EDF RE, Toyota Tsusho invest in vehicle-to-grid expert Nuvve

San Diego-based Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology firm Nuvve Corporation has closed a Series A financing round led by EDF Renewable Energy (EDF RE) and Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TYO:8015), or TTC.

Nuvve has developed a platform called NUVVEgives that aggregates thousands of parked electric vehicles (EVs) into a virtual power plant by enabling bi-directional charging aligned to the needs of the grid. The firm offers a cloud connected application that makes sure each vehicle has sufficient charge for its next trip and then estimates how much remaining capacity is available to sell to the grid. The technology was developed by Nuvve’s chief technology officer, Willett Kempton.

The company will use the proceeds from the funding round to accelerate the commercialisation of its solutions. Also, the fresh funds have enabled it to acquire full rights to the V2G intellectual property developed by Kempton.

“We anticipate our partners will help us build on our successes in Western Europe and North America and open up new markets like Japan,” CEO Gregory Poilasne said in a statement.

US independent power producer EDF RE, part of French energy major EDF’s (EPA:EDF) renewables arm, said separately it has made the investment in Nuvve as part of its strategic growth in the distributed electricity and storage market. Its partnership with the San Diego-based firm will bring V2G charging and on-site solar to US corporate and industrial (C&I) customers interested in offering workplace charging.

“C&Is are increasingly asking for electric vehicle charging infrastructure to offer the onsite benefit to employees and customers. EDF RE can deliver cost-effective, clean and reliable solar power to charge the EVs, while Nuvve brings a V2G solution that can reduce charging costs and serve the local grid,” said Raphael Declercq, Vice President of Portfolio Strategy at EDF Renewable Energy.

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