# dcbel

> Montreal-based dcbel makes Ara, a home energy station that combines bidirectional EV charging, solar and battery power conversion, blackout protection, and software-driven energy management. Its wager is that a car battery should be a household asset rather than dead weight in the driveway - but realizing that idea depends on compatible vehicles, professional installation, utility programs, certification, and a homeowner willing to pay a five-figure hardware price before incentives.

- **Founded:** 2015
- **Headquarters:** Montreal, Canada
- **Founders:** Marc-André Forget (Co-founder and CEO), Ronald Denom (Co-founder and Chief Risk & Compliance Officer), Daniel Fletcher (Co-founder and Chief Business Officer)
- **Team size:** About 120 in the supplied company dataset; Canada Growth Fund reported approximately 80 employees in March 2025
- **Products:** Ara Home Energy Station, r16 Home Energy Station, Orchestrate OS, Chorus, Capacity
- **Notable:** Founded in Montreal in 2015 and built a portfolio of roughly 50 patents across six power-electronics and power-conversion technologies by 2025., Became the first residential bidirectional DC EV charger in the United States to fulfill the cited UL 2231 and UL 9741 requirements in 2023., Secured strategic investment from Volvo Cars Tech Fund in 2023.

## Products & services

- **Ara Home Energy Station** — All-in-one residential system for DC and AC EV charging, vehicle-to-home backup, peak shaving, solar conversion, battery integration and automated energy routing.
- **r16 Home Energy Station** — The earlier name and generation of dcbel’s flagship system; it became the first U.S.-certified residential bidirectional DC EV charger under relevant UL requirements in 2023.
- **Orchestrate OS** — Local operating system that plans and commands power flows among the home, EV, solar, battery and grid.
- **Chorus** — Cloud IoT management platform for monitoring, optimizing and aggregating distributed energy resources; certified to CSIP/IEEE 2030.5 in 2022.
- **Capacity** — Enterprise platform for energy companies to forecast grid flexibility, manage real-time transactions and operate consumer energy programs.
- **App Hub** — Consumer software layer for monitoring and personalizing home-energy behavior and participating in supported energy programs.

## Achievements

- Founded in Montreal in 2015 and built a portfolio of roughly 50 patents across six power-electronics and power-conversion technologies by 2025.
- Became the first residential bidirectional DC EV charger in the United States to fulfill the cited UL 2231 and UL 9741 requirements in 2023.
- Secured strategic investment from Volvo Cars Tech Fund in 2023.
- Won a California Energy Commission award with more than US$52 million in potential funding for bidirectional charging deployment and research.
- Raised an additional financing round of up to US$55 million led by Canada Growth Fund in March 2025.
- Enabled supported 2025 Volvo EX90 vehicles to send power back to U.S. homes through Ara in November 2025.
- Approached 200 California installations by May 2026 and entered the Québec market in spring 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — dcbel and MassCEC announced a Massachusetts V2X pilot offering eligible bidirectional-EV owners an Ara system with installation at no cost.
- **2026-05** — Public reporting said dcbel was nearing 200 California installations while preparing for a potentially much larger next deployment phase.
- **2026-04** — dcbel announced entry into its home Québec market after beginning deployments in California.
- **2025-11** — Volvo enabled vehicle-to-home use for supported 2025 EX90 vehicles in the United States when paired with a compatible dcbel Ara system.
- **2025-09** — Fidelity Investments Canada joined dcbel in a venture financing round; the amount was not publicly disclosed.
- **2025-03** — Canada Growth Fund led a financing of up to US$55 million to accelerate commercialization in North America and Europe.

## Links

- Website: https://dcbel.energy
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dcbel/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/dcbel_energy
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dcbel
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/dcbel.energy

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/dcbel
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-24