JET Charge, an Australia-based electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure and technology company, announced that it had raised over A$25 million (~$17.84 million) in a Series B funding round.

The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) led the Series B funding round. The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), through the Clean Energy Innovation Fund, and Claremont Capital, Greg Roebuck, founder of Carsales.com.au, and climate tech investor Simon Monk were the other participants.

The company intends to utilize the fresh funding to meet the challenges and opportunities of low emissions mobility in Australia. It will continue expanding its workforce to create capable end-to-end electric vehicle charging teams in Australia and New Zealand. It will also develop and implement new technology that makes EV charging easier to own and use.

The company will work with its utility partners to solve power generation and demand issues as EVs play an increasing role in energy, both as electricity consumers and storage devices.

According to the latest data of the Electric Vehicle Council of Australia, sales of new plug-in and hybrid EVS tripled in 2021 to over 20,000 vehicles.

JET Charge expects the sales of new EVs will increase to 50% of new vehicles sold in Australia by 2030 from just 2% in 2021. The company said it is well-positioned to deliver the wide-ranging suite of EV charging infrastructure needed to support the anticipated growth of the market.

The company raised A$4.5 million (~$3.21 million) in its Series A funding round, with capital from the Clean Energy Innovation Fund and individual investors. It expanded its offering from sales and installation of charging stations to a diversified charging infrastructure that solves the challenges of owning, using, operating and integrating EV charging infrastructure.

Tim Washington, the founder of JET Charge, said, “With our scale and Australasian presence, JET Charge is in a unique position to ensure that Australia and New Zealand are ready for the mass adoption of EVs. This funding will allow us to realize ambitious plans immediately as well as invest in research and development to remain at the forefront of innovation in our sector.”

According to Mercom’s 2021 Q4 and Annual Funding and M&A Report for Storage, Grid, and Efficiency, smart charging companies had the largest share of venture capital funding the smart grid sector in 2021, with $781 million in 18 deals.