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excite an electrical vehicle in populace can be the sound of fourth dimension or the high-risk of times .
An EV driver can be saddle and back on the road in a smooth20 minute , but they might also encounter broken chargers , unresponsive touchscreens , and blocked carrell , all of which can make for afrustrating experience .
It can be a head ache for everyday consumers . For fleet or rideshare number one wood , a broken courser is fall back money .
Those frustrations remind Ashwin Dias and J.J. Raynor to forget their Job at Uber , where they precede cause to electrify rideshare drivers ’ vehicles , and startPresto , an app that level fleet driver to the best chargers .
“ Coming from an Uber backcloth , we think there ’s a dynamic marketplace where we can assist make everything smoother by matching various demand with diverse provision , ” Raynor said . That might mean nudging price - sensitive drivers to wait 30 hour for a cheaper charger to open up while guiding time - sensitive drivers to faster and more true but pricier stand .
Presto recently raised a $ 15 million seed round led by Union Square Ventures , the company exclusively told TechCrunch . The rung also included investments from Congruent Ventures , Jetstream , and Powerhouse Ventures .
The team is starting with fleet , in part because they drive so many miles .
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“ Uber drivers , who drive 40 hours a week , are the single that need to be in an EV rightfulness if we need to wire promptly and have an shock , ” Dias , the inauguration ’s CEO , severalise TechCrunch .
The span lobbied Uber to address the number in the driver app , but realized that it could n’t truly be solved by one company .
That ’s partly because of the proliferation of company install and running EV charging stalls .
“ Charging is just becoming more and more fragmented in the U.S. , ” Raynor sound out . Last twelvemonth , nearly 60 % of all unexampled DC fast chargers in the U.S. come from more than 40 unlike networks . “ We went from three or four big players to people we ’ve never heard of , ” she said .
Both sides of the equation feel the pain in the ass of this atomization .
fleet would profit from associate instantly to charging networks ’ software , but charging networks do n’t want to endure an API for dozens or hundred of customers . On the flip side , fleets do n’t need to have to desegregate with a grow number of charging networks .
Presto ’s software package is something that both side of meat can connect to . It gives fleets and burden electronic connection one partner to work with and admittance to more customer — a classic chopine play .
“ In some senses , we consider of ourselves as Stripe , as being a transaction stratum for charge , ” Dias aver .
The inauguration offers its own app and API , which companionship can integrate with ; it can also deal payments .
The combination gives Presto a compass of information to power its machine find out testimonial engine , telling driver which chargers they should use and where networks should train their maintenance crowd . For case , permit ’s say a meshwork reports that a charger is online , but a bearing session initiated through Presto fail . Presto can route driver away from that cubicle and account the problem to the mesh .
Rental car company have been early adopters of Presto ’s platform , include Hertz , Avis , and ZipCar , Dias said . Uber drivers also employ the app , which alerts them to mesh that extend discounted charging .
Other fleet like delivery ship’s company have been sweep up the app , Dias say , even if they have chargers at their depots . “ Sometimes the charger at the depot do n’t work out or there are more vehicles than battery charger , ” he said .
Presto ’s main finish is to drive API integration , though , encouraging fleets to add the inauguration ’s recommendation inside their own apps and dashboards . “ I do n’t think we want consumers to have yet another app to download , ” Dias sound out .
Raynor said the company has been approached by major carmaker , but for now it ’s focused on fleets . As someone who has had their share ofbad bill experience , I hope that changes presently .
