VIA
VIA is an application for carbon verification of electric vehicles (EVs) using zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) privacy preservation to advance zero emissions objectives.
Website: https://www.solvewithvia.com/
HQ: Somerville, Massachusetts, United States
Active Markets: United States, Switzerland
Problem Addressed
EV fleet owners need a way to track the fuel sources used to charge their fleet batteries to understand true environmental impact. Tracking fuel mixes faces a number of challenges, including differing drivers that make driver specific apps inaccurate, EV’s being charged in one location but discharged in another, EV’s charged in multiple locations before a discharge, change in EV battery state because of use between charging and discharging, or owner EV data privacy and anonymity requirements or preferences.
Project Description
VIA uses a consortium blockchain to track fuel sources, applying zero-knowledge proofs to verify fuel mixes while protecting the privacy of EV owners. VIA verifies the fuel mix of EV vehicles at Vehicle to Building (V2B) and Vehicle to Grid (V2G) exchanges. Batteries can be charged and discharged at these exchanges, helping support grid flexibility during peak times and emergencies, reducing electricity costs for some building owners or tenants, and can support grid resilience during inclement weather or other events. VIA verifies the fuel mix during charging and discharging while protecting data privacy for the EV owner through zero-knowledge proofs. Through VIA, EV owners can be compensated with Web3 assets for V2B and V2G contributions.
VIA’s impact statement articulates the project’s alignment with the White House Comprehensive Framework for Responsible Development of Digital Assets along with the verification of fuel sources to accelerate Vehicle to Building (V2B) and Vehicle to Grid (V2G) adoption, which would increase grid resilience “particularly in underserved communities.” VIA describes themselves as “powering the clean energy revolution.”
Business Data
Status: Active
Constituency Served: utility companies, EV fleet managers
Networks: VIAsecurechain
Known Investors: Prefix Capital, The Westly Group, Swiss Federal office of Energy, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Elemental Excelerator, Startup Canada, NXT Ventures, Tokyo Electric Power
Additional References: N/A
Progress to date
VIA is potentially the first application of zero-knowledge proof technology to track fuel sources among EVs.
The Government Information Technology Executive Council (GITEC) nominated VIA in 2023 for outstanding achievement in “Advancing Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics” for the federal government. AWS selected VIA as the only Web3 company to be a part of the the AWS Sustainable Cities Accelerator for Infrastructure in 2023. In 2021, Switzerland awarded VIA with the Global Enterprise 2021 Tell Award.
Business Model
Revenue model not disclosed.
Traction
VIA is the leading provider of Web3 technologies to the U.S. Department of Defense. The U.S. Department of Energy’s national lab determined in February 2024 that VIA is positioned to be become the industry standard for EV fleet decarbonization initiatives. Between the United States and Switzerland, VIA is working with fleets totaling more than 54,000 vehicles.