“Global M&A activity in the charging space this year hit at least $900 million across 25 deals as of this week, according to PitchBook. That includes at least $200 million across seven deals in the US.”

That’s according to Alexa St. John and Nora Naughton of Business Insider from their article “EV-charging players are buying up small ones to meet huge demand” as “EV-charging consolidation is the latest to hit the auto industry.”

Some of the bigger exits from 2022:

  • Blink Charging bought SemaConnect – This acquisition was a direct result of the federal government mandating that EV charging stations be manufactured in the United States to secure federal funding and Sema has a factory in the U.S.
    Schneider Electric bought EV Connect – EV Connect is one the original software companies dedicated to connecting EV charging stations with an app and platform management. Their main competitor in the space was Greenlots, which was bought by Shell.
  • ABB acquired a controlling interest in InCharge Energy
  • BorgWarner acquired Rhombus Energy Solutions
  • Voltrek by Orion

Why? There are many reasons. Automakers are announcing billion dollar investments into electric vehicles. Legislation on the federal level is set to spend billions on ev charging stations through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the more recent climate bill. There are also dozens of programs from states and utilities to push EV adoption.

“For the smaller companies, it’s hard to scale up on their own. They really need larger partners,” Steve Hilfinger, a partner and senior business counselor with the law firm Foley & Lardner, said. “This is going to take a lot of capital.”

True, but the capital is becoming easier to secure since IIJA. The key for EV charging station adoption has always been site host acquisition. Now that corporate franchise partners are becoming site hosts, it has become easier for smaller EV charging companies to scale and attract notice from the larger players in the space.

https://www.businessinsider.com/ev-charging-industry-merger-acquisition-meet-electric-vehicle-demand-2022-11