Volteras just closed an $11.1 million Series A round to push electric vehicles into the spotlight as potential energy grid saviors. Led by Union Square Ventures, this investment also saw backing from Edenred, Exor, Long Journey Ventures, and Wex.
The startup is building software to transform plugged-in EVs into "virtual power plants," enabling them to send stored electricity back to the grid. This could massively boost energy storage in the U.S. Last year saw 37.1 gigawatt-hours installed. If every EV on the road had vehicle-to-grid connections, that number could skyrocket tenfold.
Peter Wilson, Volteras’ co-founder and CEO, noted, “In the future, the electric vehicle will be the center of the entire energy grid.” 
Right now, many new EVs lack vehicle-to-grid capabilities, and affordable bidirectional chargers are scarce. However, Volteras claims to be ahead of the pack, working with over 30 major automakers, including Ford, BMW, Tesla, Stellantis, and Volvo.
Wilson stated,
“We’re going to cover like 90% of the automotive market worldwide by the end of the year.”
Automakers are eyeing the financial potential of connected cars. GM previously targeted $25 billion in subscription revenue by the end of the decade, but recent reports remain silent on this goal.
Volteras doesn’t stop at power plants. The company is also reaching out to fleet managers, EV routing apps, and insurers for usage-based plans, tapping into the hidden data layer of connected services.
Wilson elaborated,
"This kind of hidden data layer that you don’t see — that’ll be the crux of how companies offer services to you, give you discounts, and make it more affordable to own an electric vehicle."
With plenty of competition — including Texture, EV.energy, and Greenely — Volteras is pushing hard to redefine EVs’ role in the energy landscape ahead.
