General Motors has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Redwood Materials to accelerate deployment of energy storage systems using new US-manufactured batteries from GM and second-life battery packs from GM electric vehicles.
The collaboration is a step toward taking GM’s battery technology beyond EVs and builds on the two companies’ existing collaboration.
In June, Redwood Materials launched Redwood Energy, a new business that deploys used EV packs and new modules into fast, low-cost energy storage systems built to meet surging power demand from AI data centers and other applications. The memorandum enables Redwood to pair that integration expertise with second-life GM EV packs and new US-built batteries, delivering a domestic solution from cell to system.
GM second-life EV batteries are already being repurposed to help power the largest second-life battery development in the world and the largest microgrid in North America, at Redwood’s 12 MW (63 MWh) installation in Sparks, Nevada, supporting the AI infrastructure company Crusoe.
“Electricity demand is accelerating at an unprecedented pace, driven by AI and the rapid electrification of everything from transportation to industry,” said JB Straubel, founder and CEO of Redwood Materials. “Both GM’s second-life EV batteries and new batteries can be deployed in Redwood’s energy storage systems, delivering fast, flexible power solutions.”
Pull off Santa Monica Boulevard in LA and you’ll spot it. A glowing saucer-shaped building lit up in blue and red, surrounded by Cybertrucks and Model Ys. This is the Tesla Diner and Drive-In, and it’s now open 24/7 to anyone hungry for a burger, or a 250 kW charge.
The scene feels like a cross between The Jetsons and Grease. There are 80 high-speed V4 Superchargers, two massive outdoor movie screens looping retro classics, and a two-story diner that smells like beef tallow fries and vanilla milkshakes. Even the food comes in Cybertruck-shaped boxes.
The Vibe: Retro-Futuristic and All In
Tesla didn’t hold back. The 9,300 square-foot layout blends chrome, diner booths, neon lights, and robot servers. There’s indoor and outdoor seating, plus a carhop service where staff roll up to your window.
The Tesla Diner app lets you order food from your car while charging, and even check what’s playing on the big screen. Everything – from the playlist to the popcorn – is crafted to feel like a high-tech throwback.
What You’ll See (and Eat)
Old sci-fi movies and Twilight Zone episodes play while you snack on:
Tesla Burger with “Electric Sauce”
Fried chicken and waffles
Tuna melts and chili dogs
Nitro matcha, kombucha, and handspun shakes
It’s fast food, but with ingredients like organic eggs, wagyu chili, and house-fermented pickles. Chef Eric Greenspan helped design the menu, and the early reviews are solid: weird, fun, surprisingly good.
Charging Meets Chilling
Tesla’s strategy is clear. Turn wait time into screen time, snack time, and hangout time. The diner doesn’t just serve food, it extends the Tesla lifestyle into the in-between moments.
And it’s open to all EV drivers. NACS-compatible chargers are fully in place, and the atmosphere welcomes anyone who’s curious or charging.
Elon Musk called it “one of the coolest spots in LA.” With lines out the lot on opening weekend, he might be right.
Intelligent power management company Eaton has agreed to acquire Resilient Power Systems, a North American developer and manufacturer of energy solutions, including solid-state transformer-based technology.
Resilient Power Systems is based in Austin, Texas and backed by venture capital firms including Energy Transition Ventures. Its line of ultra-compact EV charging depots connect directly to existing distribution grids, allowing clients to deploy EV fleet and public charging stations quickly and efficiently.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025.
“Resilient’s medium voltage solid-state transformers are a next-generation solution in high-power, direct current (DC) applications in the electric vehicle (EV) market – and there’s huge opportunity for future applications in data centers, port electrification and battery energy storage,” said Eaton’s Mike Yelton, President, Americas Region, Electrical Sector.
German-Canadian company Rock Tech Lithium, which is developing refining capacity in Europe, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chinese cathode active materials producer Ronbay Technology aimed at creating an integrated lithium-ion battery materials supply chain in Europe.
Rock Tech will provide long-term supply of battery-grade lithium hydroxide to Ronbay’s cathode production facilities in Europe, which will produce battery-related components to meet European EV and energy storage requirements.
Ronbay will offer direct support, including technical resources and potential investment, to help advance Rock Tech’s converter project in Guben, Germany on the German-Polish border. The companies will also collaborate on market development, including supporting Ronbay’s European expansion in the battery and automotive sectors.
Ronbay specializes in the research, production and sales of cathode materials for lithium and sodium batteries. Its product portfolio includes mid- and high-nickel ternary cathode materials, lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP), sodium-ion battery cathode materials and precursor materials for cathode active materials (pCAMs).
Ronbay acquired a former Johnson Matthey cathode materials facility in Konin, Poland. The basic infrastructure is complete, including factory buildings, laboratory buildings and auxiliary facilities, and necessary environmental assessment procedures are in place.
Equipment installation for Phase I of the project, which will have the capacity to produce 25,000 tons of mid-nickel/high-nickel ternary materials annually—enough for about 500,000 EVs—is progressing steadily. It is expected to be completed in 2025, and commercial production is set to follow in 2026.
“Ronbay’s interest in sourcing lithium locally produced in Europe is a clear signal of strategic alignment. This partnership will act as a flywheel, accelerating and amplifying our shared commitment to building a resilient battery value chain in Europe,” said Mirco Wojnarowicz, CEO of Rock Tech Lithium. “With Ronbay’s technical expertise and local CAM operations in Europe, we enhance our ability to fast-track execution and scale operations with greater efficiency.”
The rapid growth of battery-powered technologies, from electric vehicles to renewable energy storage, has heightened the demand for efficient and reliable battery testing solutions. Kikusui has introduced its new Battery Emulator System, a cutting-edge solution designed to address the challenges of evaluating battery-powered devices and components. By leveraging the Kikusui PXB Series Bidirectional DC Power Supply and the SD036-PXB Battery Emulation Software, this system offers unparalleled flexibility and precision in simulating battery behavior under various conditions.
This whitepaper explores the system’s purpose, features, technical specifications and benefits, providing an overview for engineers and researchers in the field.
Terminal tractors (aka drayage trucks or yard goats), which operate within ports and logistics facilities, present a perfect use case for battery-electric commercial vehicles. We’ve written a lot about Orange EV, which has been selling electric terminal tractors for a decade, but Orange isn’t the only company serving this market.
ZM Trucks, a subsidiary of Asia’s ZO Motors, announced the construction of its first North American manufacturing plant in Fontana, California, at the beginning of this year. Now the company has unveiled a new electric T75 terminal tractor at the 2025 Port Electrification Conference in Long Beach.
ZM Trucks Announces New Manufacturing Plant and Regional Headquarters in Fontana, CA at 10271 Almond Avenue.
ZM’s purpose-built T75 boasts an operational range of 75 miles, a GCWR of 165,350 pounds, and an 80,000-pound fifth wheel lifting capacity. The motor delivers 415 peak horsepower and 2,802 lb-ft of torque.
The driver’s cabin features a 10-inch LCD screen, 360-degree camera displays and modern ergonomic controls. Optional features include central lubrication and a hydraulic package to power trailers.
“This isn’t just a diesel truck with a battery pack,” said Joost de Vries, CEO of ZM Trucks. “The T75 was engineered from scratch to be electric, rugged enough for long shifts, smart enough for modern fleet management, and clean enough to meet today’s zero-emission goals.”
ZM says the T75 is now in full production and available to order in North America.
If the company’s contribution to the Uncharted was largely AWD tuning, ride, and safety … what makes it a Subaru?
Subaru unveiled its third dedicated electric vehicle Thursday night, a compact hatchback roughly the size of its Crosstrek, to be known as the Uncharted. The 2026 Subaru Uncharted is 7 inches shorter than its Solterra, which first went on sale for 2023, let alone the longer Trailseeker electric wagon/SUV, which goes on sale earlier next year.
Charged attended the debut in New York City and spoke with Chris Charles, the planning manager for the new Uncharted, and Garrick Goh, who has the same title for the larger Solterra and Trailseeker EVs. They said that while development costs for the Uncharted—and its Toyota twin, the C-HR—were split 50-50 between Subaru and Toyota, each company was responsible for its own areas of expertise on the final vehicle. Toyota handled the powertrain, including the battery, electric motors, and power electronics, areas in which Subaru had little experience. Subaru, on the other hand, controlled the all-wheel-drive tuning, the ride and handling, and many of the safety aspects. The design, Charles said, had input from both sides.
Nevertheless, the new Uncharted shares its basic structure and most of its sheet metal with the Toyota C-HR revealed in May. It has Subaru’s new and distinctive front end design, with a flat panel that holds a trapezoidal opening with the Subaru six-star badge representing the Pleiades star cluster. The badge is illuminated, which definitely makes an impression in dimmer light.
NACS port standard, 300 miles with FWD
While it may parallel the Crosstrek in Subaru’s growing EV lineup, the Uncharted is almost twice as powerful: it’s rated at up to 252 kilowatts (338 horsepower) for the EV versus 152 or 182 horsepower for the gasoline Crosstrek. A Premium FWD base model (“available in limited numbers”) uses a single 163-kw (221 hp) motor powering the front wheels. It’s the first front-wheel-drive Subaru offered for sale in roughly 30 years, since the last FWD Impreza and Legacy models of the mid-1990s.
All versions are powered by a 74.7-kilowatt-hour battery. For the 2026 model year, all Subaru EVs will come standard with a NACS charging port rather than the CCS port used on the 2023-2025 Solterra. Subaru plans to provide two adapters: a J1772-to-NACS adapter for Level 2 charging at up to 11 kilowatts, and a CCS-to-NACS adapter for DC fast charging at up to 150 kW. Subaru quotes a fast-charging time of 10 to 80 percent of “nearly 30 minutes” (we presume that means slightly more than half an hour) under ideal circumstances. Battery preconditioning while en route to a charging station will bring it to the optimum temperature for recharging.
Ranges for the 2026 Uncharted vary with trim level and equipment; the Sport and GT all-wheel-drive versions are projected at 290 miles, while the Premium FWD model will come in at more than 300 miles. That 300-mile mark is the point at which shoppers stop worrying about EV range, said Garrick Goh, product manager for the Solterra and Trailseeker.
He noted the first three years of Solterra were rated at 222 to 228 miles, which proved to be too little for many shoppers to feel comfortable, Goh said. Surveys showed a version with 300 miles ended those worries. (GM has said exactly the same for a few years now.) The upcoming 2026 Solterra will be rated at 285 miles, likely close enough to alleviate most worries.
All but the FWD model have not only Symmetrical All-Wheel-Drive (a Subaru trademark) but the company’s X-Mode Dual Mode selector, which adjusts traction control, braking, and power delivery for different terrains selected by the driver. Given Subaru’s prevalence in snowy climates, every Uncharted version comes with an All-Weather package that includes heated front seats and mirrors, and wiper de-icing. Also standard are a power rear liftgate and a driver-distraction monitoring and alert system.
The car’s 14-inch center touchscreen includes Android Auto and Apple CarPlay phone mirroring as standard, and dual wireless phone chargers sit in the front console. Rear-seat passengers can charge their devices on a pair of USB-C ports. Wheels come in various 18- and 20-inch versions.
When it goes on sale early in 2026, the Subaru Uncharted will compete with the Hyundai Kona Electric and the Kia Soul EV, neither of which offers all-wheel drive. That list will likely also include the 2026 Chevrolet Bolt EV that GM will reveal in September or October, an updated version of the 2022 Bolt EUV model with a new, larger battery pack; new drive motor; and new power electronics. The new Nissan Leaf may also be a competitor.
Subaru will release final specifications, trim details, and pricing close to the car’s on-sale date.
Whither Subaru in an EV age?
In assessing a new model like the 2026 Uncharted, a question often discussed among automotive reporters—and, internally at Subaru even more, it turns out—is simply: “If it doesn’t have a horizontally opposed engine, what makes a Subaru a Subaru?”
As Subaru’s North American audience has grown, its product managers suggest the boxer engine has become less and less important in the eyes of shoppers. While drivers may appreciate the lower center of gravity provided by that configuration against cars with upright inline engines, they are far more interested in the values shown in every Subaru advertisement: safety, durability, and adventure.
As Goh put it, the “upscale practical” buyers of Subarus these days want a vehicle that enables their “outdoor lifestyle”—including the ability to haul gear (equipment for hiking, climbing, kayaking, sailing, etc.) and travel with their pets.
“If REI sold cars,” Goh said, “They’d have something like a Subaru in their stores.” And while every maker of every compact SUV is now compelled to show it on rocky trails or next to a campfire surrounded by young, attractive, ethnically diverse people having fun … Subaru actually walks the walk, because its owners do the same.
Here’s the problem: Pretty much any battery-electric crossover SUV with all-wheel drive can easily be tuned to provide “symmetric all-wheel drive”. So what differentiates a Subaru? Goh and Charles fell back on suspension tuning and software, along with more practical features on some models: roof rails that are actually usable to mount all that gear, Thule carriers included, versus the less functional, more decorative ones used elsewhere.
The company has its own, dedicated scalable architecture for all models it sells in North America, designed specifically around its boxer engines. So will Subaru ever develop its own dedicated EV platform? The reflexive, expected response from one of the product managers we spoke with was, “We don’t comment on future products.” After a long pause came one more word: “Maybe?”
Meanwhile, Subaru now has three incrementally modified versions of Toyota EVs—and we rather suspect that Number Four, due to be unveiled sometime next year, will be the same. We look forward to driving the updated 2026 Solterra, and the new 2026 Uncharted and Trailseeker, before they reach customers early in 2026.
Subaru provided lodging and meals to enable Charged to bring you this first-person report.
Some EV charging infrastructure control functions are best handled on-site, some in the cloud. Driivz and Sparkion offer a combination of both.
Some EV charging control functions require connection to the cloud (e.g. driver authentication, payment processing), and some are best handled by an on-site processor (load management).
Load management serves critical functions such as preventing circuit overloads and minimizing utility demand charges. It can also act as a power multiplier—Driivz software can enable a given power connection to serve six times as many EVs as it could with no load management.
V2G is still mostly a pilot-stage tech (at least in the US), but it presents intriguing income opportunities. Battery storage is a great plus for EV charging installations, and battery-to-grid applications such as demand response could provide the revenue needed to justify an investment in batteries.
Every EV charging system consists of various components, including hardware (chargers, switchgear), software (charging management, user apps) and services (installation, payment processing, maintenance). As regular Charged readers know, companies that want to provide charging can purchase the various components of this stack in just about any combination. Organizations with smaller EV fleets often choose to go with a turnkey package (Charging as a Service), so they can focus on their core activities.
Companies that are actually in the business of EV charging, however—CPOs and fleet operators—are going to build their own ecosystem of hardware, software and service providers. These are the companies that Driivz targets with its software solution, which it describes as “an operating system for EV charging networks.” The Driivz platform is an end-to-end solution, incorporating EV charging operations, energy management, billing and payment processing, and user apps.
Charged spoke with Driivz Chief Product Officer Oren Halevi.
Charged: Perhaps you could start by explaining how the Driivz and Sparkion products fit together.
Oren Halevi: We acquired Sparkion about two and a half years ago, and we’re in the process of merging their on-site energy management capabilities completely into the platform. For now, we’ve decided to keep the Sparkion brand separate. We are in the process of offering a single solution that will have multiple capabilities or modules based on the requirements of our customers.
Some of the customers can continue to use the existing Driivz software for cloud-only energy management. That works for, I would say, 90% of the use cases. But as the industry grows and sites become more and more complex, some sites require local energy controllers—it could be because they have unmanaged loads, it could be for managing local battery storage or PVs or other assets on-site. This is where we bring in the Sparkion component.
Charged: So your Driivz EV charging and energy management platform runs in the cloud, but Sparkion’s system runs locally at a charging site.
Oren Halevi: Right. It’s a combination of having a local asset, basically a small computer that connects directly into the local energy consumers, that is also connected to the cloud to enable the additional capabilities that we provide.
Charged: Tell me more about the advantages of having more intelligence at the local site level.
Oren Halevi: The energy demand on-site is not always predictable, which means that you may see spikes in consumption. During the day, it could be that another consumer is using the same energy source, for example, a car wash machine or other devices that are not managed by our platform, but may be very heavy energy consumers. In this case, it’s harder for a cloud-only solution to work efficiently because a spike can happen in under a second. For those cases, we have a local controller that can act very quickly, receive information from smart meters that are connected to those unmanaged loads, and reduce charging, stop charging or draw additional energy from the on-site battery storage to compensate for that additional load. So, when you have batteries on-site, when you have solar panels, and when you have unmanaged loads—those would be the three main use cases to install a local controller.
When you have batteries on-site, when you have solar panels, and when you have unmanaged loads—those would be the three main use cases to install a local controller.
Charged: So, this has to do with the time lag of a cloud-based energy management solution. When you need response in less than a second, you need the computing power on-site.
Oren Halevi: That’s correct. There are lags in multiple areas. The actual communication with the network could take time. Also, the charger responding to an OCPP request may take time. The same charger could be connected via a mod bus directly into the local controller, and in this case it responds very, very quickly.
Charged: A mod bus?
Oren Halevi: A mod bus is a wired direct communication between the charger, the local controller, the battery, the PV, etc. You don’t go to the cloud and back. Everything is done within the EV charging site. This is the brain behind a microgrid. All the information is coming from all the components into this, and it controls the different types of energy generation and consumption.
Charged: We recently did an article about a company called Pando that provides charging for multi-unit properties. With their system, all the smarts are local, for reasons of reliability. If the WiFi is down or the cell network is down, everything can still function.
Oren Halevi: It’s true, but the reliability of the network is important too. The authentication of a driver, for example, must rely on network communication—if the network is down, drivers will not be able to start a charge. Long periods of time offline are not valid in any of those cases. But you’re right, if you have 30 seconds or a minute that a network is down, the local controller will compensate for that.
Charged: Also, I recently spoke with an exec from ABB who said that the smarts (for want of a better term) are increasingly moving to local processors for several reasons.
Oren Halevi: I partially agree with what she’s saying, but I would say both sides need to be smarter. The network is not aware of who’s charging, the vehicle’s capabilities, the state of charge and other additional information that we know. I think there needs to be an improvement in that logic on both sides. And I see companies that are looking after the network, the peripherals other than chargers, coming more and more into this market. I think there is room for both.
Charged: Tell me more about bidirectional charging and demand response.
Oren Halevi: Another interesting use case, especially in Europe—less in the US, at least for now—is the ability to take this microgrid and join the flexibility market or demand respond market. You can offer the ability to reduce power drawn from the grid and generate additional revenue for your local site.
Charged: Is that something that’s happening today on a commercial basis, or is that still in the pilot stage?
Oren Halevi: It’s funny, because Driivz demonstrated V2G capabilities in 2019, and back then we kept hearing, “It’s going to be happening in the next two years or three years or five years.” I don’t know how fast this will go, for two reasons. One: the business model behind V2G is not very clear. People need to be motivated to offer their vehicle as an asset to the grid. Two: there is still a big concern about frequent discharge of the battery. If every day you charge and discharge, it may reduce the battery life, or at least people think it will, and that discourages them from joining.
There was a demonstration last month in Brussels by Renault where they showed a proof of concept for V2G. In their case, the vehicle, the charger, the back end and the utility were all part of this pilot, so it’s easy alignment. But there’s currently not enough vehicles that support it and…anyway, we’re waiting for it to happen. Our back end is ready for it but we haven’t seen it yet in any commercial use.
Charged: Does your implementation of Sparkion’s technology have some specific applications to V2G and bidirectional charging?
Oren Halevi: Yeah, actually in that case it’s easier. Assuming I have a battery on-site, I don’t need to use the vehicle to discharge. I can discharge the battery first, so I can easily buy cheap energy and sell it back to the grid when it’s more expensive. I can put enough room in my battery to do that. And actually, in order to make a reasonable return on investment for the battery, it is not enough only to connect it to chargers. It must be part of additional revenue streams, such as battery-to-grid, demand response, the flexibility market, etc. Each one of these is a small additional revenue stream that contributes to the ROI. Only if you combine all three or four use cases together can you justify the installation of the battery.
Charged: So, being able to do V2G is an additional selling point for EV charging operators to deploy on-site battery storage. And they might use those batteries for some revenue-generating applications, like arbitraging energy, that don’t have anything to do with EVs.
Oren Halevi: Exactly. And by doing that they justify the installation of a battery, and help the EV sites to have additional capacity. Once you pay the bills and generate additional revenue, then it actually makes sense. We’re doing exactly that with multiple customers in Europe. I can mention Circle K and Recharge—both of them are participating in these markets using Driivz and Sparkion. There are additional ones that I cannot mention, but we just did a survey of our customers a month ago, and it was amazing. Almost all of them said they’re probably going to install batteries in the next year at one or more of their sites. So, it’s really a fast-moving market. [Read the results of the survey in Driivz’s new report, 2025 State of EV Charging Network Operators.]
In order to make a reasonable ROI on batteries, it’s not enough only to connect it to chargers. It must be part of additional revenue streams, such as demand response, the flexibility market, etc. Combining these use cases you justify the installation of the battery, and help the EV site to have additional capacity.
Charged: On your web site, it says, “You can accommodate up to six times EV charging on-site without increasing the site electrical capacity.” So you’re saying that, just by using your software, a customer can support six times as much charging power as they could without it?
Oren Halevi: In general, yes. If we break it down into different use cases, it depends. With public charging it’s a bit harder, because people want to come, charge and get out. They don’t want to stay connected for hours. When you look at a fleet depot, on the other hand, they charge overnight, which means you don’t have to charge all the vehicles together. You can start lining them up and reducing the overall load of the site. So, different use cases have different calculations, but yes.
Charged: In a fleet charging situation, you know what vehicles are going to be charging and when. So just by using software, no batteries or upgrade to the power connection, instead of charging one electric bus or truck, you might be able to charge as many as six.
Oren Halevi: Exactly. We’re doing a really interesting pilot, which we’re pushing to become an open-source project, available to everyone. Say you have a fleet of vehicles—let’s say Volvo as an example, one of our customers—and you have charging depots that welcome those fleets to come and charge.
The fleet driver would probably know when he’s arriving at the depot, so he says, “I’m arriving at two o’clock, but I want to make sure I have enough energy to charge.” And that’s becoming more complicated because you need to calculate in advance how many vehicles are coming and say, “I cannot have any more vehicles coming in at this hour because I’m at full capacity, not necessarily because of the number of chargers, but because of the grid.” We are building this integration together with a charging depot on one side, a fleet on the other side, and we’re in the middle. This will all go through a roaming protocol because they are different companies, and they need to communicate somehow.
Charged: How do CPO apps interface with your system?
Oren Halevi: We’re also on the app side. Driivz provides a white-label app to our customers, which means that the app that you use may actually be a Driivz app even though it looks like an app from Shell or someone else. Some of our customers have decided to build their own apps on top of the API that we provide—that’s another option. It requires some more technical capabilities from our customer’s side, but we are good both ways. Driivz is also responsible for the full billing cycle—getting the credit card information from the driver, calculating how much the driver needs to pay, showing it to the driver accurately based on regulations such as CTEP, then generating an invoice.
Charged: CTEP?
Oren Halevi: CTEP [California Type Evaluation Program] started as a California regulation, focusing on providing accurate information about the energy delivered and the cost to the driver. It has become standard in many of the states in the US [as the National Type Evaluation Program]. We are required to show accurate pricing information to the driver while they charge—basically like a gas station.
Driivz provides a white-label EV driver app to our customers, and we’re also responsible for the full billing cycle—getting credit card information, showing payment info to the driver accurately based on regulations such as CTEP, then generating an invoice.
Charged: In my experience, that part of it works pretty well—charging apps seem to give me pretty good information about what I’m buying. The thing that bothers me is that there’s so many apps, and they’re all different. On some apps, starting a charge is a complex process, and on others it’s very simple. Why can’t they all be like that?
Oren Halevi: I think it’s a young market and it will evolve. I don’t know if one provider will win, maybe Google or Apple Maps will show all the chargers, maybe some kind of regulation would force all the CPOs to show other chargers as well. Different countries are doing different things. I agree. It’s still a pain for the driver to download five or ten different apps.
Charged: If these CPOs all participated in roaming, then you could just use one app.
Oren Halevi: Yes. Roaming capability is another service that we provide. For example, if one of our customers partners with ChargePoint, then you as an EV driver can charge at any ChargePoint locations and vice versa. It’s a start. CPOs need to add maybe two or three more big networks into their roaming agreements, then you’re going to be fairly well covered.
Charged: Tell me about the geographical breakdown of your customers.
Oren Halevi: We’re in 36 countries. In most of those countries, we work with the number-one and/or number-two players in the market. For example, if you take all the public charging in the Nordic countries, our customers cover about 80% of this market. Same thing in Ireland and the UK, getting there in Germany, Australia, Japan, the US—those are the biggest markets that we currently play in.
Charged: And what different kinds of customers do you have? Charge point operators? Fleets?
Oren Halevi: It’s a nice combination. In Europe, we see more electric utilities that are our customers. It happens less in the US because of regulations. Most electric utilities in the US cannot operate chargers, which they can in Europe. Gas and oil, a big part—Shell is an example globally. Fuel retailers and convenience stores represent one of the fastest-growing markets in the world, in the US especially. And most of the convenience store chains globally are actually using Driivz.
Charged: I see a couple of categories on your web site that we don’t talk about much here in the US. What’s the difference between an electric mobility service provider and an EV service provider?
Oren Halevi: An EMSP is an app-only provider. They don’t own or operate any chargers, they just manage the driver’s side. You would see those usually as automotive OEMs. Volvo is one example—they don’t own any chargers, but they allow their drivers to roam across multiple CPOs. As for EVSP, the idea is that a CPO can also be an EMSP. They have their own app and have their own registered drivers, so they play as both a CPO and an EMSP.
Charged: So, for instance, Ford in the US is an EMSP because they have an app that lets you use a bunch of different networks.
Oren Halevi: They’re also a CPO on the fleet side. They have their own solution that manages chargers in depots.
Charged: Do you have some competitors out there? There’s another software-only company called AMPECO, and they seem to have a pretty global footprint.
Oren Halevi: I would say our most significant differentiator is our proven experience in managing some of the largest EV charging networks in the world. We offer a scalable and comprehensive solution to global customers with everything that is behind that—customization, support and reliability. There aren’t many players that are software-only, and we’re at the top of that market and we’ve been here the longest.
Charged: A lot of companies are offering a turnkey charging solution, including hardware, software, even the vehicles sometimes, and some of those have their own proprietary software. Are some of them your customers?
Oren Halevi: Not typically, no. This is a good idea, especially for the smaller customer that doesn’t want to handle selecting the best of breed in hardware, software, services, etc. For larger customers, I recommend avoiding proprietary software solutions, as they can hinder growth by limiting compatibility with evolving industry regulations, protocols and charger types.
Charged: So, it’s only large fleets and CPOs that are your customers, and they’re managing their own fleet solutions as opposed to using one company to handle it all. They’re buying software from you, but choosing hardware and services on their own.
Oren Halevi: Right. And for those reasons, we tend to work with larger fleets. We tend to work with what we call FMCs, fleet management companies. A good example of that is Shell. Shell operates around 30,000 fleets globally. And it’s actually not their fleets—it could be a municipality or a trucking company or something else, but Driivz operates all the chargers on behalf of the fleet. We provide the back end for Shell to do that.
Canada-based NEO Battery Materials has introduced NBMSiDE P-300N, a mass-producible silicon anode material optimized to enhance battery stability while delivering an average coulombic efficiency (CE) of over 99.8%.
Building on the P-300 silicon anode introduced in January, NEO refined the synthesis process and material characteristics while maintaining low costs and minimizing initial capacity loss.
“The upgraded P-300N incorporates refinements in particle size distribution, shape control and composite layer coating on the silicon particle. The composite layer coating offers enhanced protection against the direct contact of the silicon anode and electrolyte, mitigating capacity loss and improving cycling life,” the company stated. “Additionally, a reinforced polymer coating network aids in mechanical stress dissipation without compromising conductivity between silicon particle structures.”
The company said its priority is optimizing the 50-cycle average CE on the half cell using a 100% pure silicon anode. A high CE over the first 50 cycles is required for and determines high capacity retention in long battery performance tests of over 300, 500 and 1,000 cycles.
The flexibility of NEO’s synthesis method has enabled it to produce two P-300N variations to meet different industry needs. A high-capacity variant demonstrates initial capacity over 2,000 mAh/g and an average CE of over 99.5%, maintaining performance over 50 cycles. A high-stability variant provides a balance of cycle performance and capacity, delivering an average CE of over 99.8% and approximately 2,000 mAh/g in initial capacity.
P-300N is positioned as a low-cost, competitive solution for applications including EVs and energy storage that require high capacity and long-term stability, as well as electronics, power tools or drones and unmanned aerial vehicles that require high capacity with ultra-fast charging and discharging.
The P-300N is undergoing long-term, full cell tests of over 300 cycles. After completing small-scale optimization, NEO plans to manufacture near-commercial battery cells with 3 to 5 Ah capacities in partnership with global players in the battery value chain.
Federal Realty Investment Trust has selected Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging (HPC) to install over 500 EV fast charging stalls across at least 50 of its open-air retail properties nationwide, beginning in 2026.
The initial deployment phase targets 20 Federal Realty retail centers in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Florida and Connecticut. Each selected location will have up to 10 charging stalls with charging speeds of 400 kW and compatibility with all EV brands. The agreement targets retail locations to capitalize on established properties that already attract strong consumer traffic.
“We view this partnership as a strategic inflection point for EV infrastructure deployment in retail real estate,” said Don Wood, President & Chief Executive Officer of Federal Realty. “By aligning with Mercedes-Benz, we’re introducing a forward-looking amenity that enhances the customer experience and reinforces the long-term strength of our portfolio. The structure of the deal is just as innovative as its scale, designed to create lasting value for our business and our communities.”
“Scaling reliable, high-speed EV charging requires more than just technology—it takes partners who understand place, quality, and the customer journey,” said Andrew Cornelia, President & Chief Executive Officer of Mercedes-Benz HPC North America. “Federal Realty’s properties are destinations in their own right, and this collaboration enables us to deliver a seamless charging experience at some of the most desirable locations in the country.”
