Electric Innovation Initiative recognizes Moon Five's modular approach to deploying EV charging at multifamily properties without costly electrical upgrades.
BERKELEY, Calif., Sept. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Moon Five, a clean energy startup building the first renter-driven electric vehicle (EV) charging solution, today announced it has received the 2026 Scale Catalyst Award from the Electric Innovation Initiative for its approach to expanding renters' access to electric vehicle charging, combining innovative design and financing with the potential to accelerate EV adoption at scale. Presented during Climate Week NYC, the award recognizes Moon Five's scalable approach to overcoming one of the largest remaining barriers to widespread EV adoption: the lack of affordable and convenient EV charging options for renters.
While electric vehicles are becoming more mainstream, convenient home charging is not. Single family homeowners can often install a charger in their garage, but millions of multifamily residents remain dependent on public stations or property-wide infrastructure projects that can be costly and slow to deploy. Moon Five addresses these overlooked barriers through its renter-led charging solution, allowing tenants to initiate the process, demonstrate demand, and pre-qualify their building without the need for external help. Essentially, Moon Five has functionally modernized electrical infrastructure installation by streamlining the process for the tenant, building owner, and electrician, making EV ownership more practical for renters while opening a scalable path to electrify multifamily housing.
"Renters represent an enormous part of the country, but EV charging infrastructure has largely been designed around single family homes and public charging stations," said Stephan Ng, CEO of Moon Five Technologies. "This award validates our belief that expanding EV access does not always require rebuilding infrastructure from the ground up. By making better use of the power already available in apartment buildings, we give renters a practical way to charge where they live and create a model that can be replicated across communities."
Moon Five combines modular charging hardware with a proprietary energy management system that monitors power use within an apartment building and directs available capacity to the vehicle. Designed to be easily repaired, upgraded, and replaced , the system extends the useful life of each charger and reduces the cost and waste associated with replacing an entire unit. The charging platform's apartment-level load balancing also optimizes energy by making better use of existing electrical capacity without the need for costly building upgrades. For $50 per month plus the cost of electricity used, tenants receive a dedicated home charger with no setup fees or ongoing maintenance fees, making EV charging more affordable and accessible without requiring property owners to undertake costly building upgrades.
"Moon Five is addressing a critical gap in the transition to electric transportation with a practical, scalable approach to bringing home charging to apartment residents," said Alisa Ahmadian, Director of Electric Innovation Initiative. "By combining modular technology, intelligent energy management, and a model that removes cost and complexity for renters and property owners, Moon Five demonstrates how innovation can extend the benefits of electrification to communities that have too often been left behind."
The recognition comes as Moon Five deploys more than 400 charging units at multifamily properties in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles through a $3.4 million California Energy Commission REACH 3.0 grant. More than 90% of the deployment will serve low-income and disadvantaged communities that have historically been left out of the clean energy transition. Through the grant-funded program, participating properties will receive Moon Five charging systems with no upfront capital investment or subscription fees, while residents pay no installation costs or markup on the electricity used. A limited number of openings remain for eligible multifamily properties interested in participating in the deployment.
Looking ahead, Moon Five will complete its grant-supported California deployments by March 2027 while preparing its second-generation charging and energy management platform for commercial-scale production. After eight months of field testing, Moon Five's Gen 2 charging system is advancing through the Underwriters Laboratories certification process. The fully industrialized system integrates apartment-level charging and energy management with building-wide energy managing capabilities, and is designed for modularity, manufacturability, and scalability. With more than 600 potential charging systems in its pipeline and a waitlist of over 900 renters, Moon Five intends to use the California rollout to establish a repeatable model for expansion into additional markets. Through future-looking features like bidirectional charging, Moon Five plans to help renters lower electricity costs, power their apartments during outages, and earn revenue from grid services. Its longer-term vision connects vehicles with homes, other vehicles, and local energy networks, unlocking even more value from cars that spend roughly 95% of their lifetime parked.
To learn more, visit www.moonfive.tech
About Moon Five
Moon Five is a California-based clean energy company making reliable and affordable home EV charging accessible to renters. Its renter-driven solution combines modular charging hardware with intelligent energy management technology that uses a property's available electrical capacity – without requiring costly and time-consuming infrastructure upgrades. Designed to be repaired, upgraded, and replaced at the component level, Moon Five's system reduces waste while creating a more scalable path to electrifying multifamily housing. With a mission rooted in accessibility, resilience and long-term sustainability, Moon Five is helping more renters participate in the transition to electric transportation. Learn more at www.moonfive.tech.
Media Contact
Shayna Zeigen, Moon Five, 1 6196084300, [email protected], https://www.moonfive.tech/
SOURCE Moon Five
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