Connected Kerb Scores £110 Million Investment; Plans 190,000 Curbside Public Chargers

If you are surfing the internet these days, you will hear a lot of huffing and puffing about how people who live in condos or apartments can’t own electric cars because there are no chargers for people who have to park on the street. Connected Kerb is a UK company that has an answer for such know-nothing nonsense. Bollocks!

As we reported last year, Connected Kerb specializes in bringing on-street charging solutions to EV drivers and charging infrastructure to employers and other places of business. At that time, CEO Chris Pateman-Jones said, “Knowing you can arrive at virtually any location at any time in any vehicle and cheaply charge your battery without inconvenience or faff is the reality we have to deliver to create an EV society. Our rollout of public chargers — one of the most ambitious the UK has ever seen — encapsulates that future, helping individuals and businesses to confidently make the switch to electric, reducing their carbon footprint, and cutting air pollution.”

The company intends to install 10,000 public chargers in West Sussex, with 4,000 of those in operation by the end of this year. But now it has received a £110 million investment from Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva PLC, to support plans to install 190,000 on-street EV chargers in the UK by 2030. The goal is nothing less than to revolutionize access to EV charging for the millions of drivers who do not have access to off-street parking.

As part of the deal, Connected Kerb will also deliver EV charging infrastructure across the Aviva’s European real estate portfolio, which includes over 300 major owned assets in the UK alone, according to a press release.

“Our partnership with Aviva Investors will turn EV charging on its head. Successfully delivering the benefits of the EV transition to all — regardless of location, wealth, or circumstance — relies entirely on the UK’s ability to deploy convenient and reliable public charging at scale. For many, it has so far been neither,” says Pateman-Jones.

“This investment combines the proven long term reliability of Connected Kerb’s infrastructure with the financial resources and expertise of Aviva Investors to deploy charging, at scale, to all corners of the UK, giving individuals and businesses the confidence to make the switch to electric, and dramatically reduce carbon emissions and air pollution — it’s truly game-changing,” he adds.

Peter Howe, co-founder of Connected Kerb, says, “Aviva’s investment into Connected Kerb is a vote of confidence in our unique technology and approach from one of the world’s biggest and most recognizable brands. The investment, and accompanying expertise from Aviva, will not only supercharge our UK rollout plans, but also lays the groundwork for expansion into other markets across Europe and into the US.” In fact, the company right now is putting the finishing touches on a plan to bring 10,000 curbside charger to New York City by 2030.

More About Connected Kerb

Connected Kerb’s technology is designed to be as affordable as possible and give all communities access to reliable public EV charging. Unlike many public charge points, Connected Kerb’s infrastructure has a long lasting design which makes it possible for the company to offer contracts of between 15 and 25 years — much longer than the industry average of between 5 and 7 years.

This long term business model means Connected Kerb can access private finance at a lower cost of capital. That substantially improves the economics of EV charging and makes it affordable to install. The business model reduces costs for drivers and opens more opportunities to install chargers in areas that were previously uneconomical.

The charging infrastructure is located below ground and installed once, with passive chargers that can be easily ‘switched on’ by adding the above ground charge point to match consumer demand. Each of Connected Kerb’s EVSEs can charge at between 7 and 22 kW of power, which makes them perfect for habitual on-street charging where residents are parked for a predictable amount of time each day. Every charge point will feature contactless payment via the Connected Kerb app with a consistent network and cost structure across all sites, enabling fair and equal access for everyone.

The ninnies who fixate on how horrible the EV charging crisis is will be shocked to learn that there are solutions in the works designed to meet the needs of all electric vehicle drivers. Of course it would be nice if those solutions were more widely available today but there really is no need to panic. Connected Kerb is a leader in on-street charging, but it is not alone. Siemens is integrating chargers into light poles in London and utility pole mounted chargers are beginning to appear in Massachusetts and Seattle.

What the nattering nabobs of negativism fail to realize is that electric utilities make their money by selling — wait for it — electricity! If there’s a buck to be made providing on-street charging, they will find a way to capitalize on the opportunity. They also are very good at managing demand so everyone gets all the electricity they need. Put down those pitchforks, people. Everything is going to be fine!

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