L-Charge

History

2021

Entering the British market

December 23, 2021 it became known about the entry of L-Charge into the British market. The Russian developer of fast charging stations for electric vehicles will launch them in London in early 2022, company founder Dmitry Lashin told Reuters.

As the news agency notes with reference to the ZAP-MAP platform, by December 2021 in Britain there are 705 thousand electric vehicles and hybrid cars, of which 365 thousand are fully electric. About 28 thousand stations for charging electric cars have been installed in the country, including more than 9 thousand devices in London.

Russian developer of electric vehicle fast charging stations L-Charge enters the British market

The problem with electric vehicles is that even if your batteries are 98% charged, you still charge the car. As a result, all places are occupied, and others fail to charge... Our main task is to stimulate the transition to an electric car. If someone charges on our infrastructure, it means that someone did not drive an ordinary car, "said Lashin.

According to his estimates, the mobile charging stations offered by L-Charge, with mass production, will cost about $200 thousand apiece and charge about 25 electric vehicles per day. By December 2021, the company is  in the search for an investor or technological partner who  would help increase the production of charging stations  to  2 thousand units  per year. The L-charge station takes from 5 to 7 minutes to charge one electric car. Stations are not connected to the power grid, but operate on natural gas or hydrogen.

According to Lashin, in Europe, the service of a mobile charging station costs about 80  Euro cents per kilowatt-hour ( 66 rubles), and this is one and a half to two times cheaper than the current options. For Moscow, the official L-Charge website shows the price  of 15 rubles per kilowatt-hour (as of December 24, 2021^[1]

Raising $1.5 million

September 9, 2021 it became known about the first investments attracted by the Russian developer of fast charging stations for electric vehicles L-Charge. $1.5 million was invested in the startup.

As the founder and general director of L-Charge Dmitry Lashin told Vedomosti, his partners in the previous business, the vegetable producer of the Valley of Vegetables Group of Companies, Igor Sokolov and his son Maxim, acted as investors. According to Lashin, the Sokolovs left the agribusiness, and invested part of the freed funds in L-Charge. Their total share in the startup does not exceed 5%, he said.

L-Charge plans to spend the attracted investments on the creation of mobile and stationary charges. The cost of the mobile complex is about $200 thousand excluding VAT, stationary - about $400 thousand. In August 2021, the first L-Charge mobile gas station began charging electric vehicles on Moscow streets. The release of the stationary complex is scheduled for October 2021.

Russian developer of electric vehicle fast charging stations L-Charge attracted $1.5 million in investments

L-Charge intends to launch up to 20 thousand charging stations within 10 years. For this, it will be enough to attract venture capital investments in the amount of $10 million, and the rest can be received in the form of loans under strict contracts so as not to bring new owners into the capital, said Dmitry Lashin.

Moscow with its 1,100 electric vehicles is not the main market for us. We want to launch in Europe, where the integration of electric vehicles is much higher, "the entrepreneur added.

According to Kirill Zhanaidarov, head of transport infrastructure projects at the Skolkovo Foundation, the technology for fast charging of electric cars may be in demand on roads between cities and in other places where there is a shortage of electricity. In the city, even on a slow charge, you can leave the electric car to charge during the working day. And on the M11 highway between Moscow and St. Petersburg, the distance between charging stations is such that you have to go, calculating kilometers to the next charge, he explained.^[2]

Launch of mobile power stations in Moscow

In July 2021, it became known about the appearance in Moscow of mobile charging stations for electric vehicles. The implementation of the corresponding project was undertaken by L-Charge.

The development of the infrastructure of charging stations with connection to the network is an expensive solution, which also requires a lot of resources and time for implementation, "said L-Charge CEO Dmitry Lashin (quoted by Kommersant). - That is why we believe that only the creation of an autonomous network of charging stations can solve the problem.

A mobile station can be called in Moscow within the Moscow Ring Road. The company plans to develop the network in other Russian cities, as well as abroad - in Paris, Berlin, New York, Amsterdam and London. The system charges an electric car in 8 minutes for 100 km of mileage, which the founders themselves call "a record for the whole world."

Mobile charging for electric vehicles appeared in Moscow

L-Charge plans to launch 20 thousand mobile gas stations for electric vehicles by the end of 2022. The equipment will operate on liquefied natural gas, and subsequently they can be converted to hydrogen. It is stated that the charge of electric vehicles at new stations will cost 30% cheaper than charging from the network.

According to Lashin, the issue of environmental sustainability transport is one of the most pressing, especially in a city where there are no forests and the natural ability to absorb greenhouse gases emitted. Electric transport could be a solution to this problem, but in our country and in the world there is a problem of a shortage of charging stations for electric transport, he said.

By the decision of L-Charge, they became interested in the Department of Environmental Management of Moscow, as well as in Sberbank, noting that such projects are extremely important and are ready to support them at the level of financial institutions and city administration.^[3]

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