UK-headquartered Zenobē is providing a CA$48 million (£26 million) debt financing facility to Canadian EV-as-a-Service provider 7Gen.
The funding will enable 7Gen to scale up its commercial EV leasing programme and deploy supporting infrastructure across Canada.
7Gen provides fleet electrification solutions, covering electric vans and trucks and school buses for small and medium businesses, school bus operators, and large corporations across North America.
It said that the Zenobē debt finance will go towards between 400 to 500 new commercial EVs bundled with charging solutions, and refinancing part of its current fleet.
The Montreal-based company provides vehicle leasing and infrastructure solutions for Canadian commercial fleets.
What 7Gen describes as its “clear niche” within Canada’s electrification is aligned with Zenobē’s experience in heavy-duty fleet electrification and flexible financing solutions. The million-dollar facility is the largest private debt financing for EVs in Canada.
Zenobē provides end-to-end electrification solutions to public and commercial fleet operators, including the provision and financing of electric vehicles, charging infrastructure and a battery managed service.
In May last year, Zenobē announced it had completed a £410 million electric bus finance deal, purported to be Europe’s largest. After founding in 2017, Zenobē established a £241 million EV financing platform, building a long-term debt framework for electric bus fleets on private placement and the Revolving Credit Facility (RCF).
The firm has about a 25% market share of the UK EV bus sector and says it is the largest owner and operator of EV buses in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
The business model sees the company take on the responsibility and risk associated with EV batteries, including performance, replacement and repurposing in second-life applications. It also specialises in grid-scale battery energy storage.
Following the deal with 7Gen, Zenobē says it now supports over 2,000 electric vehicles in the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
Explaining the decision to branch into Canada, Zenobē co-founder and director Steven Meersman said the company sees “momentum behind decarbonisation in Canada’s supportive government policies and the clean, affordable power that will ensure a lower total cost of ownership for zero-emissions vehicles”.
Banks and institutions providing lines to support Zenobē’s green EV financing syndicate include Aviva, Lloyds, MUFG, NatWest, Santander, Scottish Widows, Siemens Financial Services through Siemens Bank and Société Générale.
