Ultra-fast electric vehicles charging company Electra has signed a green loan facility of up to €433 million to support its future growth. The transaction includes €283 million of committed facilities plus a €150 million incremental accordion facility.
The transaction brings Electra’s total funding raised since inception to over €1 billion and marks a new milestone in Electra’s growth trajectory.
I spoke to Aurélien de Meaux, CEO and co-founder of Electra to learn more.
A green loan is a loan that is used to exclusively fund projects that make a substantial contribution to an environmental objective. Electra opted for a green loan facility over the more traditional equity or debt because the company has already raised a lot of equity — over €600 million since its founding.
De Meaux detailed, “After raising so much equity, we felt it was the right moment to complement and leverage that with some debt financing.”
Second, Electra is an infrastructure business with tangible assets, which gives comfort to lenders.
“Unlike a typical startup where most of the capital is equity-based, infrastructure businesses can and should use debt. That’s what this financing is about.
“The debt financing is a key milestone and enables Electra to continue rapidly expanding its network across Europe, consolidating the market, and ultimately accelerating the adoption of electric mobility across the continent.”
A goal of 15,000 charging points by 2030
Electra’s network currently spans over 500 stations (more than 3,000 active charging points) in nine European countries. It aims for 2,200 stations and 15,000 high-power charging points by 2030, located where they are most needed, in dense urban areas, transit hubs, business districts, and major traffic roads.
De Meaux contends that. Electra has “now reached a point where, given our equity base, our sponsors, and our presence in nine countries with this number of live stations, we have the scale to make lenders comfortable. That’s why we chose this financing path.”
“Given that one station costs around €500,000, that adds up to more than €1.1 billion in investment,” explained de Meaux.
Focused market leadership, not overextension
Electra’s current traction influences the company’s decision to expand within its current market —“That’s already a huge financial commitment. So instead of being in 25 countries and ranked 10th or 15th, we’d rather be in nine countries and lead in those markets.”
The reality is that often the reason there’s no competition in certain places is because there are no electric cars.”
De Meaux explained:
“We can’t afford to wait ten years for a market to develop, we need to be where EV adoption is already happening or accelerating.
Spain and Italy, for example, are still lagging, with around 7 to 8 per cent EV penetration. But they’re growing quickly and have large volumes of cars, so they make sense for us.”
Electra aims to make ultra-fast electric charging accessible, simple, and intuitive for everyone. This financing enables Electra to optimise every user touchpoint with its Intuitive app, smart road planner, autocharge features, fixed and competitive pricing, and 24/7 customer support.
Electra stations evolve into intelligent energy hubs
Further, Electra is more than just a network of stations; each station is evolving into a new generation of intelligent energy hubs with grid load optimisation, via in-house technology, the use of battery storage systems and also the connection with solar panels, ensuring network resilience and efficient energy use as demand grows.
According to de Meaux, one of the key macro trends in Europe is increasing volatility in electricity generation.
“With more wind and solar coming online, production is no longer steady like it is with gas, coal, or nuclear. Batteries help smooth that volatility, and good software helps optimise it all."
Since day one, Electra has developed its own technology in-house, building a full-stack solution that includes the charger operating software, the user-facing app, and Electra for Business — its dedicated fleet management platform.
Most of Electra’s stations are in car parks, which provide space for solar infrastructure.
According to de Meaux, the company can also add batteries, either to compensate for limited grid connections or to store excess solar power:
“To maximise solar self-consumption, it’s helpful to pair panels with a battery. Then you can store and discharge that energy through the chargers as needed. Our software ties it all together — balancing supply and demand in real time.”
Further, as the market consolidates and energy sovereignty becomes a European imperative.
Driving Europe’s energy sovereignty through EV infrastructure
Electra is positioning itself as a driving force of the European electric transition. By aligning with key partners - banks, local authorities, landowners, industrial players, and financial institutions - the company is building a large-scale infrastructural network to make easily accessible and decarbonised mobility available.
This positioning is exemplified by structural initiatives such as the Spark Alliance, a collaboration among Electra, Atlante (Italy), Fastned (Netherlands), and IONITY (Germany). de Meaux likens it to the SkyTeam alliance in aviation.
“We're all major operators in our home countries and beyond. Our networks are quite complementary.
If you’re an Electra app user, you now have access to more than 11.000 charging points across Europe. You can charge across all participating networks without downloading multiple apps.
We chose these partners carefully because they provide high-quality, fast charging—just like us. We’re not trying to integrate 2,000 networks. We want a curated few that maintain the same user experience.”
And in terms of what’s next, while organic growth is still the company’s main focus — with the building of new stations – it's also keeping an eye on M&A.
That said, de Meaux admits that acquisitions are never easy.
“You need the right target at the right price at the right time. And you need cultural alignment with the team or founders. So we’re being patient.”
Increased range and fleet adoption lead the way in proving the EV business case.
Recently, a public and political backlash has emerged around EV incentives in certain countries. How do you encourage people to make the switch?
Electra has designed every step of the customer journey to remove barriers to electric mobility adoption and make charging a simple everyday habit.
De Meaux asserts that, “today’s EVs have ranges of 400 to 600 km and can charge quickly.
“They’re also becoming more affordable, largely due to a drop in battery prices. In 2010, a kilowatt-hour of battery cost $1,000. Today, it’s around $100, and by 2030, we expect it to be $50.
I was in China recently, and the reason EVs are so popular there isn’t because people are greener—it’s because they’re cheaper to own and operate.”
Second, the charging network is already robust — at least in markets like France, Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium. According to de Mauex, today’s infrastructure could support three to four times the number of EVs we currently have without creating bottlenecks.
Third, charging is less expensive than refuelling. “With Electra, driving 100 km costs about €6. With a petrol car—say, using seven litres at €1.80/litre—you’re looking at over €12.
"And finally, EVs are just more pleasant to drive. No vibration, no noise, instant torque. Once people switch, they rarely want to go back.”
For example, today, Electra serves over 500 fleets, which represent about 20–25 per cent of its business.
Fleets are often the first to electrify because the business case is so clear. A taxi driver, for instance, may drive 300 to 350 km a day. Cutting fuel costs in half makes a huge difference.
And they’re great for proving the tech. If someone can run an EV full-time as a taxi, there’s no reason the average driver couldn’t manage it too.
2035 ICE ban must hold firm to signal long-term commitment
According to De Meaux, for the electrification story to succeed, we need stable regulation.
“The EU has announced a 2035 internal combustion engine (ICE) ban, but there’s a review clause in 2026. If we start softening or walking back that commitment, it becomes very difficult for companies like us.
It also sends the wrong signal. Electric cars are clearly the dominant technology of the 21st century. The sooner we embrace that, the better. China’s going electric. The US has 16 states with 2035 ICE bans. India has to electrify due to air pollution. Even if US policy shifts, production is still moving to EVs."
Europe needs to keep pace to stay competitive.”
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