Montreal-based ReliON has raised $3 million to build its team and advance the development of its software that promotes proactive maintenance of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.

The first company to emerge from Montreal's Diagram Ventures’ ClimateTech Fund, ReliON was founded in 2023 by CEO Benoit Lacroix and CTO Jesse White.

Lacroix, an engineer who has spent much of his career in electric transportation, including co-founding electric heavy-duty truck maker Effenco, sees an “obvious continuation” of his professional life at ReliON.

“(Our) mission is to enable the transition to electric mobility by ensuring the reliability of our charging infrastructure,” he told Sustainable Biz Canada in an interview.

The company’s solution can address a significant sticking point for mass EV adoption, he said.

Addressing EV charging reliability

ReliON’s operations and maintenance technology can be integrated into the charging equipment from the manufacturer, or installed later. The software tracks data from the chargers, environment and supporting infrastructure to monitor and troubleshoot problems. For example, cables can be damaged or the software could need a firmware update, hindering charging capability.

Once a problem is identified, ReliON’s service can automatically call upon the company’s network of partners to source parts and dispatch relevant experts for repairs.

“We like to say we dispatch the right skills with the right information and the right parts for successful intervention the first time.”

The company’s offering is a software-as-a-service per charger, with labour and parts for intervention charged as an “a la carte” fee.

Ensuring reliability is critical to ReliON. Lacroix pointed to surveys that show concerns about EV reliability are more of a barrier to adoption than cost.

A 2023 survey from Ipsos showed 89 per cent of Canadians are concerned about the availability of charging infrastructure, and 85 per cent have questions regarding the challenges with charging, matching worries over cost. Pollution Probe’s survey of EV drivers released in February found 56 per cent of respondents felt the power supply at public charging stations was not consistent. 

By improving EV charging reliability, ReliON can also boost EV adoption, Lacroix said.

Charging ahead on expansion

Operating in Quebec and Nova Scotia with three partners, ReliON’s service is aimed at public charging infrastructure operators, EV fleet owners, car dealers, workplaces and multi-unit residential buildings, the CEO explained.

It has finished pilot projects, but Lacroix declined to disclose ReliON's partners, nor the results of those tests.

Lacroix said ReliON is set on expansion to other Canadian provinces such as B.C. (“would be the most logical candidate”) and Ontario, as well as the U.S. over the next 12 months — anywhere with regulations or incentives for EVs.

In the fall, the company will share more about its next product. But it faced a limit with building its business organically, so ReliON sought help with support from Diagram as well as the MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund, AQC Capital, Anges Québec and Cycle Momentum.

The funding will help develop its monitoring technology, hire more staff to broaden its expertise and widen its network of partners and collaborators for field interventions, Lacroix said.

“ReliON’s innovative approach to enhancing the reliability of EV charging infrastructure aligns closely with our vision of supporting transformative technologies with the potential to drive positive impact,” Paul Manias, partner and co-head of the Diagram ClimateTech Fund, said in a release.

The company raised $600,000 before the most recent $3-million fundraise, and plans to raise more.

“It’d be great to grow organically, but the inflection point of EV adoption is now. We need to go fast, we need to build something solid, and it will require capital,” Lacroix said.