering the everyday predictability of routes and downtimes. The lack of charging accessibility and capacity clearly is a detriment to growth, although usage of EV charging stations is reportedly rising.

“People will build and buy those electric trucks,” Joseph Martorano, associate principal of Arup, said during an EV charging-focused session led by Xendee. “The only thing stopping them is there is nowhere to charge them.”

About the Author

Rod Walton, Managing Editor | Managing Editor

For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

I’ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023.

I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future.

Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.