Stak: Are Carousels The Future of Urban EV Charging?

In 2021, US President Joe Biden set a goal of building 500,000 publicly available EV chargers by 2030.

Despite US President Donald Trump calling for an overhaul of the US’s EV plans in 2024, including halting the US$5bn fund for EV charging stations, the sales share of electric cars grew by more than 10% in 2024.

As cities across the US push to become more sustainable, EV-friendly infrastructure is on the rise in urban areas.

EV charging startup Stak has developed automated parking carousels embedded with charging cords, helping to support EV uptake in cities.

Stak: bringing EV parking solutions

Stak aims to target the lack of parking spaces in urban areas, as urban populations continue to grow.

Its solution is building modular EV carousels, which operate as self-service parking areas.

This EV charging solution uses space vertically instead of horizontally and drivers can reserve a parking spot using the Stak app.

Stak’s parking carousels can park and charge between six and 14 vehicles in the space that would normally hold two regular parking spaces, reducing the land footprint by up to 85%, while scaling EV charging infrastructure by up to 700%.

This provides space to scale the urban adoption of EVs, helping to reduce emissions in densely populated cities.

In 2022, Stak applied for potential financing of up to US$184m from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to help construct more parking carousels in urban areas.

Diallo Powell, Co-Founder and CEO of Stak, says: “We believe that the DOE’s potential to support and endorse our project would help open up an urban EV and electrification future for residents, drivers, carsharing and corporate and municipal fleets.

“Access to climate tech, energy efficiency and the promising benefits of EVs should not be considered luxuries that are out of reach for urban communities.”

Why should cities increase EV charging?

Each EV carousel can be assembled or relocated in under a week and can be deployed at a lower cost per space than traditional parking.

In order to fit Stak’s technology, a team evaluates the site and a custom parking layout is designed.

After the parking carousel is fitted, site owners are provided with software to help handle payments, control access, manage charging and receive reports.

Stak’s system brings many benefits:

• Construction efficiency: modular prebuilt systems reduce cost and time in the assembly process
• EV compliance: EV charging in every parking space provides more options for EV drivers
• Space optimisation: compact designs reduce footprints and increase buildable area
• Sustainable manufacturing: reduced material and waste in the building process reduces the environmental impact

“It’s been a real challenge for cities to be able to participate in the transition to clean transportation and electric vehicles just because of a lack of scalable infrastructure that really works in the urban context,” Diallo says.

“This gives cities the opportunity to be able to deploy these things at scale without cars taking up more space in the city.”

Support from the World Economic Forum

Stak is supported by UpLink, which is the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) open innovation platform, helping businesses in their journey towards a net zero and nature positive future.

UpLink, in collaboration with Deloitte and the WEF’s Centre for Urban Transformation, is working on accelerating innovation to ensure cities can grow sustainably.

According to the WEF, cities account for two thirds of the global energy demand and 70% of CO₂ emissions, despite only occupying 3% of land.

UpLink’s projects aim to promote climate resilience and provide economic and social benefits from job creation, increased connectivity and investment opportunities.

Kwasi Mitchell, Managing Principal, Growth & Purpose at Deloitte US, says: “UpLink has created a scalable blueprint for addressing cities’ needs globally and promoting sustainable economic growth.

“The collaboration of organisations supporting urban transformation has great potential to create lasting impact.”

UpLink supports startups across the world, particularly in the US, to bring sustainable developments in areas including infrastructure, transportation and waste management.