It rained on the ribbon cutting. We like to think that rain brings good luck, despite us generating a lot of power from the sun, and luck seemed to be on our side at Quick Quack in West Sacramento when the team showed up to cut the ribbon on a station that 169 strangers had paid to build.

The money came from the community

The development funds for the station were raised through Climatize, a community investment platform where people can back a specific clean energy project instead of a fund. 169 individual investors put in more than $1 million. Robert Hymes, our Chief Development Officer, was on site for the opening and got to meet some of the people whose money is now in the ground.

That is the part worth sitting with. Fast charging on a corridor this busy is usually financed by utilities, oil majors, or venture capital. This one was financed by people, and it is theirs.

Built with Quick Quack and the State of California

The station is the result of real collaboration: Quick Quack hosted the site, the State of California supported it through its energy programs, and Climatize opened the raise to the public. Ten hyper-fast AMPS EV chargers now sit on one of the busiest corridors in the state, and AMPS runs them from here.

Charging infrastructure is the piece of the transition people actually touch. A driver does not see a battery cabinet behind a warehouse or a dispatch signal at five in the afternoon. They see whether there is a working charger where they already stop. This one is at a car wash, which is exactly the point.

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Sacramento Bee Sacramento Bee, second report Santa Cruz Works Kingscrowd