Zero Emission Industries (ZEI) announced today the first close of its Series A funding round. The round is led by Chevron New Energies with additional investment from Crowley Maritime.
The new funds are expected to enable ZEI to roll out their next generation fully integrated marine power system and scale quickly to meet the demand within the maritime industry for their zero emission propulsion solutions.
Fremont, Calif.-based ZEI is a leading hydrogen technology company for maritime.
“We believe hydrogen is the best path to energy security and decarbonization of the maritime industry," ZEI CEO Dr. Joseph Pratt said in a statement. "Chevron and Crowley bring a wealth of global experience and an ability to scale deployment across the marine market. We’re excited to leverage this partnership with our industry-leading technology to achieve exponential growth of the marine hydrogen market.”
ZEI is led by Pratt and his team of hydrogen and marine experts that have a deep industry knowledge and expertise in the design, development and deployment of hydrogen fuel cell power systems and other critical hydrogen technology, the company said. ZEI produces marine-specific turnkey fuel cell power and hydrogen storage systems that deliver superior performance.
“Our intelligent, connected, reliable power systems are the only ones on the market built from the ground up specifically to meet the rigorous demands of the marine community," said ZEI Executive Vice President John Motlow. "Designed to be as easy to install and operate as a marine diesel engine, we are working to build solutions that truly enable the maritime industry to decarbonize without negatively impacting their operations."
The investments from Chevron and Crowley create an integrated value chain from hydrogen production to power systems to vessels. The companies say that this collaboration will drive value for end users and partners alike through simplified and cost effective fueling and power solutions made specifically for maritime.
ZEI’s technical expertise and innovative approach, combined with strategic partners Chevron and Crowley, will help enable the accelerated deployment of hydrogen technologies across the maritime market to create lower carbon and potentially zero emission power for the industry, the companies added.
“As the maritime industry focuses on lower carbon opportunities, hydrogen is well suited to address these, and we are excited to collaborate with ZEI to advance this potential,” said Austin Knight, vice president of hydrogen for Chevron New Energies. “Chevron believes in the value of partnering to develop hydrogen solutions that have the potential to scale and support a lower carbon world, and this is a step in that direction.”
Chevron New Energies was launched in 2021 to focus on establishing lower carbon businesses in carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), hydrogen, renewable fuels and products, offsets, and other emerging areas.
“Investing in and developing innovative, clean energy solutions such as hydrogen is critical to reaching the maritime industry’s decarbonization goals," Tom Crowley, Crowley Martime's chairman and CEO said in a statement. "Crowley can only reach net-zero emissions with collaboration that produces new ideas by partners and stakeholders.”
