The Future is Black: Dunamis Clean Energy Partners paves way on EV charging

By Sherri Kolade

Dunamis Clean Energy Partners, LLC, a woman-owned MBE certified full-service leader in the commercial and industrial cleaning, lighting, and electric car charging industries hasn’t stopped paving the way for futuristic, clean energy ideals since the multi-million-dollar energy firm opened in 2012.   

Dunamis prioritizes its customers in the manufacturing, government, and healthcare industries while reducing energy costs and giving back and protecting the very environment its customers and future workers live in.  

Native Detroiter Natalie King, founder and chief executive officer of Dunamis, spoke to the Michigan Chronicle about upcoming venturing and navigating her way into the clean energy lighting and electric vehicle (EV) charger manufacturer path and why she chose Detroit.   

Headquartered at 15101 W. 8 Mile Road, Dunamis features EV charging products including a Wall Mount Level II EV Charger, Pedestal Mount Level II EV Charger and DC Fast Charger.  

The company also has smart charging stations.  

“We are the first Black- and woman-owned EV charger manufacturer in this country and that is something I am really proud of,” King said. “And we’re going to be manufacturing here in the city of Detroit with city of Detroit workers.” 

The Queen of Clean Energy 

Before forming Dunamis, King served as co-founder, vice president and general counsel of J King Solar Technologies, LLC, a solar energy integration firm.   

With over 12 years of experience in the green energy industry, King is also a licensed corporate and real estate attorney by trade, with 20 years of legal experience. She operated The Law Offices of Natalie M. King, PLC, where she managed a successful corporate, real estate and entertainment law practice. King represented clients in a broad range of public and private industries, including tier one automotive suppliers, nonprofit corporations, construction and facility management firms, health care service providers, municipal corporations, and sports and entertainment ventures. She was also an adjunct professor of Contract and Business Law at Thomas M. Cooley Law School and Liberty University.   

King earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and a Juris Doctorate from Wayne State University Law School.     

“I was a lawyer by trade…from that, I wanted to do some entrepreneurial endeavors and cofounded a solar integration firm,” said King. 

“I found a passion for it,” she said of how she found a lane in the green energy space without having an energy or technical background.   

When that company dissolved (after running for a number of years) she wanted to continue in that space, for she had a passion.  

“We [Dunamis] started as an energy efficiency firm providing energy audits, federal energy audits for commercial industrial properties. … One of our very first projects, when we began, was manufacturing a Toyota tech center in Saline.”  

From there, the company continued in a “vertical integration model” in 2015 where she recommended ways businesses could bring their energy bills down using green energy products. 

In 2018, Dunamis, which also manufactures LED lights, decided to venture into the EV charging space.  

“It was definitely a spirit-led decision,” King said, adding that opening in Detroit was a natural move, although she was asked to move operations to other locations, which would have been more lucrative. “There are many, many whys as to what motivated me to stay in the city of Detroit. We had a lot of opportunities to move outside of the city. We would have gotten started a long time ago if we had taken those opportunities, but I was very clear.”  

King said her intuitive voice kept her in the city she was born and raised in. Growing up on the northwest side of Detroit, she said that she believes in the city and she is “excited about where the city has come” and where the city is going.  

She added that her company is part of the change when standing up against the impact of greenhouse gas emissions that impact disproportionately Black and Brown communities.  

“We are those communities,” she said adding that over the next few years her company will not only be making strides in lowering gas emissions but also boosting economic gains locally, too. “A part of Dunamis’ core values and mission and commitment is to ensure we integrate community engagement in our operations, services and community involvement.”