Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi’s Alliance Ventures invests in EV charging platform startup PowerShare to advance charging solutions and services for electric vehicles

With China’s effort to move away from fossil fuel and focus more on producing fuel-efficient and renewable energy sources, the country is targeting to have sales of more than 7 million electric vehicles (EVs) by year 2025. The need to manage demand and distribution of power on the grid, particularly at times of peak demand will be crucial. PowerShare is a China-based  electric vehicle (EV) charging platform startup, which links electric vehicle drivers to charging points and helps power suppliers balance distribution. It’s application helps to manage growing pressure on power grids as electric vehicles (EVs) usage surges in the coming decades.

Today, Alliance Ventures, the strategic venture capital arm of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, announced it has made a new investment in PowerShare. PowerShare provides an online platform that connects EV drivers, charge point operators and power suppliers to streamline the charging experience. It offers a cloud-based system, enabling suppliers to monitor the demand from vehicles with the supply capacity of the grid and drivers to find available charging stations. The investment in PowerShare follows ten other Alliance Ventures investments, including start-ups based in North America, Europe and China, all with a focus on contributing to the future of mobility.

PowerShare is the most recent addition to the Alliance Ventures portfolio in the field of early-stage development and entrepreneurs on the cutting edge of next-generation systems for the automotive industry. This is second investment PowerShare has received in less than two months. Last month, BP was one of the investors in PowerShare’s Series A round.

Founded Ethan Zhu, founder and CEO, PowerShare provides an online platform that connects EV drivers, charge point operators and power suppliers, streamlining the charging experience from locating a charge point through to paying for the power supply. PowerShare’s cloud-based system also allows power suppliers to optimize their operations by continuously monitoring and balancing the power demand from vehicles with the supply capacity of the grid.

“PowerShare’s expertise fits with the Alliance’s objective to maintain our leadership in vehicle electrification. A solid infrastructure network must be established to accelerate the deployment of EV and new mobility services, and we expect PowerShare’s technology to help make that happen. Additionally, PowerShare’s base in China aligns with our strong focus on the market as a strategic hub,” said François Dossa, Alliance Global Vice President, Ventures and Open Innovation.

Commenting on the investment, Ethan Zhu, founder and Chief Executive Officer of PowerShare, said: “As a technology-based start-up with a focus on electric vehicle charging, PowerShare has accumulated rich experiences in this field through in-depth cooperation with domestic and foreign automobile manufacturers, charging operators and charging pile manufacturers over the past four years. This investment from Alliance Ventures will enable us to go farther and faster in expanding markets, developing core technologies, and exploring new business models in the global e-Mobility business. We look forward to working closely with Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi as PowerShare grows.”

Alliance Ventures is the strategic venture capital fund of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, the world’s largest automotive alliance. The fund, launched in 2018 and co-located in Amsterdam, Silicon-Valley, Paris, Yokohama, Beijing and Tel Aviv, plans to invest up to $1 billion in its first five years to support open innovation. Alliance Ventures targets technology and business model innovation in new mobility, autonomous driving, connected services, EV & energy and enterprise 2.0.