Beam Global Launches New EV Chargers, Desalination System - San Diego Business Journal

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SAN DIEGO – Renewable energy tech company Beam Global (Nasdaq: BEEM) has announced a suite of new products over the last two months, aiming to make it cheaper and easier to charge electric vehicles and bikes and desalinate water.

Beam said it will soon begin providing the company’s BeamWell water desalination and e-mobility delivery system to areas of the world currently facing humanitarian crises that do not have reliable access to clean potable water.

BeamWell systems can intake salt water and remove salt and other contaminants, storing up to 3,000 liters of clean drinking water. The system is also deployed with four electric scooters and charging docks for each of them, making it easier to bring fresh water to areas that are hard or impossible to navigate with a car.

Both the desalination process and the electric scooters are powered by an array of solar panels affixed to the top of the BeamWell system, preventing the need for a generator or any type of fuel.

Beam Global CEO Desmond Wheatley said the company’s primary intention is to deploy BeamWell systems in Gaza, whose resident have been in an active warzone since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas that ignited the current conflict.

According to the United Nations, those in Gaza are living on an average of 4.7 liters of water per person per day, far below the 15-liter minimum recommended during emergencies by the World Health Organization. The vast majority of the territory’s water and sewage treatment plants have also been shut down for months, according to Oxfam.

International charities including UNICEF, with the support of the Australian and Swedish governments, are providing clean water to some 900,000 people, but the UN estimates 70% of the total population only has access to salty and contaminated water.

“This is really about saving lives,” Wheatley said. “It’s about enough water to drink, enough water to cook food, enough water to clean up after you’ve cooked. … There’s not even the hint of luxury about it, it’s literally people are dying because of a lack of access to this stuff.”

Wheatley said Beam Global can produce several thousand BeamWell systems per year between its two facilities in San Diego and in Serbia. The system also has the potential to benefit victims of natural disasters both domestically and abroad, as well as people living in areas of crisis such as Ukraine, Lebanon and Sudan.

Wheatley added that deploying BeamWell systems internationally will also depend on the approval of multiple parties.

“Our ability to deploy them will not be the gating factor,” he said. “I think likely the gating factor will be politics.”

Wheatley compared the haste at which the BeamWell system can be deployed, as well as the company’s BeamBike solar-powered electric bike charging ports, to a satellite unfolding once its deployed in space.

“Although its large and heavy, it actually arrives at the customer site or the location where it’s needed in its complete condition,” he said.

Beam also recently announced the launch of its BeamSpot curbside electric vehicle chargers, which utilize existing streetlight foundations and circuitry to provide sustainable electric vehicle charging to drivers who don’t have a dedicated place to install a charging station.

While existing streetlight circuits generally only conduct enough electricity to power a light bulb, the BeamSpot charger can connect to that circuitry and boost electrical output by combining solar and wind energy that is collected by a solar array and small-scale wind turbine atop the charger.

Wheatley argued that while 80% of electric vehicle owners charge their cars at home, that is largely because EV owners are primarily wealthier households who have larger homes, off-street parking and can afford larger electrical supplies.

“This doesn’t describe the typical citizen,” he said. “So what we need to do is solve for charging on the curb.”

He added that BeamSpot charging systems are far cheaper for local governments than completely converting street infrastructure to accommodate EV chargers.

“They know they’re going to have to do a lot of digging up streets and all that sort of stuff,” Wheatley said. “This is a way for them to avoid doing that … The BeamSpot will allow cities to have ubiquitous on-curb charging, but without having to go through with all the costs and everything associated with the construction and electrical work to make that possible.”

In the current market, establishing cheap and convenient sources of renewable energy is largely a matter of incumbency and a lack of vision by those who could make electric transportation solutions more ubiquitous, Wheatley argued.

“The things I’m talking about here, we’re not waiting for a scientific breakthrough or some brand new technology to make this possible,” he said. “It works today. We do it, lots of other people do it. It’s really more a question of will.”

Beam GlobalFOUNDED: 2006CEO: Desmond WheatleyHEADQUARTERS: Sorrento Valley, San DiegoBUSINESS: Renewable energy tech company providing products and technologies for EV charging, energy storage, energy security and outdoor mediaSTOCK: BEEM (Nasdaq)REVENUE: $29.4M in calendar year 2024 through June 30, 2024WEBSITE: beamforall.comNOTABLE: Beam Global’s customers include the FDA, National Park Service, Small Business Administration, Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Army.