GREENSBORO, N.C. — Gilbarco Veeder-Root is expanding its involvement in electric vehicle (EV) charging with an investment in Driivz, a provider of EV charging network management software.
In 2018, Gilbarco Veeder-Root, known for fuel dispensing equipment and management, made a minority investment in Australian EV charging station manufacturer Tritium and began selling Tritium’s Veefil-RT DC fast-charging stations in the United States. Since that investment, Tritium has opened a U.S. manufacturing facility in Los Angeles and signed its first U.S. contract with an EV charging network, and one of its charging stations was installed at the first Shell-branded EV charging location in the United States.
Now Gilbarco Veeder-Root is making a minority investment in Driivz, an Israel-based provider of an intelligent cloud-based software platform for EV charging service providers. It joined another company, Centrica Innovations, which invests in energy and electric mobility startups, in an $11 million round of series C funding for Driivz.
The Driivz platform supports EV charging operations, energy management and billing, as well as home, public and workplace charging, and EV driver self-service tools. Its software is used in 18 countries by EV charging providers such as EVgo Services LLC, one of the largest fast-charging networks in the United States. The platform supports more than 130 types of charging stations and manages “tens of thousands” of EV chargers in North America and Europe, used by more than 500,000 EV drivers, the company said.
“This strategic partnership with Driivz expands Gilbarco Veeder-Root’s e-Mobility platform with digital solutions for the electric vehicle charging market,” said Aaron Saak, president of Gilbarco Veeder-Root, Greensboro, N.C. “As our customers look to the future, we continue to offer innovative solutions and remove hurdles for efficiently managing and developing EV charging infrastructure. Driivz technology is unlocking the future of energy management, and we’re excited to help grow this platform with new opportunities to support our customers and improve the end user experience of EV charging.”
Gilbarco Veeder-Root will offer the Driivz platform as a part of its e-Mobility portfolio of products, which includes Tritium EV charging stations. In 2019, Gilbarco added an outdoor credit card payment option to the charging stations.
“Major utilities, automakers and gas and oil companies have already chosen Driivz for its future-proof technology and proven scalability, to enable them to accelerate their business expansion into the disruptive and growing EV domain,” said Doron Frenkel, Driivz founder and CEO. “Our strategic partnership with [Gilbarco Veeder-Root] creates a business synergy that will allow [it] to complement its solution offering with digital services for EV charging and will allow Driivz to support its customers and power the e-Mobility revolution.”
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.