Electrify America names new chairman, new president/CEO

Electrify America has announced two leadership changes with Giovanni Palazzo becoming chairman of the board of Electrify America and senior vice president of charging and energy, a global position at Volkswagen Group; and Rob Barrosa becoming Electrify America’s president and CEO.

Palazzo will continue to work closely with Electrify America in his role as chair, which is effective Feb. 15. He will begin his new responsibilities leading global charging and energy on July 1. Palazzo and Barrosa will work closely over the coming months to ensure Barrosa’s successful transition into his new role starting June 1.

Palazzo has been president and CEO of Electrify America since 2018. Prior to coming to Electrify America, Palazzo held numerous executive leadership positions with Volkswagen Group starting in 2011. He has concentrated on electric mobility and infrastructure, having served as head of e-mobility business, group strategy, Volkswagen Group, prior to joining Electrify America.

Under Palazzo’s leadership, Electrify America has expanded to more than 800 charging stations and 3,500 chargers in under five years. The first station opened in May 2018. The company has announced plans to have more than 1,800 charging stations and 10,000 chargers by 2026 in the U.S. and Canada. The company registered more than 6 million customer charging sessions in 2022, nearly five times the charging sessions the previous year.

Since joining Electrify America in 2018, Barrosa has held several key leadership positions with responsibility for technology, energy management, product planning and infrastructure development to support the deployment of Electrify America charging stations. In addition, he led the team that launched the Electrify Canada charging network in 2018. He has also led business partnerships, marketing and e-commerce for Electrify America, as well as the company’s Electrify Home and Electrify Commercial business units.

Barrosa has more than 16 years of focused experience in developing and deploying EV infrastructure to support the growth of electric mobility.

BorgWarner has agreed to acquire the electric vehicle solution, smart grid and smart energy businesses of Hubei Surpass Sun Electric (SSE). The transaction has an enterprise value of up to RMB 410 million (approx. $59.36 million).

Headquartered in Xiangyang, Hubei province, China, SSE’s electrification business supplies patented electric vehicle charging solutions to customers in China and more than 70 other countries. SSE says it has delivered over 50,000 charging points and has led the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of more than 250 charging station sites. SSE’s charging and electrification capabilities in China are expected to complement BorgWarner’s existing capabilities in Europe and North America, the companies say. SSE’s 2022 revenues for the electrification business are expected to be approximately RMB 180 million (approx. $26.06 million).