Xeal's Vertically-Integrated Payment System Could Provide Reliable EV Charging Everywhere

In 2019, when Zander Isaacson and cofounder Nikhil Bharadwaj, 28, started selling commercial electric vehicle chargers—the sort you see at airports and in shopping mall parking lots—the problems started almost immediately. If the devices lost internet connection or a server went out, they couldn’t process payments, and drivers were stranded. Irate customers sent hate mail: “ ‘I hope your CEO dies, I hope your company goes bankrupt,’ ” Isaacson recalls. In response, the Penn State alums built a payment system that bypasses the internet, letting drivers use a cryptography-protected smartphone app to tap and pay at the charger. It has enabled them to place chargers in places like large apartment buildings and campus housing. Backed by $54 million from investors, Xeal is building a network of over 10,000 chargers in more than 60 metro areas, in partnership with real estate developers like Brookfield, AvalonBay and Harrison Street.

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