ChargePoint Holdings, an electric vehicle (EV) charging network operating in North America and Europe, announced its acquisition of ViriCiti, a provider of electrification solutions for eBus and commercial fleets. At time of transaction completion, ChargePoint acquired ViriCiti for a total purchase price of €70 million cash, subject to adjustment.
The ViriCiti team, customer accounts and technology will become part of ChargePoint’s operations. According to the company, ViriCiti will enhance the ChargePoint fleet solution portfolio of hardware, software and services by integrating information sources to optimize electric fleet operations, including battery management, charging station monitoring, OEM-agnostic telematics, vehicle maintenance, and vehicle operations data. The combined solution will enable fleets to identify what routes to electrify, monitor and report on uptime, optimize fueling to ensure operational readiness at low cost, and integrate vehicle and charging station management.
“The future of fleets is electric and integrating charging solutions with the many business systems already in place in today’s depots is essential to successful electrification,” said Pasquale Romano, president and CEO of ChargePoint. “Adding ViriCiti’s vehicle management capabilities to our fleet portfolio allows ChargePoint to deliver more functionality to eBus and commercial fleet operators, while remaining open to integration with existing telematics systems. The combined solution underscores the importance of software to EV charging and will ensure operational readiness at low cost as fleets of all types across North America and Europe continue to electrify.”
Founded in 2012, ViriCiti has 50 employees in the Netherlands and U.S., and established market share in North America and Europe with approximately 150 fleet operators, 3,500 connected vehicles and 2,500 networked ports under management. ViriCiti customers include fleet operators and OEMs, such as Arriva, Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, Chicago Transit Authority, Gillig, Keolis, King County Metro, Metropolitan Transit Authority (New York), PicNic, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority and Toronto Transit Commission.
“Our mission over the last nine years has been to help fleet operators manage their electric operations,” Freek Dielissen, CEO of ViriCiti, said. “Today, zero-emission transportation is at a tipping point, and we are excited to join EV charging leader ChargePoint, integrate our complementary offerings and tap into the resources that will enable the electrification of fleets at a faster pace across North America and Europe.”
“The need for efficient software tools to gather, analyze and recommend vehicle types, charging hardware, site energy requirements and other operational strategies has never been greater,” added Jose Serras-Pereira, director of mobility consulting at Frost & Sullivan. “Software, analytics, and advisory are expected to be key portfolio components for any industry actor wishing to provide a holistic suite of electrification services in a B2B setting and help accelerate fleet electrification over the next decade. With this acquisition and their recently announced global fleet solution portfolio, which already includes a scalable EV charging platform with hardware, installation, and fleet management services, ChargePoint is now well positioned to offer fleet managers large and small a full range of tools required to start planning and executing their electrification journeys."
