Start-up for fuel delivery Booster built a reputation for itself by filling up commuters’ automobiles while they were parked at work.
Booster CEO Frank Mycroft says that when the Covid outbreak drove so many people to remote work, the company increased its business by recharging commercial vehicle fleets so drivers are ready to go the instant they start a shift.
Booster has raised approximately $125 million in a new venture funding round led by Rose Park Advisors, besides the energy and venture firms such as Mitsubishi Corp., Renewable Energy Group, Maveron, and Madrona Venture Group, among others, to grow that business and offer more renewable energy options to customers.
Madrona managing director Matt McIlwain told CNBC that Booster will use the funds to expand geographically.
“The committed alliances and contracts they already have will lead them to amazing magnitude,” said the investor. He also believes that Booster might go public in the next two to three years if all goes as planned.
According to Mycroft, some of the funds will also go toward research and development. Booster is developing methods to charge completely electric vehicles, such as buses and delivery trucks, wherever they are parked, even on dirt lots far from charging infrastructure.
Electric vehicle charging should develop into big business for Booster over time, Mycroft says, but today many companies can’t afford to convert their fleets to battery-electric models, or the battery-electric vehicles they want to buy aren’t even available.
The Tesla heavy-duty Semi, for example, has been delayed multiple times with series production expected to begin in 2023. And Rivian recently warned investors that it may not be able to deliver the thousands of electric vans as promised to Amazon due to a legal battle with a supplier.
For now, Booster is convincing customers with traditional, diesel-burning trucks to try renewable diesel or biodiesel which is made from spent cooking oil or other plant-based blends. Alternative fuels like these generate tailpipe emissions, Mycroft acknowledges, but overall they have about one-third of the carbon footprint of traditional fossil fuels.
Since renewable and biodiesel can’t be piped in through the same lines that go to gas stations, Booster is key to distribution, says Steve Geskos, managing director at Rose Park Advisors, one reason energy companies are keen to partner with the start-up.
Since fuel prices have soared this year following Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, biodiesel, renewable diesel, and other “drop-in” fuels are proving price competitive, Mycroft says. The national average for regular, unleaded gas hit a record $4.60 a gallon, according to AAA as of Wednesday.
While Mycroft is self-aware and doesn’t bill his company as a pure climate solution, the CEO says he looks for every opportunity to reduce the negative impacts of transportation on the environment, and to help communities become climate-resilient.
For example, during the widespread blackouts in Texas last February, Booster delivered fuel to keep fire trucks running, and generators going as long as the grid was down.
In preparation for California’s wildfire season, Booster is now training drivers in its home state on how to quickly refuel fire trucks used by Cal Fire.
“Emergency response is, unfortunately, another growing part of our business,” Mycroft said.
The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommends “a substantial reduction in fossil fuel use, widespread electrification, improved energy efficiency, and use of alternative fuels,” in order to limit human-caused global warming, which increases the severity and frequency of extreme weather events.
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