What Happened To The SparkCharge Electric Car Charger From Shark Tank Season 12?
On the Season 12 premier of the popular reality show "Shark Tank," a company known as SparkCharge introduced its product: the "Roadie." The Roadie is a portable modular battery and charger that tops off electric vehicles in the wild, without needing a conventional public EV charging station connected to an electrical grid.
Think of it as a modern version of the ubiquitous red five-gallon gasoline container, but for EVs. Additional modular batteries can easily be added to the Roadie to increase its charging power. Although it wasn't specifically mentioned on the show, SparkCharge co-founder Josh Aviv has said that he thought of the idea while he was still a college student at Syracuse University.
Rather than sell the portable charging devices, the company was primarily focused on leasing them to roadside assistance providers, such as AAA, with a lower-priced consumer-grade version potentially on the horizon.
Initially, SparkCharge's founders Josh Aviv and Chris Ellis asked for $1 million in exchange for a 6% ownership interest, imputing a value of $16.7 million for the company. After a precarious start where clothing mogul Daymond John declined to invest at the very beginning of the pitch, the entrepreneurs managed to snag two of the shark investors: Lori Greiner and Mark Cuban.
Following some negotiation, a deal was reached for a total of $1 million invested between the two sharks for 10% equity in the company, an additional 4% advisory shares, and one seat on the company's board of directors.
SparkCharge was boosted by the 'Shark Tank effect'
Like with many products seen on Shark Tank, there was a sharp increase in interest and activity immediately following the episode airing. In 2021, SparkCharge inked partnerships with roadside service providers Allstate Roadside and Urgently.
In that same year, the company also rolled out a smartphone app called BoostEV that allows EV owners to coordinate a portable charge delivered directly to their vehicle in major metropolitan areas such as Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and others. Similar to food delivery, BoostEV's Charging as a Service (CaaS) brings charging to EV owners anywhere on demand.
While the initial focus for the Roadie seemed to lean toward alleviating electric vehicle range anxiety by providing emergency charging services, the role has since expanded to one of convenience rather than just strictly for emergency use. Fittingly, an additional partner was found in Spiffy, a company which provides mobile car washing, detailing, and maintenance including tire changes, so getting your EV charged concurrent with Spiffy's other services is a natural synergy.
"When SparkCharge appeared on Shark Tank, I knew they were on the cusp of something game-changing," SparkCharge investor and entrepreneur Mark Cuban proclaimed. "The EV market is growing so fast and having a network completely free from the legacy issues of old infrastructure is huge. As an electric vehicle owner myself, getting my car charged while I do other things is priceless."
The company's next move is into commercial fleets
So what has SparkCharge been up to more recently? In mid-2022, an additional $23 million was raised to scale the on-demand charging delivery service into more than 20 new geographical markets during 2023, and additional partnerships were forged with Kia Motors, Hertz, Uber, and others.
In a press release from March 2023, the company boats that, "SparkCharge has created the world's largest mobile electric vehicle charging network." Besides offering portable charging to consumers, SparkCharge also launched a charging service geared toward fleet operators and commercial vehicles called Out of Charge (OOC).
OOC promises to quickly deliver an additional 25-50 miles of range to avoid the need to have the commercial vehicle towed if its battery becomes depleted. Finally, the consumer mobile app to arrange fast charging anywhere has been rebranded to Currently.
Considering that the Shark Tank episode was filmed in 2020, SparkCharge's portable Roadie was a very prescient product in light of the financial incentives and overall push toward electric vehicles in the United States. That includes the goal of the Biden administration for 50% of all new vehicles sold will be electric by the year 2030.