Alliance Ventures, the strategic venture capital arm of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, has invested in Chinese EV charging platform start-up PowerShare in a move to help drive EV take-up.

The investment in PowerShare follows 10 other Alliance Ventures investments, including start-ups based in North America, Europe and China

The firm’s charging platform links up EV drivers, charge point operators and power suppliers, enabling drivers to find charging stations while enabling charging suppliers to monitor the demand from vehicles with the supply capacity of the grid.

François Dossa, Alliance global vice president, ventures and open innovation, said: “PowerShare’s expertise fits with the Alliance’s objective to maintain our leadership in vehicle electrification. A solid infrastructure network must be established to accelerate the deployment of EV and new mobility services, and we expect Powershare’s technology to help make that happen. Additionally, PowerShare’s base in China aligns with our strong focus on the market as a strategic hub.”

Ethan Zhu, founder and chief executive officer of PowerShare, added: “As a technology-based start-up with a focus on electric vehicle charging, PowerShare has accumulated rich experiences in this field through in-depth cooperation with domestic and foreign automobile manufacturers, charging operators and charging pile manufacturers over the past four years. This investment from Alliance Ventures will enable us to go farther and faster in expanding markets, developing core technologies, and exploring new business models in the global e-Mobility business. We look forward to working closely with Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi as PowerShare grows.”

The funding, the terms of which was not disclosed, comes just weeks after BP said its ventures business had invested in PowerShare. It also marks the 11th Alliance Ventures investment, following agreements with mobility app Transit and Chinese self-driving tech start-up WeRide.ai.