COMMERCIAL BRIDGE LOAN
HiON Public Electric Vehicle Fast Charging
What CCEF
Financed
Transportation Electrification
About the Project
Project investment: $1,483,595 (comprised of 3 individual loans)
Locations: Idaho Springs, Denver Tech Center (Harlequin Plaza), Cherry Creek
Environmental highlights:
- Electric Vehicles
Key terms:
- Transportation electrification: Replacing fossil fuels with electricity as a means of powering vehicles like cars, trucks, and buses with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
“The transition to electric vehicles requires an equal effort towards building out the charging infrastructure. I don’t know if we’ll ever get to 100% electric, but every increment is valuable—and support from organizations like CCEF are very important in this early adoption stage. ”
– Jim Frank, Founder and CEO of HiON EV
The Story
HiON is an electric vehicle charging company that delivers reliable fast-charging for long distance and local travel. Jim Frank, founder and CEO, started looking at the infrastructure needed to support the transition from gas to electric vehicles over 3 years ago. What he found was that there was a significant infrastructure requirement—but not a lot of attention being paid to it.
“That’s where HiON came in,” says Frank. “This is a significant transition, and we have to replace gas pumps somehow. I don’t know if we’ll ever get to 100% electric, but every increment is important and valuable.”
This drive is what brought HiON to life. And in 2022, CCEF was approached with the opportunity to support transportation electrification for the first time. Collaborating with the Colorado Energy Office, KeyBank, and Xcel Energy, CCEF provided a mix of direct funding, grants, and rebates to HiON to get the three sites shovel-ready.
These three projects, spread across Idaho Springs, Greenwood Village, and Denver, will be comprised of twelve Level 3 (direct current or DC Fast Chargers), dual-port electric vehicle charging stations. Each station will provide public and universal access for electric vehicle drivers throughout three high-traffic areas in Colorado.
One of these sites, located in the Denver Tech Center, is a response to the public need for charging electric vehicles operating through Transportation Network Companies (TNCs), such as Uber and Lyft.
The accessibility of electric vehicle charging is also an equity issue; in order to bridge the gap, all EV users need to have access to public charging. While some folks can charge at home, most don’t have access to home charging stations. That’s why the role that public charging facilities will play during this transition and into the future is such an important one.
“For electric vehicles to be used by all Americans, regardless of who you are or what your income is, public charging needs to be available,” says Frank. “It needs to be common.”
These charging stations are in the process of being built with a long development timeline due to supply chain issues, but Frank is hopeful they will be available for use by the spring or summer of 2023.
