Ford buys EV charging startup in bid to help its electric dreams

Ford has said it will postpone $12 billion in EV investment due to slowing demand.
Lukas Schulze/Getty Images

Ford has bought an electric charging startup called AMP,  TechCrunch reported.
The automaker aims to improve its charging tech to jumpstart its stalling EV push.
Automakers are proving increasingly cautious about EVs, with Ford pausing $12 billion in spending.

Ford is buying an electric charging startup as it tries to reinvigorate its flagging EV push.

The auto giant is purchasing Auto Motive Power (AMP), an electric charging startup that makes battery management software, as it seeks to overhaul its charging technology and reduce the cost of its electric vehicles.

Ford confirmed to TechCrunch that California-based AMP, which also builds charging technology for drones and “hyperloop” transport systems, would be folded into the company.

A Ford representative told TechCrunch that the deal aimed to accelerate its efforts to encourage EV adoption and improve its charging technology.

It comes shortly after Ford said it would postpone $12 billion in EV spending and pause work on several major projects, including a new battery factory in Kentucky.

Speaking after Ford’s third quarter results, executives admitted that while it’s still committed battery-powered vehicles, demand had been slower than expected.

In an interview with The New York Times last month, executive chair Bill Ford warned that drivers aren’t willing to pay a big premium for electric vehicles, and that prices needed to come down before the auto industry could fully embrace EVs.

Other car makers have taken a similarly cautious approach to electric vehicles in recent months, with several ditching ambitious targets amid slowing demand.

GM said it would abandon its targets to build 100,000 EVs in the second half of 2023. Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz CFO Harald Wilhelm told analysts the EV sector was a “pretty brutal space” and warned the current market was not sustainable for many automakers.

Tesla, however, continues to defy predictions that rising competition will hurt its position as status the western world’s biggest EV maker.

The Elon Musk-owned carmaker has persuaded several rivals switch to using its charging network in the US, including Ford and GM.

On Wednesday, Subaru became the latest car maker to join the club, announcing plans to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard for its EVs from 2025.

Ford did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.