BP Eyes IoT-Enabled EV Charging With US$7 Million Investment in IoTecha
BP Ventures is to integrate internet of things (IoT) electric vehicle (EV) charging firm IoTecha’s products into its EV infrastructure following a US$7 million (£5 million) investment.
The technology developed by IoTecha connects EV chargers with the electricity grid using IoT, therefore optimising the charging process by automating payments and delivering cost and potential energy savings to customers.
It also allows private and fleet vehicles from any manufacturer to communicate with charging stations to signal when they need recharging, with the platform gathering information over time, identifying patterns and the energy requirements of each user across all forms of EV charging.
It therefore removes the need for charge cards and multiple payment systems, according to BP, with interoperability currently being a key focus of industry and regulation alike.
Alongside this, the technology enables vehicle-to-grid, whereby EV owners can sell unused electricity back to the grid.
The integration of this technology with BP’s EV charging infrastructure is set to support the company’s aim of providing over 70,000 public EV charging points worldwide by 2030.
In the UK, BP operates the BP Pulse charging network – previously known as BP Chargemaster – which recently opened the first UK rapid charging hub specifically for EV fleets, with 10 50KW chargers already in the ground.
This followed off the back of the company unveiling plans for a rollout of ultra-fast charging hubs across the UK, with the first of these sites to have 24 ultra-fast charging points.
The investment into IoTecha comes as part of a wider US$13.2 million investment round, and follows BP Ventures making investments into firms such as Chinese AI-enabled energy management company R&B and UK AI tech firm Grid Edge.
Oleg Logvinov, president and CEO of IoTecha, said: “The transportation and electrification industries have developed for the last hundred years without substantial interactions with each other.
The rising tide of transportation electrification is rapidly fusing them together. Smart and interoperable charging will make it possible.”
Source: current-news
