The pilot is based in the city of Nanjing, China and will focus on the inter operability of three critical components in EV energy consumption: payment systems, charging stations, and energy supply chains
Pilot will serve as a blueprint for its energy sales platform in other major cities throughout China
NEW YORK, Ideanomics, (NASDAQ: IDEX) announced that MEG 's energy sales unit has deployed a pilot platform in Nanjing, China which will focus on streamlining the operational aspects of EV energy sales and consumption and will serve as a blueprint to a broader roll-out in both Nanjing, and across other major cities in China.
To date, most of MEG's deals have been focused on commercial EV sales. Its long-term China strategy is to generate revenues from energy sales from electric vehicles (EVs). The pilot platform will be in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, and is designed to streamline the interoperability between payment systems, charging stations, and energy supply chains. Combined, the energy sales pilot platform in Nanjing will enable MEG to generate revenues from pre-paid energy sales to commercial EV fleet operators as well as revenues from point of sale energy consumption at charging an fast-charging stations.
The city of Nanjing's proximity to MEGs Qingdao facilities will enable MEG to gather feedback and deploy changes to the pilot program quickly and efficiently. Nanjing, with a population of approximately 8.5 million, is a high-profile, modern city, suitable for such a pilot, and is an industrial technology research and development hub that has attracted foreign investment from firms such as Siemens, Ericsson, Volkswagen, Ford, IBM, Lucent, Samsung, and SAP, who have research centers in Nanjing.
The MEG energy sales pilot will focus on the convergence of payment systems, charging stations, and energy supply chains. The pilot will demonstrate a payment solution which will integrate gas, LNG, and electricity sales into a single secure platform payment interface with China Union Pay, and is designed to meet today's and tomorrow's energy needs. This new solution will deliver advanced payment features such as facial recognition and other contactless payment technologies. The platform is expected to launch by July 1.
Additionally, the pilot will demonstrate supercharging stations, provided by CATL into PetroChina gas stations in Nanjing, as previously announced.. MEG and PetroChina have explored various charging technologies and, along with CATL, expect to begin converting gas pumps to EV superchargers as soon as Q4 of this year.
Lastly, the pilot will focus on the energy supply chains that need to exist throughout the EV ecosystem. Through Sun Seven Stars Investment Group Limited1 (SSSIG) ongoing partnership with leading telecom companies and its participation in China's New Infrastructure Investments, MEG has entered into an agreement with SSSIG to exclusively manage the energy supply chain (EPC) for projects in Jiangsu. This is an update from Ideanomics' press release on March 27 announcing that MEG formed a strategic cooperation with China Tower, GCL Group, State Grid, Dongfang Energy Sales Cloud, and TMR Energy for MEG's IoT/IoV 5G Energy Services. This compliments our press release in early March, China announced that it was accelerating its New Infrastructure" investment. At that time, seven provinces and cities launched more than RMB 24 trillion (USD3.4 trillion) in key new infrastructure construction projects. The seven major areas of New Infrastructure Construction are: 5G infrastructure, ultra-high voltage (UHV), intercity high-speed railways and intercity rail transit, new energy vehicle charging station infrastructure, big data centers to service 5G IoT/IoV data collection, artificial intelligence and industrial internet.
EPC's services include design, procurement, and construction. It is mainly aimed at the design of energy systems, the procurement of photovoltaic, energy storage and charging equipment, and associated financial services.
These three initiatives pave the way for MEG to generate revenues from energy sales and management, and to book energy sales alongside EV sales and financing services.
"The team has been excited to get the Nanjing project underway, since our announcement in September 2019. The rapid technological advancement in EV charging meant we were able to evaluate many new-to-market EV charging solutions which enable the types of fast-charging and streamlined payment solutions required to ensure adoption and a successful pilot program," said Alf Poor, CEO of Ideanomics. "We look forward to a successful pilot initiative, as this is one the most significant aspects of our MEG division which is energy sales. Our Sales and Financing divisions serve to help enable the transition from fossil fuels to EV for commercial fleet operators, with the ultimate strategic goal being our participation in the shift of energy consumption."
The company is headquartered in New York, NY, and has offices in Beijing, China.
