Zenobē secures millions for EV and battery storage projects

British fleet charging specialist Zenobē has secured nearly 900 million pounds in funding from new and existing shareholders. The money will fuel Zenobē’s expansion plans in the UK, North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. (UPDATE BELOW)

The bulk of the cash comes from investment firm KKR, which invested 600 million pounds. Existing shareholder Infracapital invested a further 270 million pounds, making both companies majority joint shareholders of Zenobē. Jera and TEPCO Power Grid will remain as minority, strategic shareholders.

Zenobē is looking to grow its business. The goal is “to support 4,000 electric buses, trucks and commercial vehicles on the road,” and commission about 1.2 GW of storage in the UK by 2026. Specifically, the charging specialist is looking to construct two additional battery storage sites in Kilmarnock South and Eccles in Scotland and extend the capacity of its site in Blackhillock, also in Scotland. The money will also be used to develop battery storage projects with a combined capacity of 2.5 GW in North America and Australia by 2030.

“Zenobē currently has circa 430MW of contracted grid-scale battery storage in the UK in operation or under construction, including its landmark 100MW battery storage asset at Capenhurst, Cheshire,” the company writes in the accompanying press release.

“Batteries are the under-recognised crucial component of our future transport and energy systems, and they’re available now. We’re making huge strides in decarbonisation, but it’s clear that too much renewable energy is being wasted and that transport decarbonisation must move faster,” says Nicholas Beatty, Co-founder and Director of Zenobē. “It is also an acknowledgement that boosting battery storage and clean transport is just common sense to help us reach net zero.”

Zenobē opened its ‘Innovation Centre’ in Portsmouth, UK, at the beginning of the year, where it will test the latest EV charging solutions within a technology-agnostic setting to identify the best charging solutions for fleet operators.

Update 07 December 2023

The UK battery energy storage and EV fleet solutions provider Zenobē has received a strategic investment from Mubadala Investment Company, a sovereign investor from Abu Dhabi.

The investment is supported by Infracapital, the infrastructure equity investment arm of M&G where Mubadala is a strategic limited partner, which will invest £270 million to grow the business both in the UK and globally. US-listed private equity firm KKR has also announced a £600 million investment to become a joint majority shareholder alongside Infracapital. In total, this means £870 million will be pumped into the business.

“Mubadala is investing in industries of the future to help find solutions to the world’s biggest challenges, including climate change, and our partnership with Infracapital and investment in Zenobē is a strong indicator of our commitment as a responsible investor,” said Khaled Al Qubaisi, CEO of Real Estate and Infrastructure Investments at Mubadala said.

prnewswire.com, mubadala.com, current-news.co.za (both update)