Schenectady electric vehicle charging company lands high on Inc. 5000 list

SCHENECTADY — A Schenectady electric vehicle infrastructure company landed at No. 377 on this year’s Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies.

With 1,584% revenue growth from 2018 to 2021, Livingston Energy Group was the highest-ranked entrant from the Capital Region, the 11th highest nationally in the energy sector and the 31st highest in New York state.

Livingston has the full-time equivalent of nearly 70 employees and is based in The Gazette building on Maxon Road Extension in Schenectady. It designs, installs, manages and supports a network of thousands of EV charging stations for public, private and fleet use.

Co-founders Schuyler Poukish and Jason Zarillo began Livingston in 2016 as an energy solutions company focused on LED lighting but gradually refocused on EV charging. Its growth began to accelerate in 2020.

The company’s success is due in large part to its adaptability, Poukish said, which gets it around issues such as local bottlenecks in the power grid or nonstandard technology protocols.

“We take it upon ourselves to provide solutions to these issues, and don’t wait for others to come to us with the answers,” he said via email. “All of our stations are equipped with power management capabilities, enabled with smart charging controls, and are capable of communicating with the utilities and power authorities to balance loads and mitigate risks for the grid. This allows us to continue building-out infrastructure largely unencumbered by other factors.”

Meanwhile, Livingston is actively working with other organizations to promote standardized protocols that will improve functionality and interoperability across the industry, Poukish said.

This greater flexibility and compatibility is expected to be crucial as state and local policy dictate that an increasing percentage of passenger vehicles on the road operate solely on battery power.

Innovation enabled Livingston to expand so greatly during the pandemic, Poukish said, and he predicted it would keep the company moving forward through whatever future challenges pop up in the EV transition.

Just this past week, he said, Livingston announced the first battery-integrated charger going online in its network. 

The concept of a grid battery charging an EV battery isn’t as redundant as it might sound — the increasing reliance on inconsistent wind and solar power generation will require extensive use of energy storage in the coming years to bridge the gaps between supply and demand.

“Charging stations using this technology work more dynamically with the grid, allowing for the continued support of EV drivers while both better reacting to and preparing for changes in available energy,” Poukish explained. “This is the type of technology that is making our electrification transition a reality and positioning us as a leader in the industry.”

He and Zarillo credited their employees for the growth of Livingston and the expansion of its portfolio beyond the region’s borders.

“There is no way that we would be able to reach this milestone without such an amazing team of people,” Zarillo said.

The Inc. 5000 list for 2022 was generated from entries submitted by private for-profit companies that had a minimum of $100,000 gross revenue in 2018.

Also making the list from the Capital Region were:

• StackNexus, Schenectady, IT services, 1,260% growth, rank No. 490.
• Peregrine Market Access, Saratoga Springs, advertising/marketing, 886%, No. 710.
• Web Scribble Solutions, Troy, software, 481%, No. 1,350.
• G&G Industrial Lighting, Clifton Park, manufacturing, 219%,  No. 2,608.
• Jahnel Group, Schenectady, software, 208%, No. 2,701.
• Fingerpaint, Saratoga Springs, advertising/marketing, 203%, No. 2,746.
• Acture Solutions, Schenectady, IT services, 173%, No. 3,103.

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