Electric vehicle (EV) charging services provider Cléo Innovations Inc. will broaden its geographic horizons as a part of Longueuil, Que.-based Polara, an EV infrastructure and services company.

Acquired in August by Polara, Montreal-headquartered Cleo is an offshoot of Hydro-Quebec dedicated to fleet charging.

Cleo offers a turnkey service that covers installation and support of EV chargers along with a charging management platform that optimizes energy use. Most of its approximately 30 clients are in Quebec, but its new owner will seek to widen its reach.

“Joining forces will allow Polara to make the Cleo platform available across Canada or the U.S. So we want to attack North America as a whole,” Sébastien Fournier, Polara’s CEO, told Sustainable Biz Canada in an interview.

Linking Polara, Cleo’s routes

Polara is part of Girardin Group, a Drummondville, Que-based school bus body manufacturer and bus distributor. Formerly named Girardin Energy, Polara performs services in EV charging infrastructure across engineering and planning for charger sites, project management of installations, and commissioning, Fournier said.

School bus fleet operators, car dealers and last-mile delivery companies have used Polara’s service.

Its marquee product is CHRGPK (pronounced “charge pack”) — energy management infrastructure equipment that optimizes and simplifies the energy consumption of EV chargers. CHRGPK is modular, meaning more units can be added to meet rising fleet demand without the need for substantial additional construction (Fournier likened it to Lego blocks that are stackable).

The company has worked on over 100 recharging infrastructure projects, according to a release. Fournier said Polara operates in Canada (Quebec, Nova Scotia, Alberta, British Columbia) and the U.S. (California, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, New York, and other parts of the northeast).

Though strong in the school bus segment, Polara sees more opportunity in Cleo’s success in last-mile delivery and class-A truck delivery fleets, Fournier said. Both firms offer similar services in turnkey solutions to fleet owners on their electrification journey and managing charging to not overuse energy.

Polara also looked to bolster its software offering.

“On the type and market segments, it made a lot of sense and with a lot of synergies to join forces,” Fournier said. “We needed a grid software tool. We had talks with Cleo for a while and it all made sense for us to acquire the software, but also the team and the client list that comes with Cleo.”

Fournier noted the benefits of absorbing Cleo’s software platform which collects charging data and manages power consumption on site by accessing vehicle fleet telemetrics. This provides insights on how to efficiently and optimally charge EVs.

Approximately 30 staff members are joining Polara from Cleo.

Broadening Cleo's range, clients

With a clientele of primarily Quebec companies such as telecom company Videotron and Purolator, Fournier said Polara will look to grow Cleo’s coverage.

“We will unlock the availability of Cleo outside of Quebec. It’s going to be available for the rest of Canada and the U.S. We believe that the platform usage will grow drastically in the coming months and year.”

More customers will be named in the coming months, he added.

With Purolator, Cleo will design, install and commission charging infrastructure in Montreal and Laval with 52 EV chargers. Critical to the partnership is the chance for Cleo to test its platform with Purolator’s delivery fleet, Fournier said.

He also noted its partnership with the municipality of Victoriaville in Greater Montreal to pilot V2X (vehicle-to-everything) charging stations. Such chargers can enable an EV to power a building or the grid, which Fournier said can turn an EV into a monetizing tool or help utilities manage power scarcity.

On the Polara side, it is prepared to announce a project with Hydro-Quebec to adjust the charging periods of EV fleets outside of peak hours. This capability helps the electric grid manage energy-use peaks, so clients can earn credits toward their bills from the utility.