ElectricFish debuts battery-powered, fast-charging platform at CES, targeting gas station owners, commercial fleets, and an aging U.S. electric grid in crisis.
If electricity is abundant in America, why are EV fast chargers so scarce?
That’s the irony MotorTrend captured in a recent feature on ElectricFish, a Silicon Valley startup betting that the answer lies not in building more charging stations from scratch, but in transforming the 150,000 gas stations already built for quick refueling stops.
At CES in Las Vegas this week, ElectricFish Energy Inc. is unveiling Turbo Charge, a new gas station charging service designed for quick 8–10 minute sessions that add up to 180 miles of range.
After more than six years in development and testing, the company has moved from prototype to commercial deployment, with initial installations now live in Detroit — including a high-profile site in the heart of Motor City through the Toyota Mobility Foundation’s “Sustainable Cities Challenge” — and more are expected soon in the San Francisco Bay Area and other regions in the U.S.
The timing couldn’t be more urgent. U.S. EV sales hit an all-time high in Q3 2025 with 438,487 units sold, yet the charging infrastructure hasn’t kept pace. There are now only roughly 67,900 public fast chargers serving about 5.5 million EVs on American roads.
Traditional EV fast-charging installations require utility upgrades that can cost $150,000 or more per port and take 12 to 18 months to complete. For independent gas station owners, the economics simply don’t work.
A Triple Win: Consumers, Station Owners, and the Grid
ElectricFish has designed its new 400squared platform, launched at CES, to solve problems for three distinct audiences simultaneously.
For a growing number of EV drivers, it means fast-in, fast-out access to rapid charging at familiar gas station locations, no more hunting for a distant supercharger or waiting 45 minutes in a parking lot. For gas station owners, it eliminates the six-figure capital barrier that has kept most independent operators out of the EV charging market.
The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), which represents more than 152,000 stores nationwide, has been vocal about the need for private-sector solutions.
“EV drivers should have competitive places to recharge just like we have competitive places to refuel,” said Matt Durand, Deputy General Counsel for NACS, in September 2025. The association has emphasized that an adequate number of charging locations will only be built if the private sector has the potential to make a profit.
But perhaps the most compelling case is what ElectricFish does for the grid itself:
As of January 2026, U.S. grid infrastructure faces critical bottlenecks: over 70% of transmission infrastructure is past the midpoint of its 50-year life expectancy, electricity demand from data centers and AI workloads could nearly double to 9% of total capacity by 2030, and a July 2025 DOE report warns that some regions could see a 100-fold increase in power outage risk by 2030 if current trends continue.
Traditional DC fast chargers make this problem worse by adding massive peak demand to already strained infrastructure. ElectricFish’s approach flips the script: each unit operates from its own 400 kWh battery reservoir, requiring only a fraction of the typical grid connection, and can actually sell power back to utilities during peak periods.
Revenue Share, Not Six-Figure Capex
Under ElectricFish’s revenue-share model, selected station owners provide space and a modest electrical connection; ElectricFish covers the hardware, installation, and maintenance, then splits the charging revenue with the host. The AI platform provides recommended real-time pricing based on local electricity costs, time-of-use rates, and competitive market data, with baseline pricing set collaboratively with each site host.
The result: deployment in 4–6 weeks instead of 12–18 months, with no utility upgrades required. For gas station owners already in the business of quick stops, it’s a natural extension—now they can sell electrons the same way they sell gasoline.
The ElectricFish platform includes three integrated components backed by five issued U.S. patents.
Hardware + Software + AI
The technology breakthrough is elegant in its simplicity. ElectricFish’s 400squared unit delivers 400 kW of charging power from just a 30 kW grid connection—about one-tenth of what a conventional fast charger requires. The secret is the massive onboard battery that acts as a buffer between the grid and the vehicle.
“Think of it like a water tank in your neighborhood,” explained Anurag Kamal, ElectricFish CEO and co-founder. “Instead of running bigger pipes all the way back to the city reservoir, we put a local tank in the neighborhood.
“We don’t sell EV chargers or batteries; we sell time and uptime, said ElectricFish CTO and co-founder Nelio Batista. “We’ve decoupled charging speed from grid limits by actively managing when energy flows in or out, so fast charging strengthens the grid instead of destabilizing it.
The platform includes three integrated components backed by five issued U.S. patents: the 400squared hardware (battery-powered fast-charger with energy storage), Reef (a real-time charging station management system), and Stargazer (an AI engine with five intelligent agents that optimize charging schedules, predict demand, and manage grid services). When two vehicles charge simultaneously, power is dynamically allocated based on each vehicle’s acceptance rate and state of charge.
“Gas stations are built for short dwell times and high turnover. We designed our Turbo Charge service to behave like a pump, not a parking space,” said Kamal. “But the real moat is our software. Our Stargazer AI engine doesn’t just charge cars. It manages energy flow, predicts demand, and helps utilities stabilize the grid. We’re not a hardware company. We’re an energy platform.
The Electric Fleet Opportunity
While consumer EV charging is the immediate market, ElectricFish is also positioning for commercial fleet electrification—a sector hitting its tipping point in 2026. Electric trucks now offer fuel costs of $0.15–$0.25 per mile compared to $0.50–$0.70 for diesel, translating to annual savings of $15,000–$25,000 per vehicle. Fleets are reporting 40–65% lower maintenance costs due to fewer moving parts and regenerative braking.
The platform’s bidirectional capability opens another revenue stream: vehicle-to-grid (V2G) services that turn parked fleet vehicles into mobile batteries, providing energy back to the grid during peak hours. For fleet operators, ElectricFish offers the ability to scale electrification efforts without grid constraints—and without forcing customers into long-term infrastructure commitments.
Hyundai-Validated, Desert-Tested
ElectricFish has put its technology through rigorous third-party validation:
Hyundai Motor Company tested the earlier version of the charging unit for six months at its California Proving Ground, where it delivered peak charging power through continuous triple-digit temperatures.
“ElectricFish allowed us to fast charge without costly electrical infrastructure upgrades, and installation is quick and simple,” said Dean Vivo Amore, Senior Engineer at Hyundai. “We see this as a way to unlock fast charging at sites that the grid alone can’t support today.”
MotorTrend stress-tested the unit during its 2026 SUV of the Year evaluations, delivering 1,119 kWh over 37 sessions with a peak of 313 kW—unfazed by Mojave Desert heat. “For our SUV of the Year testing, the company delivered the unit just one week after our initial conversation. An electrician had it wired and running within an hour,” the publication noted.
The Detroit deployment through the Toyota Mobility Foundation’s “Sustainable Cities Challenge” marks another milestone: ElectricFish was selected from nearly 100 submissions to electrify the historic Eastern Market district’s food and warehouse logistics hub while providing public fast charging access. The company is now in discussions with contract manufacturers in Michigan, positioning the state as a second hub alongside its California headquarters
The 2030 Vision
ElectricFish is approaching 2026 with a regional market strategy rather than chasing a national unit count. Priority markets this year include California (home market), Detroit/Michigan (aligned with the Toyota partnership and manufacturing relationships), Colorado, and the East Coast corridor from Philadelphia through New Jersey up to New York and Boston.
But the even bigger play is grid storage. “By 2030, every gas station will be an energy station—selling electrons alongside gasoline, stabilizing the grid, and letting drivers stop, top up, and go in under 10 minutes,” said Leonardo Mattiazzi, ElectricFish President and co-founder. “No ground broken, no cables replaced. Car buyers will choose vehicles based on comfort, safety, and lifestyle—not charger availability. The final barrier to transportation electrification? Gone.”
Industry analysts see the market moving in ElectricFish’s direction. For example, BloombergNEF projects over 100 million passenger EVs on roads globally by 2026, with EV charging remaining one of the largest drivers of grid spending as charging patterns create new demand peaks. Grid investment of $15.8 trillion is needed between now and 2050 under BNEF’s base-case scenario, with annual average investment needing to be roughly 60% higher for 2025-2029 than it was in 2020-2024, suggesting grids suffered from significant underinvestment in recent years.
For investors watching the EV infrastructure space, ElectricFish represents a different thesis: not just charging electric vehicles – but building the distributed energy network of the future. Every 400 kWh unit deployed is a node in what could become a virtual power plant at scale—community-scale reservoirs creating a resilient, decentralized grid. EV charging is the beachhead; grid storage is the bigger play.
To learn more about ElectricFish, visit the website.
Chris Knight is a Grit Daily Leadership Network contributor and a seasoned communications expert with 30 years of experience in mass media, PR, and marketing. He is the co-founder of MOUSA.I., a new A.I. marketing agency in San Francisco, as well as the co-founder of Divino Group.
