BYD and Levo Mobility partner with 5,000 BEVs
BYD and Levo Mobility have announced a collaboration to integrate Nuvve’s vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology with a variety of commercial, public transport and heavy-duty BYD battery electric vehicles. The plans encompass the joint deployment of up to 5,000 BEVs over the next five years for fleet solutions.
Levo Mobility was formed in May this year in the USA when the California-based V2G specialist Nuvve and private equity firm Stonepeak formed the joint venture, Levo Mobility. Through a preferred financing partnership with BYD, Levo is to purchase the 5,000 medium and heavy-duty V2G-enabled electric vehicles which will be a mix of transit buses and coaches, yard tractors, drayage and refuse trucks, last-mile delivery vehicles and school buses.
Levo Mobility not only utilises the V2G technology of founding partner Nuvve and the financing services of founding partner Stonepeak equity services but also Fleet-as-a-Service (FaaS) solutions with infrastructure services company Evolve Transition Infrastructure, which is also a partner in the Levo joint venture.
With these BYD vehicles, Levo Mobility will provide its customers with a comprehensive offering that not only provides electric vehicles but also financing, the required charging infrastructure and energy management powered by Nuvve, among other elements, such as maintenance and site planning.
The advantage for customers is that these services are can be provided to customers for a fixed monthly payment with no upfront cost. With these services, Levo Mobility is addressing several major hurdles companies face when decarbonising their fleets – such as the substantial upfront costs of electrification while ensuring the fleet is managed with low costs through mechanisms such as savings made possible by V2G technology.
Nuvve V2G technology utilises high-powered bidirectional charging stations, which is, of course, not only useful for charging the vehicle but also to feed energy back into the grid. This makes better use of intermittent renewable energy sources, as well as evening-out grid loads over demand peaks. With this technology companies can save on charging costs by charging when utility rates are low. Nuvve’s V2G platform also enables revenue opportunities from these grid services.
“We are very pleased to foster a fantastic working relationship with Levo, Nuvve, and Stonepeak,” said Sam Kang, BYD’s head of Total Solutions. “This partnership would provide a much-needed financing solution and the world’s leading V2G platform to catalyze the electrification initiative.”
“The BYD-Levo collaboration has the potential to accelerate and transform the transportation sector at a critical time,” said BYD Motors President, Stella Li. “This innovative potential partnership leverages state-of-the-art BYD and Nuvve technologies and will provide access to Stonepeak’s financing, which will lower the cost of medium- and heavy-duty battery electric vehicle adoption for fleets of all types including mass transit, municipalities, last-mile delivery and school districts.”
Incidentally, at the same time Levi Mobility was formed in the USA, in May, over the Atlantic, Nuvve and the provider of EV charging solutions Spirii announced that they would collaborate on vehicle-grid integration (VGI) technology in Europe, mostly in the Nordics.
So far in the USA, Nuvve’s joint venture with Stonepeak appears to be making massive headway fast. As Trent Kososki, Managing Director at Stonepeak points out: “With over $20B in revenue and more than 65k electric buses deployed worldwide, BYD is a giant in electric mobility – we are thrilled to announce Levo’s partnership with BYD as its preferred financing partner.”
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