Ford Acquires Electriphi, A Battery Management Startup

If there has been any doubt over Ford's commitment in the EV space well, then there is another bit of evidence that the iconic Detroit-based company has gone all-in on EVs by acquiring Electriphi. After launching its first two EVs - the F-150 Lightning and the Mustang Mach-E, it also has also plans on having two commercial EVs - E-Transit cargo and the F-150 Lighting Pro which will likely be paired up with the Electriphi acquisition which specialises in battery management and fleet monitoring software. 

Ford is betting that it can make $1 billion in revenue by 2030 by just using its charging, though there are no details on how much Ford paid to acquire the San Francisco based startup. Electriphi is just a 30 member team that will be integrated into the new Ford Pro business unit. Ford Pro is focused on providing services to commercial customers of its electric vehicles. 

The F-150 lightning pro will launch sometime in 2022 while the E-Transit is expected later this year. Ford Pro business has ambitions beyond charging as it expects to generate $45 billion in revenue from this business unit by 2025, though this business unit was already on a $27 billion run rate by 2019, pre-pandemic. 

"As commercial customers add electric vehicles to their fleets, they want depot charging options to make sure they're powered up and ready to go to work every day," said Ford Pro CEO Ted Cannis. 

This car will go into production in 2022

"With Electriphi's existing advanced technology IP in the Ford Pro electric vehicles and services portfolio, we will enhance the experience for commercial customers and be a single-source solution for fleet-depot charging," he added. 

Electriphi was founded in 2018 and focussed on commercial electric vehicles in the US and internationally including school buses and transit buses. 

"If you just think about what's going to happen in the next 10 years - it's a massive transformation in mobility for energy and software,"  said Muffi Ghadiali, the founder of Electriphi said a couple of years ago to Techcrunch. 

"The stakes are incredibly high and time is running out. To turn over your entire fleet in 10 years, you have to start now; they're going, 'I have to make sure that my fleet operations don't skip a heartbeat, while this transition is happening," he said at the time. 

Electriphi originally raised $4.2 million at a valuation of $11 million before the deal with Ford. With this deal, it easily slots in with Ford's ambitions. 

"Interestingly, as it turns out, the underlying Ford platform is used across many different vehicle types as well as school buses. So it's hard to say which segments we won't still be in because they are you know they are very relevant to what we do. Of course, our focus will be the large volume that the Ford is going to ship in the next year," explained Ghadiali. Ford Acquires Electriphi, A Battery Management Startup