Photo courtesy of EVPassport

A $200 million private equity investment will accelerate the expansion of an electric vehicle charging company’s network at commercial developments and multifamily properties.

Northleaf Capital Partners acquired a controlling stake in EVPassport, co-founded in 2021 by Dover native Hooman Shahidi to meet the growing demand for EV charging stations in commercial real estate. The company’s clients include National Development, Fairfield Residential and Greystar, and thousands of its charging stations already are installed at properties in Greater Boston, Shahidi said.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, EV Passport is looking at Greater Boston for a potential expansion of its corporate presence.

“We are looking at some senior executive roles that are going to be based in Boston to expand the team. We think Boston could be a great hub for future expansion,” said Shahidi, who worked at Oracle and Salesforce before co-founding EVPassport in 2021.

EV Passport’s products include lower-powered level 2 stations used for extended charging as well as higher-voltage level 3 stations designed to provide quick charging in 15 minutes or less. 

Electric vehicles account for approximately 9 percent of auto sales in the U.S., according to researchers J.D. Power. But many real estate developers and landlords are allocating up to 20 percent of parking capacity with EV charging stations, Shahidi said, in anticipation of growing future demand and to fulfill their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals.

EV Passport uses a fee-based “infrastructure as a service” model in its business relationships with property owners, and currently has a presence in 35 states.

The private equity investment also will update security systems designed to protect customer data, he said.