Why We Invested: Decade
Driving fleet electrification to accelerate the green energy transition
Ananda Impact Ventures is excited to announce its investment in Decade Energy, a Paris-based startup that provides a unique, holistic solution to the electrification of truck depots.
The €3.6m seed funding round was led by Ananda Impact Ventures and Contrarian Ventures.
Headed by Casper Norden, the founder of e-truck manufacturer Volta Trucks, and including the team behind Volta’s Truck-as-a-Service business, Decade offers a revolutionary way of accelerating the uptake of electric vehicles in urban fleets and helping Europe’s roads to become cleaner and greener.
The challenge of truck depot electrification
Despite notable advancements in the electrification of buses and passenger vehicles, the European truck fleet lags behind in adopting zero-emission technologies, with only 2% of fleet vehicles being electric. Since trucks produce roughly a quarter of all road emissions in the EU, it is imperative to prioritise their electrification to achieve the EU’s target of a 24% reduction in emissions by 2030.
While under customer and regulatory pressure to go green, 60% of EU fleet operators have committed to decarbonisation targets, and a number of manufacturers have now launched zero-emission e-trucks, creating the necessary infrastructure to operate an e-fleet has become the key bottleneck in truck depot electrification. At present, only piecemeal infrastructure solutions are available, leaving fleet operators to grapple with the challenge of integration on their own. As a result, the great majority of truck depots in Europe remain non-electric.
A holistic approach to the electrification of truck fleets and depots
Decade provides logistics companies with a holistic, reliable, and cost-efficient solution for the electrification of commercial electric vehicle fleets.
Electrifying truck fleets and depots presents major logistical and infrastructure challenges. Decade‘s unique service addresses these challenges by managing the entire electrification process — from developing the optimal transition plan and designing the right charging infrastructure to managing installation and enabling smart energy consumption.
For an industry with tight margins, this last point is particularly important. Decade provides energy management software that drastically reduces not only the overall energy need, but also the cost of electricity consumed, smartly adjusting charging schedules in response to fluctuating electricity prices.
Decade’s innovative approach also enables depots to act as flexible energy hubs, using Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technologies to balance supply and demand, and open new revenue streams to operators in energy and grid service markets.
Decade’s mission is to reverse the current “push” dynamic of electrification, where the transition is primarily driven by policy, regulation, and consumer demand, to a “pull” dynamic, where fleet operators proactively seek to benefit from cost advantages. By connecting the different parts of the electrification ecosystem and making them run as one efficient unit, Decade provides a turnkey solution that not only simplifies the electrification transition but also makes economic sense.
Decade and Ananda: The perfect match
A key aspect of Decade’s business model is the scalability of its electrification solution. Not only does the company offer a holistic, cost-effective way of electrifying truck depots, but it also offers a clear pathway for these depots to then transform into energy hubs. As we navigate the green energy transition, Europe’s power grid faces the challenge of escalating electricity demands. Innovative storage solutions and demand-side flexibility such as Decade help support the grid.
Florian Erber, General Partner & Founder at Ananda, says: “Although Decade itself is only a few months old, the team has worked on what has become Decade for several years at Volta. The company has developed a flexible solution for both now and the future, electricfying fleets while also supporting the grid. We are excited by the opportunity to help the team promote and scale their unique solution and vision for a greener European fleet industry and more robust power infrastructure.”
Headquartered in Paris, Decade’s international team is determined to make both France and Germany part of their core markets. This commitment is reflected in their decision to create a subsidiary at the heart of German logistics and transport, in North-Rhine Westphalia, as a next step. Ananda is thrilled to join forces with Decade, helping cleaner fleet transport to become an important part of Europe‘s green energy transition.
We are always interested in innovative and game-changing solutions to tackle societal and environmental challenges. Are you an entrepreneur with a big vision and mission to create something extraordinary? Please get in touch!
