Billion Dollar Unicorns: Microvast Charges Into The Club

According to Grand View Research, the global electric vehicle charging infrastructure market was valued at $1.16 billion in 2016. It is expected to gain traction over the next ten years driven by the growing demand for electric vehicles. The Asia Pacific region dominates the market with about 50% of the market share in 2016. Based on this growing demand, Chinese company Microvast entered the Billion Dollar Unicorn Club early this year.

Microvast’s Journey

Microvast was founded by Diaokun Xiao, Xiang LI, and Yang Wu in 2006 with a vision to drive mass adoption of electric vehicles by addressing the constraints in electric vehicle development and redesigning power systems.

It launched its electric and hybrid bus business in 2010, focusing primarily on Europe and China. At the end of 2016, it had over 15,000 Microvast battery-powered buses operating in public transport networks in China, as well as in five European countries. In 2016, it delivered over 7,500 all-electric and hybrid-electric buses for metro transit use worldwide. Its manufacturing center is located in Zhejiang, China and it has offices in UK and Germany. It is a market leader in the development and manufacturing of ultra-fast charging, long-life lithium-ion battery systems.

Now, the company has set its sights on the US. It has shifted its headquarters to Stafford, Texas. For the US market, its prime focus will be the e-bus sector, while it will also be chasing the truck electrification, mining processes, and grid-scale energy storage markets.

Microvast currently provides three lines of fast-charging lithium-ion battery solutions, including batteries with ultra-fast charge capability that get fully charged in 10-15 minutes; high cycle life batteries with over 20,000 full-depth charge cycles; and thermal performance batteries that can operate in a wide range of temperatures or high energy density. Microvast has a patented Smart Thermal Liquid (STL) protection system for making its batteries extremely safe. Its electric buses have traveled more than 1 billion km without any failures or safety issues.