Israeli EV fast-charging startup Zooz Power inks deal for distribution in the US

Zooz Power, an Israel-based developer of an ultra-fast power booster for electric vehicles (EVs), has nabbed a distribution agreement to help further establish its footprint in the US market.

Zooz announced on Sunday that it has signed a five-year agreement with Blink Charging. As part of the deal, the US operator of EV charging equipment will serve as Zooz’s distributor for the sale and deployment of its fast EV power system, which it says can fully recharge batteries within 15 minutes. Zooz’s Tel Aviv-listed shares jumped 20% in afternoon trading.

Zooz’s CEO Boaz Weizer described the agreement as another “significant milestone in our penetration into the US market, which is developing rapidly and will offer enormous business potential in the coming years.”

Zooz’s Kinetic Power Booster (KPB) based on patented flywheel technology converts electrical energy into kinetic energy, and is designed for areas where EV infrastructure is still behind or where the electricity grid is not yet sufficiently powerful to give that quick boost. The boosters are modular, take up about half a parking space, and can be installed in key areas such as parking lots, airports, and hotels.

“As the demand for convenient and accessible long-range EV charging grows, it is imperative that we provide EV drivers with dependable and sustainable solutions and Zooz provides just that,” said Blink Charging CEO Michael D. Farkas.

Zooz is also working with Nasdaq-listed Blink Charging on a joint R&D pilot program partly funded by the BIRD Foundation to test the system’s capability to ensure ultra-fast charging of electric vehicles in sites where the electric grid is power-constrained. The pilot site in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is expected to become operational in the second quarter of 2023. Blink Charging operates over 51,000 charging ports installed in 25 countries around the world.

The announcement of the distribution deal comes a day after US President Joe Biden tweeted about plans to build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the country in a bid to address the climate crisis. At the end of September this year, the White House gave approval for all 50 US states to get access to $1.5 billion in federal funding to build the chargers covering 75,000 miles of highway across the country.

The Biden administration set a goal of building a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle chargers by 2030 to align with expectations that half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 will be electric. As part of a Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, $5 billion in funding will be allocated over the coming five years to support the national network.

Last month, Zooz signed a binding memorandum of understanding with an unnamed global car rental services giant to jointly operate a pilot for EV ultra-fast charging infrastructure at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport. In September, the Lod-based company won a New York-Israel Smart Energy Innovation Challenge worth $1 million. The award means that the state can partner with Zooz to advance New York’s clean energy goals.