The electric vehicle boom is coming—but for now, the field’s still nascent enough that drivers face range anxiety and charging-station owners become mired in installation and operational complexities.
AmpUp, a Greentown Labs member, is developing solutions to make the process smoother for every user involved, from drivers to station owners to utilities.
“Our goal is to demystify the complications of EV charging for everyone,” says Matt Bloom, the startup’s Director of Partnerships.
AmpUp offers a Software-as-a-Service charging network and a convenient dashboard to help EV-charger owners manage any number of stations, tackling everything from price setting, to energy optimization, to analytics and sustainability reporting. Its technology uniquely works across many different companies’ charging hardware, using open-network protocol to give station owners maximum flexibility and choice.
“We’re asked all the time, ‘What price should I set? How can I get money from EV incentives? What hardware is right for me?’” Bloom explains. “Our core business model is offering an EV-charging solution to anyone who needs it—such as fleets, utilities, municipalities, the hospitality industry, workplaces, and universities.”
For fleets, AmpUp’s software offers features including charging monitoring, intelligent load management, charging scheduling, compliance reporting, and more. For EV drivers, it’s created a mobile app that helps users find charging stations, tap into incentives, and track their sustainability metrics. AmpUp also works closely with utilities by becoming an approved vendor and helping utilities’ customers take advantage of utility incentive programs. As utility demand-response programs become more prevalent to help balance the grid, AmpUp plans to work with station owners to sell electricity back to utilities when there’s high demand.
The startup has made significant strides in deploying its technology; with thousands of charging stations in its network, AmpUp says it has dispensed more than 2.5 GWh in the first half of 2023 and is on track for up to 10 GWh by the end of the year. (EVs use about one-third of a kWh per mile, meaning 10 GWh can power roughly 10 million miles.) The startup’s software is being used by nearly 100 municipalities—alongside major companies including Citizens Bank, Holiday Inn, JLL, and Goodyear—and Bloom says it’s been doubling the number of stations on the AmpUp network year-over-year.
Public-private partnerships are critical for many startups’ success—and for many municipalities’ climate plans—and AmpUp supports the cities and towns it works with by helping them pilot their first local EV charging stations and providing management software for municipal fleets. Bloom’s tip for startups that are looking to partner with municipalities? Form relationships with the contractors and installers who work with them already, and who may be able to put a good word in for your company.
The AmpUp team working in a conference room at Greentown Boston.
Bloom joined AmpUp shortly after its inception in 2018. AmpUp was founded by EV drivers without charging stations in their homes who recognized that easy access to charging is key to EV adoption.
The company, which now has about 50 employees and is growing, recently moved into a larger headquarters in California. Upcoming priorities include increasing the number of AmpUp stations across North America, expanding capabilities for fleet customers, and opening another office in Connecticut, Bloom says.
Bloom first became familiar with Greentown while working at National Grid, one of the incubator’s Megawatt Partners. Now part of Greentown’s community of entrepreneurs, Bloom says it’s valuable for AmpUp to collaborate with fellow startup members and that his team has forged important investor connections through Greentown’s Investor Program.
“It’s been fantastic, I’ve been loving the events and getting to know a lot of people who are also working in climatetech,” adds Lanie Meyers, AmpUp’s Director of Marketing, who began working with AmpUp at Greentown in April of this year.