Charlotte startup Koulomb LLC expects to open four commercial charging stations for electric vehicles by the end of this year. It'll open its first in Matthews this fall, with up to 25 stations operating in 2023.
Co-founder Jeffrey Constantineau, a former managing director at Sunlight Financial Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SUNL), says the Matthews station will include a 50-kilowatt solar canopy and battery technology to include renewable energy at the site. The solar canopy will be installed by Pure Power Contractors Inc., owned by Koulomb’s other co-founder, Justin Taylor.
“We are making this as sustainable as you can get," says Taylor. “In Charlotte, we can offset our energy consumption and carbon buying power from renewable energy sources and the solar canopy.”
Shortly after the Matthews store debuts, three Koulomb-branded charging stations will open in the Richmond, Virginia, area. The sites have already been secured, Constantineau says, although under the lease agreements he is not allowed to identify them publicly.
More Koulomb charging stations coming to the Carolinas in 2023
None of those three sites are large enough to support a solar installation, like the station planned in Matthews, which is outside the Interstate 485 loop at the Shops at Chestnut.
But the next three projects, all just off interstates in the Carolinas, will have room for solar installations. One at 1108 Ardywck Place in Rock Hill, just off Interstate 77, is slated for completion in the spring. During the summer, Koulomb plans to open another station in Ayrsley, a third off I-485 and South Tryon Street, as well as one at 6001 Nations Ford Road near I-77, Constantineau says.
Koulomb is in negotiations for additional sites in NoDa, north Charlotte and another in Matthews, all of which are slated to be built in 2023, he says. The company plans to open stations in Georgia and Florida next year as well, as Koulomb focuses initially on six Southeastern states where Pure Power already operates. That will allow the company to capitalize on using Pure Power, which is already in North Carolina and Virginia, as its contractor.
Koulomb had until recently expected the Nations Ford site to be the first N.C. location for the startup. But Constantineau says that project is stuck in a backlog of rezoning cases in Charlotte.
Charging time could be reduced using microgrids
Constantineau and Taylor formed Koulomb in October, after Constantineu left Sunlight Financial. The company name is a play on the word coulomb, a unit that measures a current’s electrical charge.
The company has set up a demonstrator charging station at Pure Play’s offices in Indian Trail.
Taylor says for the near future, recharging at a Koulomb station is likely to take about 15 minutes. Charging time remains an issue for electric vehicles at commercial stations like the ones Koulomb plans. He says that in the long run, setting up a microgrid for charging stations would be ideal. A five-megawatt microgrid would be ideal and could speed up charging times.
Taylor remains with Pure Power even as he is a partner in Koulomb. The startup is small, consisting of four people including the two founders. But Constantineau says the current plan is to be a national charging-station owner within five years.
Koulomb looks to get jump on applying for funding from Biden's infrastructure plan
One of the largest problems currently is the lead time for the heavy electrical equipment needed for charging stations. Taylor says that orders generally require 20 weeks of lead time before delivery, suffering, as many industries are, from supply-chain issues.
Constantineau says Koulomb has already ordered the equipment it needs through 2023, so he is confident that growth can be locked in. He says the company decided to take the chance on ordering for projects it does not have sites for to get a jump on applying for federal EV-charging incentives that will be available next year as part of the Biden Administration’s infrastructure plan.
He says the company expects to seek incentives whenever they are available, but they are not key to Koulomb’s business plan.
Conataintineau says the partnership with Taylor is the key, however. Constantineau has experience in corporate strategy and finance in the renewable energy industry. Taylor is a contractor with broad experience in building electrical systems, including solar installations and even direct experience in building charging stations.
