EV charging provider Emobi has closed a $3.4-million seed funding round led by Florida Funders. The company will use the new capital to support the expansion of its proprietary seamless EV charging solution, JustPlug.
EV drivers badly need a seamless charging system like the one Tesla drivers have long enjoyed. The good news is that help is on the way. The ISO 15118 standard enables (among other things) a feature called Plug & Charge, which handles authentication and payment automatically—drivers simply plug in and walk away.
The bad news is that not all EV models support Plug & Charge, and several charging experts have told Charged that a substantial amount of work remains to be done before the system comes into widespread use.
Emobi says: “The majority of existing chargers and vehicles lack the necessary hardware and firmware to support traditional Plug & Charge functionality, leaving about 80% of chargers and vehicles unable to adopt this capability. JustPlug removes this long-standing barrier by extending Plug & Charge functionality across both modern and legacy infrastructure.”
Emobi’s JustPlug “enables secure, automatic EV charging with no special hardware, software or setup required.” It uses ISO 15118 digital certificate infrastructure for cloud-based authentication.
Emobi plans to market its JustPlug system through partnerships with automakers, fleets and charging operators. The company says it’s now doing pilot programs with 3 of the top 10 EV automakers in North America. The company has also partnered with infrastructure providers Flipturn, ElectricFish and Curo.
“For over a decade, the EV industry has promised seamless charging but drivers are still fumbling with apps, RFID cards and closed ecosystems,” said Lin Sun Fa, CEO of Emobi. “We’re not waiting for another round of network upgrades or regulatory alignment—JustPlug breaks that stalemate.”
Source: Emobi
