For this Company Spotlight, we interviewed CZAR Power’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer (Tony Frisone). CZAR Power has developed an all-in-one smart energy solution to support the deployment of clean energy sources and electric fast-charging. For more information on CZAR Power, please visit www.czar-power.com.

Background: Before co-founding CZAR Power in 2019, Tony Frisone served in the U.S. Army for eight years during which he was a Counter-IED Officer in Afghanistan. While deployed, he noticed that diesel fuel transport vehicles were often the targets of IEDs. This made him realize how critical energy (diesel fuel in this case) was to our national security, as it not only fueled military vehicles but also the power generators that electrified in-country operations.

Upon leaving the Army, Tony reconnected with one of his best friends from undergrad, Dr. Nelson Wang, who had just finished getting his PhDs in Electrical Engineer and Computer Science from MIT, and they started to explore founding an energy business. Initially, they explored developing a software solution to deploy artificial intelligence/machine learning to optimize renewable power and EV charging infrastructure. However, they quickly learned that the equipment utilized in those applications (i.e., inverters, gateways, etc.) consists of a vast array of components with significantly varying specifications and interfaces that is largely sourced from foreign manufacturers. Therefore, Tony and Nelson started CZAR Power to provide a device that would solve this problem.

Value Proposition: CZAR Power’s unique system provides the following features and benefits to distributed energy generation, energy storage, grid resiliency, and bidirectional EV charging use cases:

More Cost Effective: CZAR Power’s system is less than half the cost of the alternative and can be installed 3x faster.
Modular & Adaptable: CZAR Power combines multiple systems into one simple device that can be deployed in any EV charging application and adapts to dynamically changing energy demand.
Made in America: CZAR Power’s device is manufactured domestically, which provides its customers with a more secure and dependable supply chain.
AI-Enabled Energy Management: Software is layered into the device to increase transparency and energy efficiency.

Closing Thoughts: Providing reliable access to multiple energy sources is critical to national security as society undergoes the energy transition, which is why technologies like CZAR Power’s will play an important role. We look forward to following the company, as they continue to provide innovative solutions to the industry.

Company Spotlights

October 2023