Xeal is developing edge AI inference datacenters powered by spare capacity at electric vehicle charging stations across parking lots.

Xeal has launched Laitent, a network of edge data centers designed to tap into idle electric vehicle charging capacity. The company, which operates charging infrastructure in 500 cities across the US, says the platform can leverage more than 200MW of permitted and installed electrical infrastructure across 1,600 different locations.

Xeal intends to deploy 100,000 Nvidia GPUs at these locations to run AI inference workloads. EV charging sites are permitted for a maximum energy charging load but typically operate at less than 10 percent of permitted capacity. According to Xeal, this means 90 percent of that capacity is theoretically spare and available to route to GPUs.

The Laitent Pods use dynamic power orchestration software capable of activating a single GPU slice or orchestrating networks across multiple installations within a city. Each pod is approximately the size of one parking space and can house up to 48 Hopper or Blackwell GPUs. They do not require a water connection.

"If you need inference compute today and can't wait for a new data center to come online, Laitent can accelerate your timeline from years to months," said Nikhil Bharadwaj, co-founder and CEO of Xeal. "Laitent is the fastest way to bring new compute online, tapping already permitted and grid-connected, yet idle energy capacity, located right where it's needed for ultra-low latency, with no water hookup requirements."

Xeal has worked with Rafay Systems for AI infrastructure orchestration, Spectrum Business for fiber, and JVM Realty to bring the pods online, with first deployment expected before the end of the year.

The company claims the pods could add $1 million to the value of car park owners' properties for little or no investment.

This is not the first venture to place AI compute in parking lots. AI music platform-turned-data center firm Auddia announced in March that it intends to deploy solar-powered GPUs in parking lots at sites owned by a medical real estate firm, with a pilot set to launch in the Dallas area. Belgian startup Tonomia announced last year that it was working with UK hardware provider Panchaea to offer a distributed AI platform housed in solar canopy systems in parking lots, known as eCloud.