EV Infrastructure in Costa Mesa says it’s looking forward to increasing its presence in existing markets and expanding within the U.S. with its electric vehicle charging stations, following its acquisition by Houston-based White Deer Energy.
White Deer said it bought the electric vehicle design-build business from Renewable Energy Infrastructure Group, a unit of Oaktree Capital Management of Los Angeles. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 2012, EV Infrastructure is a provider of electric vehicle infrastructure engineering and construction services, primarily to commercial fleet operators. With over 1,000 charging points installed, EV Infrastructure says it has been a key partner to many of the largest constituents in the EV marketplace, with a focus on fast-charging stations.
EV Infrastructure’s services range from design and consulting in the planning phase to installation management services in the execution phase.
James Tillman, the vice president of business development, said that EV Infrastructure works with automotive original equipment manufacturers, transportation agencies, school districts, utilities and others with a focus on medium- and heavy-duty fleets and related services to design and build electric vehicle charging stations.
National Installers
“The origins are definitely California; however, our reach is across the country,” Tillman told the Business Journal on Dec. 23. “We are national installers. We have a lot of work that we’re doing in Florida, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.”
“Our primary focus is the design and construction of the charging sites,” according to Tillman. “We don’t actually make the physical chargers themselves. But we do all the utility coordination, designs, drawings, permitting, construction, installation and commissioning of everything it takes to put one of those sites together.” The company has around 50 employees in Southern California.
“For the first time they’ll have an owner that’s very interested in helping them grow organically,” White Deer partner James Meneely told the Business Journal on Dec. 23.
“They’ve got lots of opportunities outside the state.”
Larger Customers
Meneely added that his investment firm is ready to invest $50 million or more into the Costa Mesa-based company.
“There are other people competing in this space, but they are divisions of larger companies,” he said. “We haven’t found too many pure-play, EV infrastructure engineers and installers.”
“They’re almost consultants in this space. That’s how they’re able to get some of the larger customers even though they’re not necessarily a big company,” according to Meneely.
EV Infrastructure chief executive Kelly Fishback and the rest of the management team will stay in place following the acquisition by White Deer.
“We have experienced tremendous growth over the past several years and are proud of the team and infrastructure we have built,” Fishback said. “We look forward to partnering with White Deer to continue this growth by increasing our presence in existing markets and expanding into new states.”
