Tag: EC Mobility Hardware

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Battery darling Our Next Energy lands massive $300M Series B to build gigafactory

Battery startup Our Next Energy announced this morning that it closed a massive $300 million Series B in an effort to get its $1.6 billion gigafactory up and running.

The new round values the company at $1.2 billion post-money, marking a stunning rise for the two-and-a-half-year-old company, which closed a $25 million Series A in October 2021 and a $65 million Series A1 in March 2022.

Founded by Mujeeb Ijaz — a veteran of Ford, A123 Systems and Apple’s automotive effort — ONE has focused its efforts on finding low-cost, highly available materials for its battery chemistries. The gigafactory in question will pump out lithium-iron-phosphate cells, better known as LFP.

Ijaz told TechCrunch that the first 2 gigawatt-hours of capacity at its Michigan plant will come online by the end of next year, and the remaining 18 gigawatt-hours will be added in stages over the following three years.

The new round was led by Fifth Wall and Franklin Templeton, and it was joined by growth equity investors Temasek, Riverstone Holdings and Coatue; venture investors AI Capital Partners and Sente Ventures; and ONE’s Series A investors, including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Assembly Ventures, BMW i Ventures and Volta Energy Technologies. Also joining the round are two unnamed strategic investors, “a manufacturer of EV technology solutions and a renewable energy provider,” the company said.

Franklin Templeton’s addition is notable because it represents a shift from straight venture to including growth equity. With the investment, the firm gains a seat on the board and could become a source of debt for ONE’s equipment purchases. “We’re actually seeing that as the beginning of a long-term relationship that will go past Series B into Series C and potentially as we go public,” Ijaz said.

ONE’s move into at-scale manufacturing comes as the U.S. battery industry is newly emboldened by the Inflation Reduction Act, which offers substantial incentives for companies to develop domestic supply chains and production. As a result, U.S. battery startups have begun to embrace their role not just as R&D shops that license their technology but as manufacturers competing with largely Asia-based giants like LG Energy Solution, CATL and SK Innovation.

While ONE has gained significant government backing, including $220 million in grants from the state of Michigan, the decision to build an LFP gigafactory isn’t without risk. While LFP was invented in the U.S., most of the production today takes place in China.

That’s in part because pioneering battery company A123 Systems bet big on the chemistry only to see the market for its cells evaporate. That sent the company into bankruptcy, where it was purchased for a song by a major Chinese auto parts company. Chinese companies also swept in and bought the rights to many LFP-related patents, several of which only expired last year.

After the successful launch of the Tesla Model S, LFP cells were unable to deliver the range consumers expected and fell out of favor in the U.S. and Europe. Over the last decade, Chinese companies have developed vast factories that can crank out cells at low prices.

In some ways, ONE’s gigafactory endeavor echoes that of A123, and that story didn’t end well. I asked Ijaz, who was an executive at the company during its rise and following its sale in bankruptcy, whether he thought this time would go any differently.

“I’ve thought a lot about this as I went through that experience very closely,” he said. “I think there are four differences.”

Battery darling Our Next Energy lands massive $300M Series B to build gigafactory by Tim De Chant originally published on TechCrunch

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Ample’s founder explains what it takes to scale EV battery swapping

The conversation around widespread electric vehicle adoption has been inherently linked with charging: Are the chargers plentiful? Will they charge my car fast enough? Are they plugged into a grid that’s not entirely run by coal?

Billions of dollars have gone into developing batteries that can handle fast charges as well as chargers that can top up a vehicle in as little as 20 minutes. Few, at least in the U.S., are really talking about battery swapping for cars and trucks.

Ample happens to be among the few leading that charge.

Ample, which rose from the ashes of its unsuccessful predecessor, Better Place, has brought battery swapping to Los Angeles and soon will introduce the tech to Japan and Madrid through a series of partnerships with fleet partners like Uber and Eneos. Unlike its predecessor, Ample doesn’t try to deploy battery-swapping stations until it knows it’ll have the customers to use them.

Since we last checked in with Ample’s co-founder and president John de Souza a year ago, the San Francisco-based startup has quietly grown, building new swapping stations and signing on additional fleet partners around the globe.

Meanwhile, battery-swapping tech for cars has gained footing in China. Beijing is throwing its weight behind a few companies advancing the technology as part of its broader plan to ensure 25% of all cars sold are electric by 2025. Automakers Nio and Geely, battery-swapping tech developer Aulton and oil producer Sinopec said this year they plan to build 24,000 swapping stations across China by 2025. Today there are 1,400.

We caught up with de Souza to talk about the implications of China’s investment in battery swapping, why scaling fast-charging infrastructure is a lot harder than we think and sought his advice on how hardware startups can scale while staying lean.

(Editor’s note: The following interview, part of an ongoing series with founders who are building transportation companies, has been edited for length and clarity.)

You’re calling me from Madrid, which you had said Ample was targeting as its next launch city.

Yes, we are deploying in Madrid as we speak. We’re partnering with Repsol to quickly deploy a wide network; Uber to work with ride-sharing fleet managers; and automakers (which we haven’t announced publicly yet) to deliver vehicles with the Ample solution.

From a customer standpoint, our partnerships focus on ride-sharing, car-sharing and last-mile delivery.

Battery swapping can be difficult to pull off because it requires some standardization of the battery. Ample provides modular battery swapping, which means you don’t swap the entire battery pack. Can you explain why that’s significant?

There are two aspects to Ample’s modular battery swapping that are significant. Firstly, it allows the flexibility to fit our packs into vehicles of different sizes and shapes by rearranging the modular batteries. That means we can allow for different capacities by varying the number of modules. It also makes our stations, which are run robotically, more cost-effective, because you’re moving lighter modules instead of traditional packs.

Secondly, Ample’s patent to allow modules to adjust to electrical characteristics of vehicles means we can work with OEMs without requiring any changes to the vehicle. We can also use the same modules in different vehicles, which makes it easy to introduce new chemistries into cars.

You say Ample’s batteries are vehicle agnostic, but you still need to work with automakers in some way to ensure they don’t put their own batteries in the vehicle, right?

We work with automakers on being able to purchase cars without batteries. As we work with them more closely, it’s to give them a replacement battery. They might get their batteries from Samsung, LG or CATL, but we can give them a battery that’s a drop-in replacement. So just as a customer might choose the type of tires or seats they want in the car, they can one day choose which batteries they want to use. If they put our batteries in, it’s swappable. If they put their own, they’re not.

Ample’s founder explains what it takes to scale EV battery swapping by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch

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Einride founder on building an underlying business to support future tech goals

Swedish startup Einride was founded in 2016 with a mission to electrify freight transport. Today, that means designing electric trucks and an underlying operating system to help overland shippers make the transition to electric. In the future, it will mean deploying electric autonomous freight — more specifically, Einride’s autonomous pods, which are purpose-built for self-driving and can’t accommodate human drivers.

Einride founder and CEO Robert Falck told TechCrunch a year ago that he felt a moral obligation to create a greener mode of freight transport after spending years building heavy-duty diesel trucks at Volvo GTO Powertrain. On top of that, he saw the need to eventually automate the role of long-haul trucking.

Falck, a serial entrepreneur, decided against the route many autonomous trucking companies have taken — doggedly pursuing self-driving technology, even if it meant putting sensors and software stacks on diesel vehicles. Rather, Falck chose a two-step process to bring Einride to market. The first involves working with OEM partners to build electric trucks and partnering with shippers to deploy them and earn revenue. That revenue then goes back into the business for the second step, which is the development of an autonomous system. By the time Einride is ready to go to market with its autonomous pods, it will ideally already have a range of commercial shipping partners in its pipeline.

Einride’s current shipping clients across Sweden and the U.S. include Oatly, Bridgestone, Maersk and Beyond Meat. The company said it clears close to 20,000 shipments per day.

Over the past few months, Einride has completed a public road pilot of its electric, autonomous pod in Tennessee with GE Appliances, launched its electric trucks in Germany in partnership with home appliance giant Electrolux, announced plans to build a network of freight charging stations in Sweden and Los Angeles, and introduced its second-generation autonomous pod.

We sat down with Falck a year after our initial interview with him to talk about the challenges of reaching autonomy when connectivity on the roads is lacking, why the Big Tech crashes are actually healthy for the industry and what consolidation looks like for autonomous driving.

The following interview, part of an ongoing series with founders who are building transportation companies, has been edited for length and clarity.

Einride founder on building an underlying business to support future tech goals by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch

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Is it time for Elon Musk to find a Tim Cook for Tesla?

Elon Musk has his fingers in a lot of pies. He’s CEO of automaker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX. He also founded tunnel construction firm the Boring Company and co-founded Neuralink, a brain implant startup. Now it looks like Musk will spearhead the effort to take Twitter private and potentially roll it into an “everything app” he calls X.

If that sounds like a lot, well, it is. Many observers have wondered whether Musk should step down from one or more of his leadership positions, particularly as CEO of Tesla, because he’s strapped for time. They might be right. Other observers see signs of Founder’s Syndrome, in which founders struggle to delegate, share the limelight and so on. That might also be the case.

Here’s another way to phrase that question: Is Tesla still in its early days? Or is it a well-established business that needs to focus on electric vehicles and distributed renewable energy? How you answer that probably dictates whether you think Musk should stay or go.

These questions address a challenge that all companies face at some point in their lives: Should they invest resources in exploring new niches or work on exploiting existing ones they’re already familiar with?

Does Tesla need a Tim Cook?

Many companies try to do both — the so-called ambidextrous organization — so they can continue to profit from an existing business while exploring new markets. That’s hard to pull off, and no matter how hard they try, every leader has tendencies that pull them in one direction or another. (This is why it’s important for founders to have diverse, empowered lieutenants and boards so they can draw on a range of views and competencies.)

Is it time for Elon Musk to find a Tim Cook for Tesla? by Tim De Chant originally published on TechCrunch

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Mobileye IPO warns of potential potholes in the road to autonomous driving

Mobileye, Intel’s automated driving division, filed Friday for what is expected to be the year’s largest IPO, but its success is far from guaranteed.

The Israeli company, acquired by Intel five years ago for $15.3 billion, touts a broad vision: An autonomous future “where congestion is seen only in history books.” But its S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission underscores its precarious position in the ever-evolving self-driving vehicle industry.

Founded in 1999, Mobileye has benefited from its first-mover advantage, supplying automakers with computer vision technology to power their advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Now, as Mobileye expands its business model, it faces a proliferating number of rivals — from every side — in the wild and woolly world of automated vehicle technology.

The company’s list of competitors in its S-1 extends beyond the “Tier 1” suppliers in its core business to now include robotaxi developers like Argo AI, Aurora, Auto X, Baidu, Cruise, Momenta, Motional, Waymo and Zoox, as well as what it describes as “consumer AV” competitors Apple, Sony and former customer Tesla.

TechCrunch pored through the S-1 to identify the speed bumps and bright spots in its pursuit to dominate autonomous driving.

Vertical integration

In the filing, Mobileye warned that its historical reliance on a handful of automaker partners may jeopardize future revenue. For the first six months of the year, Mobileye reported that 76% of its revenue was derived from eight automakers. But now big spenders such as General Motors and Mercedes-Benz are starting to develop their own autonomous driving systems in-house.

Mobileye IPO warns of potential potholes in the road to autonomous driving by Jaclyn Trop originally published on TechCrunch

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Mobileye IPO warns of potential potholes in the road to autonomous driving

Mobileye, Intel’s automated driving division, filed Friday for what is expected to be the year’s largest IPO, but its success is far from guaranteed.

The Israeli company, acquired by Intel five years ago for $15.3 billion, touts a broad vision: An autonomous future “where congestion is seen only in history books.” But its S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission underscores its precarious position in the ever-evolving self-driving vehicle industry.

Founded in 1999, Mobileye has benefited from its first-mover advantage, supplying automakers with computer vision technology to power their advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Now, as Mobileye expands its business model, it faces a proliferating number of rivals — from every side — in the wild and woolly world of automated vehicle technology.

The company’s list of competitors in its S-1 extends beyond the “Tier 1” suppliers in its core business to now include robotaxi developers like Argo AI, Aurora, Auto X, Baidu, Cruise, Momenta, Motional, Waymo and Zoox, as well as what it describes as “consumer AV” competitors Apple, Sony and former customer Tesla.

TechCrunch pored through the S-1 to identify the speed bumps and bright spots in its pursuit to dominate autonomous driving.

Vertical integration

In the filing, Mobileye warned that its historical reliance on a handful of automaker partners may jeopardize future revenue. For the first six months of the year, Mobileye reported that 76% of its revenue was derived from eight automakers. But now big spenders such as General Motors and Mercedes-Benz are starting to develop their own autonomous driving systems in-house.

Mobileye IPO warns of potential potholes in the road to autonomous driving by Jaclyn Trop originally published on TechCrunch

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Zūm founder strikes balance between accessibility and a massive logistics network

Zūm’s mission is simple – to introduce student transportation that is reliable, efficient, sustainable and transparent.

To achieve the feat of modernizing an incredibly outdated, stuck-in-the-mud system, Zūm relies on cloud-based analytics software to create an agile bus routing system with real-time visibility for schools and parents. The startup also uses a diverse fleet that includes buses, vans and cars that it distributes based on specific use cases. For example, kids who live on busier routes will be assigned to school buses, and those who are slightly more remote will be sent vans or cars to increase overall efficiency.

When we last talked to Ritu Narayan, Zūm’s founder, the startup had just won a $150 million contract to modernize student transportation at the San Francisco Unified School District and was working on a plan to transform its fleet of electric school buses into a virtual power plant to provide backup energy to the grid.

“Zūm is a very recession-proof business. No matter what, kids are going to go to school every day, whether there’s a recession or inflation.” Zūm founder Ritu Narayan

Since then, Zūm has signed a $68 million contract with Seattle Public Schools and a $400 million contract with the Los Angeles Unified School District to bring their outdated busing systems into 2022 and beyond. The company also closed a $130 million Series D led by Softbank Vision Fund 2, bringing its total funding to more than $200 million, and set a goal to have a 100% electrified fleet of buses, vans and cars by 2025.

We sat down with Narayan to catch up on the past year and talk about how to bring on top tech talent, how growth-stage startups can attract next-level investors, and how to pick a recession-proof business.

Editor’s note: The following interview, part of an ongoing series with founders who are building transportation companies, has been edited for length and clarity.

TechCrunch: Zūm has had some impressive new executive hires lately — it looks like you’ve poached from the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, Uber and Netflix. Do you have any tips for other startups looking to attract top tech talent?

Ritu Narayan: The No. 1 thing is the focus on the mission and the purpose. The business that we are disrupting is a pretty old business. It has been around for 80 to 100 years with not much change. So when looking for potential hires, we just map out very clearly what change Zūm is bringing. We believe everybody has faced some kind of school bus story, whether they got bullied on the bus or maybe didn’t have access to one and had to walk. It’s such a part of people’s lives, that when we actually explain our mission and founding story, people are very much able to relate.

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Battery investment moves onshore to kick-start US EV production

Automakers and suppliers are breaking ground on battery factories across the United States as they race to go all in on EVs by the end of the decade.

Car companies and suppliers such as LG Energy, SK Innovation, Panasonic and Samsung are investing more than $38 billion through 2026 to boost battery production in the U.S., according to AlixPartners. In July, Kansas and North Carolina each announced the largest economic development projects in their histories, and Ford finalized a deal to bring its battery production to Tennessee and Kentucky.

This is just the start of a boom in onshore battery manufacturing: The Inflation Reduction Act, which includes tax credits to encourage domestic production of electric vehicles and batteries, offers manufacturers $30 billion in credits to speed the production of batteries and minerals processing, as well as solar panels and wind turbines, and $10 billion to build plants for EVs and solar panels.

The multiyear projects already announced won’t begin producing batteries for EVs until middecade, but shortening the supply chain will ultimately help manufacturers control costs and reduce dependence on foreign sources for raw materials. Building a domestic battery industry also lets automakers co-locate near partners, a crucial factor as the industry begins experimenting with different battery chemistries.

“This way you’re in that feedback loop that allows you to innovate and reengineer so that you always have a constant advantage and are meeting the market versus dealing with several suppliers in the chain,” said Arun Kumar, managing director of AlixPartners’ automotive and industrial practice.

“Imagine that you’ve got all the engineering, design, marketing and sales figured out, but then you don’t have enough lithium-ion batteries to produce and sell those vehicles,” Kumar added. “If you fall two years behind, you’re as good as lost because then you’re going to struggle with trying to capture the market.”

Here’s a look at some of the major projects underway:

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The disappearance of Bolt Mobility shows how corrosive depreciation can be for IRL startups

With the apparent demise of Bolt Mobility, the divide between technology businesses and those that are merely tech-enabled is back at the forefront of our minds. Once a key point of discussion when the IPO market was alive, today we’re sifting through what is left of the micromobility sector, now freshly depopulated to a new local maximum.

Not every great product makes for a good business. Renting fashion? Great idea, lovely product, fun service. But as Rent the Runway has demonstrated during its life as a public company, making something that people want is not always enough to cement long-term value.