As consumers continue to buy electric vehicles, a Fort Worth startup sees an opportunity to keep them charged.
Revitalize Charging Solutions, a maker of electric vehicle charging equipment, is expanding into the direct-to-consumer market. The company is looking to receive certification for its at-home product from UL, a third-party, safety company that is a standard-bearer in the consumer tech product market.
“It’s a market segment that we've been looking to go after for quite a while,” said Edward Morgan, CEO at Revitalize.
Since its launch, Revitalize has been focused on B2B sales, providing electric vehicle charging equipment and services to businesses, municipalities and universities. Its clients include names like the City of Arlington, Hillwood, Cook Children’s and Acre Distilling. Morgan said Revitalize currently has 26 charging sites, largely on the western side of the region, with 14 additional sites coming online in the next couple of months.
With the certification from UL, the company will start delivering its first 1,000 in-home units by the end of the fourth quarter. The patent-pending units use algorithms and load balancing technology to charge two cars simultaneously. Morgan said the move into D2C makes sense, as most users charge their vehicles overnight at home. He added that he has seen a trend of people purchasing additional electric vehicles after buying their first, especially as the infrastructure supporting use increases.
Ultimately, Morgan said he sees D2C sales becoming 60% to 80% of the company's new business in the future.
“Ideally, we would like the direct-to-consumer to be the weight of our business, because it's a lower-priced product, the cycle times… are fairly quick, so you can get deals done quicker and generate revenue faster,” Morgan said. “There's a better opportunity to go to… a wider audience faster.”
In addition to automakers increasing their production of electric vehicles, companies like GM are announcing plans to end gas and diesel passenger vehicles by 2035. President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan involves action items like creating a national network of charging stations.
Revitalize was founded in 2013, spending its first two years doing research and development for the product. In 2014, the company joined the TechFW incubator program. The following year, the four-person company, which is backed by the Cowtown Angels, ran a pilot project with the city of Fort Worth. Morgan declined to say how much the company has raised or what its revenue is. Looking ahead, he said Revitalize has its eyes on fleet operations space.
“We are doing some exciting things at Revitalize Charging Solutions. We believe entering into the residential space is really going to grow our revenues, get us into locations where it traditionally would take a long time to get to with the pricier B2B chargers,” Morgan said.
The Fort Worth area is quickly becoming a hub for electric vehicles and adjacent industries. Last year, the city approved a nearly $70 million grant for electric motor company Linear Labs to create a manufacturing and R&D center. This year, Spanish EV charging equipment maker Wallbox announced plans for a 130,000 square-foot facility in Arlington. EV maker Rivian is considering Fort Worth for the site of a $5 billion vehicle manufacturing facility.
“Businesses are more educated now and they understand the technology much more. The more electric cars that there are, the more charging infrastructure that’s needed to support those cars,” Morgan said.
