#52: Blink’s SPV model

Blink launches SPV, House FY26 Approps Bill targets NEVI dollars, Monterra’s charging playbook

Author

Steve Taylor
July 19, 2025

The Business and Policy of Charging Infrastructure

In Partnership with

Helping EV charging pros design, quote, and propose projects faster

The 3 big stories

  • Blink and Axxeltrova establish SPV

  • House FY26 Appropriations Bill looks to re-program unobligated NEVI funds  

  • How Monterra helps CPOs win

Plus, featured jobs and news.

Enjoy,
Steve

Industry News

Blink and Axxeltrova are moving forward with a new funding and operating model in the UK first announced in November 2024 that could redefine public charging deployment. 

The £100M Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) separates infrastructure ownership from operations, allowing faster deployment without loading capital risk onto Blink’s balance sheet. 

The chargers will be financed and owned by the SPV, while Blink will remain responsible for uptime, service, and user experience.

The SPV will focus on the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) program in the UK, combining public funding with private capital with the goal of improving the reliability and accessibility of EV charging in underserved areas.

Steve’s take

One of the main challenges with NEVI and CFI-funded deployments in the U.S. is the lack of accountability. Charging hardware is often installed without clear performance or uptime obligations.

This SPV structure addresses that challenge by tying operational responsibility to long-term outcomes, while offering asset-light operators access to capital they wouldn’t otherwise control.

The success of this SPV model will depend on predictable revenue, verifiable uptime, and disciplined investors. If successful, this model could unlock meaningful infrastructure capital and shift how public charging gets financed.

Why this matters for public charging

  • SPVs bring in institutional funding without weighing down Blink’s balance sheet.

  • Blink stays on the hook for performance which solves an important weakness in many public deployments.

  • This model fits wherever governments offer charging grants, including NEVI in the U.S.

With billions in funding in the U.S. still unallocated, the industry needs replicable models that tie capital to performance and ensure long-term reliability. If this SPV approach proves effective, it could serve as a nationwide template for corridor and community charging deployments.

Power and Policy

This past Thursday, the House Appropriations Committee held its full committee markup of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill for FY 2026. The proposed spending bill has the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (“NEVI”) program funding squarely in its crosshairs. The legislation would redirect $1B in unobligated FY 2026 advance appropriations for NEVI to FAA facilities and equipment, representing a fifth of total NEVI funding. 

As we have discussed in previous weeks, the Trump administration has suspended new obligations under NEVI earlier this year, which the Government Accountability Office found violated federal impoundment law. More recently, a coalition of states sued DOT over the issue, and a federal judge ordered that the funds be unfrozen for 14 of them, at least temporarily.

Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), chair of the appropriation committee’s transportation subcommittee said that his panel was redirecting funds from the Biden-era infrastructure law to “real infrastructure: air traffic control, highways, maritime and rail.”

Rob’s take

This appears to be the GOP-controlled House of Representatives first attempt at re-directing the advanced appropriations passed in the Biden-era infrastructure law. It certainly won’t be the last. It’s unclear if Senate Appropriators will be comfortable with these tactics.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) currently serves as the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. In 2021, Senator Collins was the Ranking Member of the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, and was part of the core group of 10 Senators who negotiated the final text of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 

Stay tuned for more rounds to come in the NEVI funding fight…

Sponsored Article

By David Kim, CEO of Monterra

Despite recent volatility in the EV market, the need for continued charging deployment remains high today. Yet, the present economic and political environment creates several challenges for EV charging providers:

  • Margins are getting tighter with economic conditions & tariffs, leaving little room for error

  • Customers are cost-sensitive as rebate programs are paused or discontinued

  • Market uncertainty means customers are more hesitant to pull the trigger

But volatility can mean opportunity for high-performing businesses. At Monterra, we’re privileged to work with many leading EV charging providers. While their businesses and roles within the ecosystem are unique, we see patterns among market leaders:

  1. No “one-size-fits-all”

  2. Being different pays off

  3. Use purpose-built technology

We spoke with Jason Towles from Resound Energy Services and Logan Bird from EV+ Charging, two leaders in EV charging deployment. While the two companies operate differently, they exemplify the common approaches found in winners.

No “one-size-fits-all”

Charging providers need to tailor their solutions — across technical design, ROI analysis, delivery model, and more. While many advertise "tailored solutions", we see leading players deliver fit-for-purpose system design and customer experience.

Fitting the solution to each site means choosing the right system size, setup, and features based on local needs. That’s better than using the same plan everywhere. It also means being careful with extras—top-tier chargers or premium features can add cost and complexity without real benefit. The most successful providers stay flexible and pick what works best for each site, not just what looks ideal on paper.

“Many times in condominiums, we're using technology like dynamic demand control and pulling power from the unit’s panel so we don’t have to use the common area power, which has a higher likelihood of requiring a service upgrade,” said Jason Towles, VP of Sales & Business Development at Resound Energy.

System design isn’t the only place where tailoring matters. For CPOs like EV+ Charging, no “one-size-fits-all” means understanding what drives value and modeling the project economics accordingly. COO Logan Bird noted the financial model should fit each site’s context — not just direct charging revenue: "For a hotel, you can't just look at charging as, hey, I made $50 in charging revenue this month," he said. “When you're underwriting projects, we make sure to capture all of the benefits that charging brings to a property.”

For CPOs using installers, it’s key to match each project with the right partner. National firms suit large, multi-site rollouts needing consistency, while local installers offer valuable expertise when cost and local insight matter.

These are just a few ways “no one-size-fits-all” plays out in charging projects—and there are many more. At the core, success comes down to providers being attentive, thoughtful, and consultative. It’s a balancing act: meeting current and future needs, working within power and site limits, staying on budget, and managing utility and permitting challenges. It’s not easy—but tight constraints often spark the best ideas.

Being different pays off

In a crowded market, having a differentiated approach, whether in your operating model or the customer experience you deliver, matters. For Resound, that means giving Project Managers tools to estimate costs and create compelling bids fast — without requiring hours of estimators’ time for every project. This approach has helped them scale quickly. “My biggest marketing tool is my bid. It’s transparent, digestible, and clear to the customer,” Towles said.

In addition, the Resound team plays the long game with opportunities. Instead of pursuing quick-hit projects with short sales cycles, Resound prioritizes planting early seeds and nurturing them; understanding that customers often cannot pull the trigger immediately, their goal is to make sure they’re the first number customers call when they’re ready to install chargers: “our objective is to get as much information as early as possible to as many [multifamily and commercial office buildings] as we can. Start the conversation. Be the first to the table with these customers.”

Bird highlighted the importance of a differentiated customer experience. The EV+ team engages customers with deliverables that stand out from the competition: “I want my clients to say ‘These guys have something different, something unique.’ You want to make sure you’re not just sharing a boring PowerPoint.”

But differentiation needs purpose. While many in the field are used to engineering drawings, Bird and his team recognize the importance of meeting customers where they are: instead of complicated engineering plans customers aren’t accustomed to, they focus on intuitive and easily digestible site plans that facilitate easy conversations and alignments with clients: “You need a conceptual site plan that looks professional but isn't a full engineering plan. When you're sharing something with a client, they’re not all engineers.”

EV+ also stands out from other CPOs by having open, in-depth conversations with vendors about project costs. While many CPOs shy away from such conversations or go through the effort to double click into the infrastructure costs, Bird and his team find that it builds trust with contractor partners and helps drive cost efficiency for clients.

Use purpose-built technology

Winning providers use technology to enable their business models and processes. Resound uses Monterra to scale their market reach and increase their quote throughputs. By automating various assemblies and quoting logic in Monterra, proposing a 10-port charging station takes Resound PMs 20 minutes. “It has drastically simplified our design-build offering,” added Towles.

EV+ uses Monterra to analyze construction costs and inform conversations with their contractor partners. Monterra gives them a tool to quickly design a site and understand the key drivers of cost in minutes.

These providers use technology to support their goals and streamline operations. When adopted with a clear process in mind, tech becomes a powerful tool—not just a shiny add-on. At Monterra, we focus on delivering software that works in the real world—and we help customers use it to strengthen their business.

About Monterra

Monterra provides an all-in-one project platform helping EV charging professionals design, plan, and win projects faster. Learn more at www.monterra.ai or email us at [email protected].

(EVPowerPulse occasionally features sponsored insights from partners whose work aligns with our mission to accelerate EV charging infrastructure. Sponsored content is always labeled)

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⚡️Steve and Rob

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