Vice President and COO. I'm joined tod ay by Gregory Poilasne, co-fo un der and C EO of Nuv ve, and David Ro bso n, our C FO. Before we be g in, we'd like to rem ind you that th is call may contain forward-looking statements. While these forward-look ing statements reflect Nuvve's best current judgment, they're subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those im plied by these forward-looking pr ojections. These risk factors are discussed in Nuvve's filings wi th the SEC, which are available on our website. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive, and should be read i n conju nction wi th other cautionary statements that are included in Nuvve's SEC filings. Listeners are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, since there can be no assurance that these will materialize. Nuvve undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events, or otherwise.
We had a great turnout of questions submitted for our webcast, and we're excited to answer them. Some of the questions we received were duplicative, and we'll group them together, and we'll do our best to answer every topic that you raised. Before we dive in, Gregory is gonna provide a quick update on the progress Nuvve's made, delivering on our key strategic initiatives, as we aim to capture significant growth opportunities ahead. Gregory?
Thanks, Ted, and good morning, everybody. I'm very excited to be here today. This is our first one, so please, you know, work with us as we are going through the process. I appreciate the level of sophistication of, of the question that you've been bringing to us and, and the passion to our important mission. Since the creation of Nuvve in 2010, we've been resting on really two critical pillar. One is renewable energy deployment, and as we all know, renewable energy deployment requires stationary storage. And the number two is electric vehicle deployment, which have the, the advantage of having some very large batteries inside them. And that's really the original vision of the person we had attended at the University of Delaware, which was really in two steps.
Number one, that we love our vehicles, but they are parked most of the time, and if you have an EV, you have a big battery, but you have also plenty of time to recharge it. Two, if you put a little bit more electronics, you can make it bidirectional, and therefore, it gives you the ability of using in that battery inside the vehicle to do energy storage. And then the other piece that we have on top of that is this aggregation platform that allows us to gather all those vehicles together and make them look like a big battery. So with those two pillar, we've been focused on three areas. We initially launched our commercial version in 2016 with light-duty fleets. So fleets was, has been always a big center for us.
Here in the US, our focus has been around school buses, and the reason why we've been using school buses is because, you know, you drive by those parking lots, and you see those yellow buses, they are parked all the time, obviously, except when they are carrying the kids in the morning. It's a very large fleet, 600,000 school buses that are running in North America every day, 24 million kids. Very large operation, about 40,000-50,000 buses sold every year. And so when you take all those buses and you connect them, for example, to a 60-kilowatt charging station, that's 36 gigawatts that all those buses across North America would be able to provide. To give you an idea, that's about 70% of the peak, the largest peak we've ever seen here in California.
So that's why we've been. In 2019, we started to focus on school bus and the electrification, which we could see some early sign. At this point, the EPA is making available $5 million that have started to be deployed, you know, to support the school districts that are adopting electrification of transportation. We have been solidifying our position as a leading service provider in that space, and our K-12 business unit soon will have about 500 of those school buses connected, probably one of the largest fleet of electric vehicles connected to a single platform. Our value proposition is now rooted into three key aspects: the vehicle readiness, meaning making sure that the vehicle is charged for the driver when the driver need it.
The energy management, making sure, one, that we are providing the energy at the lowest cost possible in order to charge that vehicle, but also providing those very valuable grid services that help reduce the total cost of ownership. And three, the battery life extension, because by managing this battery, that's managing those charging, discharging sessions, we not only don't manage the battery, but we can actually enhance the battery life, especially in the case of school buses, where they tend to be parked for a period of time, and therefore, the ability of charging and discharging them can improve the battery life. This is what we call the customer-facing part of V2G, is the charge management. Our goal is to remove all the pain points of electrification of transportation effort.
We have demonstrated that we know how to support our customers in this segment, and we are launching new services, for example, in Texas, which has the largest fleet of school buses across the United States, about 50,000 of those. With third-party forecasting for the further acceleration of electric school bus deployment in 2024 compared to 2023, we, and assuming that we maintain our existing market share of charging station sales, we see a path forward to potentially tripling our charging station unit sales and doubling hardware sales in 2024 compared to 2023. We see, we see the potential—we see some very attractive potential for our Nuvve K-12 business units between now and 2030, as we go through the acceleration of electric school bus deployment.
Turning to our second focus area, the idea is applying technology which is working well with electric vehicles that are highly unreliable resources, and to apply this technology to stationary storage. With our advanced platform, we believe that we can extract more value for stationary storage than any other player in the space. Our strong differentiator within the space is our ability to provide energy management with both advanced grid services and resiliency. Looking ahead, we believe that the stationary storage, in the long run, will be about 15% of our business, though in the short run, this might actually be a larger number.
Finally, we have been very focused on enhancing the services we are providing through the use of our AI platform called Ast rea, and we believe that we are providing best-in-class forecasting capabilities for charg e point operators and utilities through our Astrea AI's offering. We have advanced features that allow us to predict with a high level of confidence when an EV will be connected to a charging station, and the amount of kilowatt-hour we need to onboard during the session. As I say all the time, we know better than you when you're gonna be using your EV next. For the grid side, the technology allows us to predict when the EVs are gonna be creating potential bottlenecks on the distribution system, and therefore, this is very valuable information for the utilities.
And then it allows us to help them reduce these peaks in order to smooth out the energy flow through their system. As the EV adoption is getting through the adoption curve, this is very critical because otherwise the grid would have to be significantly upgraded, and this will increase the cost of energy for everybody. So we look forward to executing on the focus areas, especially with the key achievements we've received over the last year, like the California Energy Commission award, where we've received, where we are gonna be receiving about $1.9 million for our revolutionary V2G project named RESCHOOL. This project will expand our capabilities into microgrid environment, enhancing resiliency capabilities.
And just this week, we announced our partnership with Toyota, and Toyota Tsusho, and Chubu Electric in Japan, where we are deploying further stationary storage, large capabilities, the capacities that we are deploying in Japan. This is very important to help them stabilize their grid over in Japan. Let me tell you that I'm also not forgetting the consumer space, and we believe that this space will. This segment will take off probably in 12-18 months, so we have a little bit of time for us. But at this point today, I really want to focus on those three key segments. We are pleased to share that we're expecting over $8 million revenue in 2023, which compared to $5.3 million we achieved in 2022.
We believe this is great growth potential of our business in this environment that has remained challenging, as we all know. We expect continuous growth throughout 2024, and we can see a path reaching $15 million-$20 million of revenue next year. With that, I'm going to turn this call to Ted and the Q&A portion of this webcast. Ted is going to read the questions while David and I are going to go through the answers. Ted?
Okay, thanks. The first question from the shareholders is for Gregory. In the last earnings call and recent press releases, you've alluded to Nuvve potentially being in the early stages of exponential growth. Is there anything specific you're seeing in the market that makes you think this is the case?
Thank you. I think that, you know, the first answer is the global growth, right? I mean, the EV growth, though, you might read some articles sometimes saying that the EVs growth is not coming out fast. There was a good newsletter from a UBS banker, last week, I think, that was kind of ticking all those points, and EVs, EVs are moving forward, more and more EVs on the road. And so the global trend is there. Now, I think the next point is really a question of demand and supply, right? I mean, the charging stations, for example, we've been deploying, are great, but they are really the first generation with those school buses, for example. And so we already see some drastic cost reduction in those.
Therefore, you know, as the costs go down, demand is increasing, and this is another big reason why we think that this is gonna be accelerating in 2024. You know, 2022, 2023, we're still impacted by some supply chain issue that have been also impacting how the technology has been rolled out. And you know, I think the other thing is we've been refining our value proposition for our end customers. This three-item point of vehicle readiness, energy management, and battery life extension we think are very appealing and removing the pain point in the adoption of electric vehicles.
Now, if you look more at the data, right, between October and November, we deployed 82 charging stations, which is, by itself already twice what we did a year ago in two months. And so, you know, that also reflects into the megawatts under management that are growing at the same time. And so we clearly see a growth trend into what we are doing. We all wish it was going faster, but reality is there, and this is the pace that we are seeing right now. Now, I think as we go, we go through this acceleration, it's gonna be very exciting.
Thank you. The second question from shareholders is for David. David, what's Nuvve's estimated revenue for 2024 based on the most recent available data?
All of you may have seen, we just recently issued a stockholder letter, and in that letter, we, we disclosed we see a path of $15 million-$20 million in revenues next year for 2024. And that assumes continued market expansion being forecasted for the industry, and our ability to maintain our market share. But we're entering into 2024 with very strong positive momentum, and our expected backlog will be at an all-time high, which gives us a really strong base to support our views on 2024 revenue.
Thanks. The third question from the shareholders is for Gregory. How confident are you in your ability to meet revenue guidance for 2023 and 2024?
So first of all, on 2023, right, we are very much on track to deliver that $8 million. And by the way, this was the plan at the beginning of the year. And so we've been able to deliver on that and reducing our expenses. So that has been very important. You know, we see also the trend, as I was just describing, of the growth and we are following that. For example, year to date, November 2023, our megawatts under management have been increasing by 39% to 24.2 megawatt. Now, I think as we are entering 2024, you know, our backlog is at an all-time high.
You know, there has been some chat about, you know, we saw that on some of the board about Fresno, where we are going from. You know, we've been basically qualified by the finance committee, and we're gonna go to the board. This becomes a very key aspect of what we're gonna be delivering in 2024. Hopefully, crossing our fingers that we get approved. I think this is, this is the kind of thing that we've been working on for some time. It's been taking more time than we wish, but now we have a clear path, and so we're very excited about 2024.
Thank you. The fourth question from shareholders is for David. This past quarter, grid service revenue increased to $0.6 million or 21% of total revenue. This is a significant increase from a reported $0.09 million in Q2. What contributed to the increase, and what share of total revenues are grid services expected to provide going forward?
Well, it's a great question. You know, we're pleased with the significant grid service revenue we saw in Q3, and it, it's coming from a couple of areas. We have our existing platform in Denmark with vehicles connected, and we had strong performance there, as well as stationary battery grid service revenues received in North America. There is some seasonality to grid service revenues, but what we have shown is our grid service revenues, when you look at it on a year-over-year basis, are basically growing at three times, and compared to our hardware revenues, growing at roughly two times. And that's the kind of growth we want to see for our business, so we're, we're really pleased with it. As all of you know, grid service revenues is a key long-term recurring revenue stream for us, which is key for our business.
Thanks. The fifth question from shareholders is for Gregory. What's the status of the partnership with Circle K? What's the timing when Circle K's megawatts under management will begin to produce grid service revenues? And does Nuvve still expect to add 50 Circle K sites, and if so, when?
Yeah. So I think this is a perfect example of what we are careful in giving guidance, right? We are not controlling everything. Not everything is in our hands. When we work with partners, you know, their goal is to deploy a charging station first, and then we help them optimize the cost out of those charging stations that they deployed. So, you know, we've been going through the integration with their hardware, both on the charging station side and the storage side. And we definitely expect some revenue in 2024, and this will be drastically increasing our megawatts under management .
But again, you know, we are moving at a pace where it's not just us. We want to go faster, but we are here also to support our customers and help them in their part.
Thanks. The sixth question from shareholders is again for Gregory. Congratulations on the record month. Of the 81 chargers added to the platform in the first 2 months of Q4, are any part of the Circle K project? And if not, will any chargers or stationary storage be coming online before the end of the year?
Yeah. So those 81 are really true sales of charging station, and this is really in the school bus business. That's a Nuvve K-12 sales, basically. In the Circle K, we are really acting as the platform. So Circle K takes care of procuring the charging station, installing them, and we are the platform that comes on top of it and help them optimize the cost of energy that they are providing to their customers, but also providing the grid services, which is helping them reduce the cost of their infrastructure. So I think that's... So 81 was really Nuvve K-12 focused.
Yeah. The seventh question from shareholders is again for you, Gregory. Can you provide color on the current competitive landscape? Who are your key competitors? Are you winning contracts over the competition?
Yeah. And I think there, you know, a couple of key points, right? I think we, you know, we have 24.9 megawatts under management right now, and this is putting us really in the leadership position in this. I think one of our competitor, at a webcast a couple of weeks ago, where they talked about 1 megawatt under management. We have started to manage those megawatts under management in 2016 in Denmark with fleet customers. This is when we launched our technology. So we also have tons of data. We understand how the customers are, you know, using their vehicles and our technology combined. We are the only one that are doing aggregation on a second-by-second basis with a very extremely accurate power flow.
And so we have unmatched value proposition. I've talked about those three pillars as we face the customers. And so that's why we are really the leader in the technology and a customer-partner of choice when we engage with some of our OEM customer partners.
Okay, thanks. The eighth question from shareholders, again, is for you, Gregory. In the context of expanded stationary battery grid services in Japan, what share of megawatts under management are currently stationary storage? As the stationary storage market has matured more quickly than vehicle-to-grid, does Nuvve see this as an area for grid services growth in the near- to medium-term?
Yeah. So, you know, I think at this point, you know, with especially the deployments we have in Japan, I know we are more like in the 30% range of weight of stationary storage. I think that in the long run, it's gonna be more in the 15%, right? Our vision is, stationary storage and V2G have to work together, and we actually build some IP around that specific subject. We'll talk about that later. But, we think that the core of the storage will be provided through EVs because that's the cheapest way of doing it. Now, for different purposes, such as resiliency, I think stationary storage is very important as well, and this is why we think about this 15%, you know, portion of the portfolio will be stationary storage.
Okay, thank you. The ninth question from shareholders is for David. David, how is your financial planning for 2024?
Well, we are planning for continued strong growth, and as we've mentioned it, I just almost want to repeat it. We're seeing a path towards $15 billion-$20 billion in revenue next year, so that's what we're planning for, because there's continued market expansion in the industry, and we have a good portion of market share.
Okay, I have a series of rapid-fire questions from shareholders for David. So here we go. David, what's the expected revenue from Circle K and eventually for other big contracts?
We're not breaking out Circle K revenue at this time.
Okay. Does Nuvve currently carry any debt?
No.
Is Nuvve planning to record revenue from license agreements with Dreev or EDF?
No.
The 13th question from shareholders is for David. Can you update us on the ABL?
Well, we're pleased that this quarter we secured a $1 million facility covering receivable financing. And this, together with the actions we've taken to reduce our costs, improves our financial position to where we've been as we navigate through some pretty challenging market conditions. And this additional liquidity gives us flexibility as we consider some additional options to raise capital going forward.
Thank you. The fourteenth question from shareholders is for Gregory. Now that the launch of Nuvve K-12 is underway in Texas, what geographies will you focus on next? What do you expect in terms of deployments for 2024?
Yeah. So one is based on our value proposition, right? I talked about it, vehicle readiness, energy management, and battery life extension. So if you drill down on energy management, there are two pieces there. There is, one, how do you reduce the cost of energy that we deliver to the vehicles, and two, potential grid service revenue that we can generate. Across the different states of the United States, those values are distributed in very different ways. So if you focus in Texas, for example, the value that's very high over there is about, you know, the arbitrage on the cost of energy. And so that's more on energy management and energy trading.
In California, the cost of energy is high, so there's a lot of energy management value there, versus some other areas of the U.S. where you have high value into the grid service. And so, you know, I'm not gonna say what are the next states we are targeting, but I've given you some hint about the very precise model that we have in terms of how we are addressing the market and where we see the value, and how we are going from state by state in order to deploy our fleets.
Thank you. The fifteenth question from shareholders is again for Gregory. What are next steps in the rollout of your Astrea AI forecasting offering? Do you have plans to further integrate the technology in additional regions?
So, you know, as I said, the tagline for Astrea is: We know better than you when you're gonna be using your EV next. Now we've been working on those capabilities for the last two years, and we keep on working on those. You know, my vision there is that we will become, you know, really good at predicting, you know, forecasting in general, many aspect of it, either it's vehicle usage or the energy markets. We've demonstrated some of that today... two key functionalities that are coming out of that, I talked a little bit about it earlier. One is the ability to predict when kilowatt hours are going to be needed by a set of charging stations on an hourly basis, that we can procure this energy in advance.
So think, for example, about a charge point operator that want to know the raw material that they are bringing to their end customers is electrons, and so we can provide them the ability of determining when they're gonna need those electrons with a very high level of accuracy. So that then they can procure this energy 24, 48, up to 72 hours in advance and avoid that volatility that you might see on energy costs at times. And then this second functionality, which is more focused on our relationship with the utilities and helping the utilities optimize the use of their distributed infrastructure, distribution infrastructure, is the ability to predict when there are gonna be peaks associated with EV charging, and how we can help them manage those peaks at the same time.
So these, these enhanced functionality really are putting us in a position where nobody else has been, has been looking at those, at those aspects. And it gives us the possibility to build relationship with those partners and combine the V2G piece of V1G, which is controlling the charging stations, with the procurement of energy and the management of the system, of the distribution system.
The sixteenth question from shareholders is again for Gregory. What has been the results of ShareIntel's investigation into illegal short-selling activity? Is there a belief that the activity continues to depress the stock price? How will these insights be used to prevent further manipulation?
Yeah, and I don't know I can answer all the question here, but, you know, by working with ShareIntel, we can proactively track shareholder ownership, identify parties that are acting suspicious around unusual trading activities, and then deploy corrective steps to help curtail such activity. We are committed to taking all necessary action to protect the interest of our shareholders, and we're gonna keep on working with ShareIntel and other partners now to combat potential illegal short selling, and restore our fair market conditions for our share price.
The seventeenth question from shareholders is for Gregory: Does the company plan to raise capital and, to fund future growth?
So first, right, when the cost of capital is high, you know, cash management becomes very, very critical. I think we've shared with you that we have been working very, very actively in reducing our cash expense and therefore, we have a good handle on our cash position. Also, I think a big differentiator of Nuvve compared to, you know, some of the other players in the space is that we don't have EV capital expense. And so, you know, that gives us more agility in how we are managing our cash.
Now, you know, we remain very flexible, and we are continuing to evaluate all the options that are coming to us, you know, to raise capital, as we determine that we need potential more cash, potentially more cash, you know, to drive our growth. And we are looking at it both in the short run and in the long run.
The eighteenth question from shareholders is again for Gregory: Why is overhead so high? What steps are you taking to cut costs? What is Nuvve's plan to reduce corporate SG&A and the burn of non-revenue-generating activities? And do you feel you need to make additional cuts?
So, you know, we are growing a new technology, and we are investing strategically as we deploy our vehicle-to-grid software. That said, as I talked about, reducing our cost has been very, very important for us. We keep on reviewing our organization, the structure, and try to optimize our cost, specifically by looking at administrative and people functions. We continue to work towards lowering our cash expense rate, and we think that will be below. That will be. Actually, no, we will be below $5 million per quarter. I've talked in the last earnings call about $1.5 million of cash expense monthly. That's where we are working on. Still have a very far to do there, but we're getting close.
Thank you. The nineteenth question from shareholders is for David. When will Nuvve be profitable, and how much cash is needed for us to be profitable?
Well, we have not disclosed forward-looking guidance around our cash break-even point, and it, it really depends on a number of variables. What I can say, and I'll just repeat it, and we've talked about it a lot, is we expect record revenue growth in 2024 at this path of $15 million-$20 million annually. And additionally, as we execute our plan, we intend to raise additional capital in 2024, as Gregory alluded to.
The twentieth question from shareholders is for Gregory. Is Nuvve currently exploring any opportunities to be acquired? This seems like the best outcome for shareholders to avoid further dilution or losses and inject much-needed cash into the business.
So, you know, I talked about our clear strategic path with those three segments. I believe the best thing for us is to execute on those and we are confident about the progress that we are making and our ability to deliver. Every company, if anybody comes to us and put a price on the table, there's a process that comes in place being reviewed by the board and then also going to the shareholders. So, you know, but the priority number one for us is to focus on delivering our plan. Those things come together afterwards.
Thank you. The 21st question from shareholders is from Gregory. It's for Gregory: Why has Nuvve been raising money now? Is management getting a deal at the expense of existing shareholders?
Our business plan has always been to raise money. We, you know, we became public through a SPAC because there is a path to get to profitability requires some investment. And while we are very aware of the price, you know, we don't believe that this is prohibitive in terms of how we are raising money, and that's because we think that there is a lot of value in the long run in what we are doing. As I said, we are the leader of the subject. Now, this is also driving why we are doing smaller raise, right? Because in this case, we don't want to bring too much money at once. We are very prudent and strategic in how we are accessing the capital market.
I would say we are refining our skill set every day in doing that. I think that's, yeah, that's what I can share on this one.
Thank you. The 22nd question from shareholders is again for Gregory. Gregory, what do you say to nearly every shareholder that's invested in Nuvve following its public listing? For many of the early investors, the value of their investment in Nuvve is down well over 90% to date. Is there any way to provide incentives or distributions to long-term investors that have been holding onto shares, or can Nuvve retire shares given to insiders that would reduce previous dilution?
So I mean, you know, the investment we are making, you know, to accelerate the deployment of the technology is setting the stage for a long-term growth and value creation. As our business plan has always included the need for, you know, additional capital to raise, and while our capital raising plans are, you know, stock price aware, they're not prohibitive, as I just said. So, you know, while the current stock price level wouldn't necessarily keep us from seeking additional source of capital, we've been scaling back. We've been reducing our expenses in order to deliver on the plan. And I'm actually very excited about this 2024 plan.
The 23rd question from shareholders is again for Gregory: What are the details of the expected reverse split, and when do you anticipate it'll happen? How do you plan to avoid the same outcome following the re-reverse split?
So, I mean, we know. We've talked about it. We're gonna be doing the reverse split. We are working on doing the reverse split. I think the best way to go through this is for us to. We shared with you the plan, which is a step more than what we've done in the past. Now we need to execute on the plan, and that's what we are ready to do here.
The 24th question from shareholders is again for Gregory. If Nuvve finds itself in a cash-strapped situation or fear of dissolution, will Levo bail them out?
So the purpose of Levo, the joint venture we have with Stonepeak, has always been to finance deployments. So, no, it's not there. That cash is not there for that.
The 25th question from shareholders is again for Gregory. Since the proposed California Senate Bill 233 in California was placed in the suspended file, when will the final vote on that bill take place?
You know, that's politics, right? One thing that, you know, that we don't control, we have some good hope that it's gonna go back this year. You know, we see many the benefits of this, even though it didn't go through the first time, I've always been, you know, raising the awareness. It's been very important. So I think we've been successful through that, and I think it will go through this year.
The 26th question from shareholders is again for Gregory. Why are we seeing other OEMs announce vehicle-to-grid research projects with competitors instead of Nuvve? Is that an infringement of your patents?
You know, I think that there's the OEMs are trying to better understand how transformation is gonna be impacting them, and, you know, there's a lot of noise around vehicle-to-grid . And so, you know, they're sometimes it's a relationship aspect. Again, I think for us to keep on working on our value proposition, we can't work with everybody at the same time, right? So I think people need to learn, and then they'll come back to us.
The twenty-seventh question from shareholders is for David. David, Nuvve disclosed $9.93 million due to customers in a recent 10-Q. This is troubling for a company with very limited liquidity. Have you used EPA funds to finance operations?
No, we, we do not, we have not used customer funds to finance our operations. Just a little background, we received these funds for grants we wrote on behalf of our customers for the EPA's 2022 Clean School Bus Rebates program. What we do is we keep the share of the funds related to the products that we've sold them, and then we send the balance to the customer, and these funds are kept completely separate in a separate operating bank account.
Thank you. Okay, I have some rapid-fire questions. It's time for Gregory. Gregory, why are you listed as an employee of Dreev?
I'm not an employee of Dreev. I'm a director.
Do you get a paycheck from Dreev?
No.
Do you own shares of Dreev?
No.
Okay, thank you. The 29th question from shareholders is for Gregory. Gregory, can you explain the value that Nuvve shareholders get from the Dreev JV?
Yeah. So first of all, when we put this JV together, you know, working with a large entity such as EDF was very important. So what we are getting out of it is we own shares. We are a minority shareholder in Dreev. They are developing a V2G offering in certain countries in Europe, and we are collaborating together in developing this. This is significant value for Nuvve, both from a financial aspect and operational aspect as well, through the collaboration. And, you know, we're learning a lot from each other.
Thank you. The 30th question from shareholders is for Gregory. Gregory, when will the company theoretically begin producing and selling its vehicle-to-vehicle charging cables for which a European patent was recently acquired?
Yeah, I think this is touching more of the consumer space. I think this is a very exciting patent. And you know, but the consumer space, we see probably another 12-18 months before the consumer space really takes off, and that this will come together.
The thirty-first question from shareholders is again for Gregory. Gregory, can you explain why Nuvve sold its position in SWTCH?
Yeah, I mean, I think we have built a great relationship with the team there. We think that what they are doing is very complementary to what we are doing. They were working through their own round of investments, and we thought this was the best way for us to extract the investment with some value on top of it and then keep the partnership that we had built with them at the same time. So, you know, we let them grow in the ABB environment, but we keep our relationship and get the cash back.
Thank you. 32nd question from shareholders is again for Gregory. Gregory, SWTCH's CEO is strongly advertising their partnership with Nuvve, and SWTCH offers Nuvve's vehicle-to-grid on their homepage. When is Nuvve expecting to announce integration on of the platform and explain the benefits and potential revenue with SWTCH?
Yeah. So I think the first of all, the benefits is really a seamless integration between, you know, new standards that are coming in place that are enabling vehicle-to-grid , and our platform. So that's, that's really the purpose there. And I think that in terms of commercial launch, you know, this is gonna be happening very soon, right? I mean, anything that basically involving what's called 15118-20, which is the bidirectional standard for the communication between the vehicle and charging station. We'll be working closely with SWTCH. So 2024, it's coming.
Thank you. The 33rd question from shareholders is again for Gregory. We haven't heard much about Levo. The Stonepeak commitment was up to $750 million. What amount has been committed to date? When can we expect an update on anticipated future capital commitments and a timeline to deploy that capital?
Yeah. So, you know, when we launched Levo, 2021... That was August 2021. Since that, you know, supply chain issues, inflation kicked in, and Levo is working. You know, this capital structure works well for no certain price on the buses, but the cost of the bus went up. And so what has happened in the meantime is that the government stepped in, the EPA has made available the $5 billion, and therefore, the need for financing the vehicle has been going away because basically, school districts are getting school buses, electric school buses nearly for free or at the cost of an internal combustion engine. Now, as we go through further deployment, cost of the bus goes down, the need for financing will come up.
We'll see if Levo is the right vehicle at that time. In the meantime, as I said, we have five school bus connector. We're gonna have five school bus connected to our platform. We're moving on in with our core business.
Thank you. The 34th question from shareholders is again for Gregory. With Fleet-as-a-Service competitors announcing wins with school districts on a weekly basis, what is preventing Levo from closing deals, and what does it need to be a more competitive offering?
Again, I don't know that we see a lot of fleet as a service or, you know, outside of the existing fleet operators, that are truly financing the buses because of the financing from the EPA. And so I think, you know, that that's an important thing. So for us, in that environment, we are focused on you know, getting customers to our value proposition, that I've talked about earlier, vehicle readiness, energy management, battery life extension, and that is a, I think, a good recipe for success.
Thank you. The thirty-fifth question from shareholders is again for Gregory. Nuvve used to announce partnerships almost every month until mid-2022. In 2023 earnings, Nuvve was reporting increased interest in vehicle-to-grid, but doesn't name partnerships anymore, like automotive OEM or charger manufacturers. Is there a change of strategy in Nuvve's public relations?
I don't think there is a change. I think we are partnering, but then we also need to deliver, right? And so I think our focus is what you are seeing now. The focus has been, okay, we have the partner into the school bus business, we have Nuvve K-12, and now we are delivering, and we see the growth in the charging station that we are seeing every quarter.
The 36th question from shareholders is again for Gregory: What benefits have come to date as a result of signing the memorandum of understanding with the Department of Energy?
I think the main one is awareness. It's really, you know, showing that at the highest level, people are aware that vehicle-to-grid is essential. And you know, I think that's obviously a key step. At the time when this was created, I can tell you not everybody at the DOE was in agreement about it. But I think now, you know, even Governor Newsom last year talked about how vehicle-to-grid is a game changer, and the DOE was essential in that, I think.
Thank you. The 37th question from shareholders is again for Gregory: As competition within the vehicle-to-grid space continues to mature, what steps is Nuvve taking to protect and leverage its patent portfolio? Do you have additional patents under development?
You know, I mean, patent has been and will remain a key part of what we are doing. We have some key original patents on the subject, but we've been working on different implementation that we've been protecting, going from, you know, some of them that you may have seen about combining, for example, unidirectional, bidirectional vehicles. This vehicle-to-vehicle charging as well is important. You know, we are awaiting some also international filing. So that's very important, but I also believe that delivering on our commitment right now remains a key part. Thank you.
The 38th question from shareholders is again for Gregory: Can you provide insights into the technical aspects of Nuvve's vehicle-to-grid technology, highlighting whether it's challenging for other companies to replicate and how robust the associated patents are? Does the company face threats from hardware and software-integrated firms like Tesla, similar to how charging infrastructure has been dominated by Tesla's Supercharger network?
It's a broad question. First of all, I think on, on our IP, right, we think we, you know, we, we have a good handle on, on the V2G piece. Now, I think the key feature of our technology, are, I talked about earlier, which is, one, the ability of doing aggregation, and two, the ability of controlling on a second-by-second basis, a very accurate power flow, right? And as we go through this very large deployment of EVs, those features are gonna be essential. And we see that today, for example, in Norway, where they have a significant amount of EVs over there, and when people are plugging and plugging, it's creating fast change onto the grid, and, and that's creating some headaches for the people that are managing the grid.
The ability of putting all that together, combined with the Astrea, the forecasting, and then the ability of controlling that infrastructure at the same time, that I think is where we have a strong competitive position. Nobody else, to my knowledge, is seeing that right now.
Thank you. The 39th question from shareholders is again for Gregory: Based on past Elon Musk commentary, it would appear that Tesla has plans to pursue vehicle-to-grid shortly. How can it do so without violating Nuvve's existing patents? In the same line of thought, how are companies like Ford, produces the F-150 with vehicle-to-grid and is producing its own V2G software or Fermata Energy, legally able to pursue vehicle-to-grid in the U.S. despite Nuvve's many patents?
Yeah, I mean, a patent is not gonna stop somebody from doing something, right? And then we would have to really understand what they are doing to make sure that they are overlapping with it. But we are very confident in our leadership and the strength of our global portfolio. There's no question about it. While others may be pursuing some opportunities in this space, we have multi-year first-mover advantage. Strong technology and targeted areas of focus have enabled us to build nearly 25 megawatts under management and become the only pure-play public company to generate a recurring GAAP revenue in the V2G space.
We are aware of no other companies in the world that is close to this, and we fully believe in our strategy and steps we are taking to drive growth and create long-term value.
Thank you. The 40th question from shareholders is again for Gregory: How do you perceive the impact of Tesla's Cybertruck's vehicle-to-load feature on Nuvve Holding Corp.? Considering Nuvve specializes in software, do you believe you can compete in this aspect, or do you see it as entirely a different market?
So, I mean, vehicle-to-load is one, one feature, right? Our goal is to have a large feature set that are depending on which region you're in. Now, pure vehicle-to-load, where you plug something into your vehicle, is not something that we see as, as very valuable today. Our focus is really on how EVs, combined with the electric grid, can generate value for the EV owner.
Thank you. The 41st question from shareholders is again for Gregory. In 2021, Nuvve announced a partnership with Wallbox to provide V2G capabilities for the Quasar charger. Since then, the Quasar 2 has been released with similar capabilities. Is there an update on Nuvve's partnership with Wallbox since the original Quasar announcement?
I mean, we've had some deployment in the UK with Wallbox, for example. And we want to work with all the charging station manufacturers that have bidirectional products that are coming.
Thank you. The 42nd question is again for Gregory: With U.S. and European governments increasing subsidies for hydrogen-related initiatives, is Nuvve eligible for such subsidies? Additionally, can Nuvve's vehicle-to-grid platform be applied in the hydrogen economy?
So, you know, number one is focus, right? I talked about the three segments where we are focusing right now. And you, all our shareholders, want us to generate some revenues, so that's why we need to focus on segments that are growing today. Now, our platform, you know, a basic hydrogen creates a battery on the other side, and so we have the ability to have functioning batteries. So yes, it's compatible, and this is something we are keeping an eye on, but this is not in our priorities right now.
The forty-third question from shareholders is again for Gregory. How do you foresee the impact of next year's U.S. presidential election on initiatives like the introduction of electric vehicles and vehicle-to-grid technology?
I would say no matter the outcome of the election, right, we, we continue to work hard on, on deploying our technology. We think that the investment that have been done by the OEMs in the space is not gonna go back, whoever is the president. And so, you know, we don't see that as a hurdle in any way for us.
Thank you. Okay, the final question for Gregory. Gregory, do you have any closing remarks? What else should we know?
You know, I mean, I wanna just come back to some of the key points, right? One is we've worked hard to build a leadership position in this space. We have a first-mover advantage. I think we've built a great understanding on the grid side, as well as on the user side. I talked about our valuable position to the users, which is, you know, a vehicle readiness, energy management, and battery life extension. And I think this is really removing some of the key pain points that fleet managers initially are facing when they are adopting electric vehicles. We are very excited about 2024, and we see that as a very, I don't know, as a very exciting year.
And I talked a bit about, you know, some of the precursor of that through Fresno, for example. But more importantly, I wanna thank, you know, you, our stakeholders. I want to thank our partners. I want to thank also our employees. I know I'm sure that some of you feel like maybe we didn't answer all the questions, but you want to keep on keeping this channel open. We are listening to what, you know, you are exchanging on boards. Altogether, we are impressed with some of the comments that some of you are making and the understanding of our business.
And we wanna keep, you know, this, this channel open, and therefore, I can promise one thing, we'll be back, and as, as soon as we can, we'll be sharing more about what we see in the future. So I want to thank everybody. Thank you, Ted. I want to thank you, David, and I want to thank all of you for being with us today, and we're looking forward to sharing more.
Thanks. We had a flurry of questions come in at the last minute, so we'll definitely need to schedule another call. This recording will be posted on Nuvve's Investors section of our website, and will remain there for 90 days for playback. Thank you very much, and we'll end the call here.