Singapore’s Clime Capital, EBOOST to power up charging network in Vietnam

Clime Capital, a Singapore-based fund manager focusing on low carbon transition, has teamed up with EBOOST, an open network electric vehicle (EV) charging operator in Vietnam, to expand the latter’s network.

The Southeast Asia Clean Energy Facility (SEACEF), managed by Clime Capital, has committed funding to EBOOST to finance the deployment of EV charging stations in Vietnam and provide safe and affordable charging services in the country, which is aiming to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

“We are thrilled to support EBOOST in dramatically expanding the critical resources to electrify transport in urban centers like Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, which will provide urgent and massive CO2 mitigation when we need it the most - right now,” Clime Capital CEO Mason Wallick said in a release on Tuesday.

However, the amount of the new investment has yet to be announced.

Stefan Kaufmann, CEO at EBOOST, said: “We are very excited to move ahead with SEACEF and to continue supporting Vietnam's decarbonization. It enables us to accelerate our mission of building smart EV infrastructure across Vietnam and thus, offering our charging service to as many EV users as possible.”

The undeveloped charging infrastructure has been cited as a main factor holding back the pace of EV deployment in Vietnam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Clime Capital said.

Joshua Kramer, chief investment officer at Clime Capital, said: “The accelerated deployment of EBOOST’s open network EV charging infrastructure has the potential to create a virtuous cycle to drive EV adoption which could in turn supports further deployment of EV charging infrastructure.”

SEACEF has to date completed seven investments in Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines since the fund’s launch in June 2020. SEACEF is backed by leading international climate foundations and investors and focuses on enterprises in the sectors of wind, solar, energy storage, energy efficiency, and EV.

Clime Capital announced in April 2021 it had invested in the development phase of an innovative floating solar and storage project run by Blueleaf Energy in Dong Nai province bordering Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s southern economic hub. The investment was also via SEACEF.

The development comprised a floating solar and storage peaking plant with a target capacity of 500 megawatts-peak with a battery energy storage system of up to 200 megawatt hours.

In a related development, Growatt, a world-leading provider of solar energy solutions, has just inaugurated its first Vietnam plant, manufacturing solar and storage inverters, and storage batteries.

According to data from Hai Phong city, where the plant is located, the first phase has investment of $10 million, and that number will soar 10-fold to $100 million in the next phase.