Ford snaps up EV power startup to boost its charging tech

Ford is buying and burying Auto Motive Power, or “AMP” for short, to bolster its charging, battery management and power conversion tech.

The secretive energy startup once claimed to power “most of the world’s top electric OEMs,” though as far as we can tell it never disclosed its customers publicly.

Following the deal, Los Angeles-based AMP will cease to exist. Instead, Ford will scoop up the startup’s tech, talent and facility in Santa Fe Springs, California to bolster its own EV plans, Ford spokesperson Emma Bergg told TechCrunch.

Ford declined to say how much it paid for AMP. Since it launched in 2017, the startup raised $26.5 million and brought on around 149 staffers, according to PitchBook data. 

As an independent company, AMP’s scope grew to include power management for everything from autonomous rideshare vehicles to drones and hyperloop-style transport, according to now-deleted pages that are retrievable via the Internet Archive. To that point, AMP hardware boss Jiaqi Liang previously worked at Virgin Hyperloop. 

Ford will bring on the “majority” of AMP’s employees, Bergg said. This includes AMP founder Anil Paryani, who will report to Ford EV development boss Alan Clarke within the Model e unit. Clarke and Paryani previously worked together on Tesla’s engineering team, overlapping for about five years.

It appears that AMP’s COO, Lionel Selwood Jr., will not join Ford, per the executive’s LinkedIn profile.

Paryani said in a statement that he’s “super stoked to announce” the acquisition. “We look forward to helping accelerate EV adoption with Ford’s manufacturing muscle and know-how behind us,” he said.

Bergg added that Ford is “focused on accelerating EV adoption and improving charging experiences,” and this particular deal is about “accelerating that effort.”

AMP’s lead investors included Marco Marinucci of Hella Ventures, Alex Moore at 8VC and Josh Grehan of Helios Climate Ventures.