Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard’s new EV startup is acquired by SF Motors

Earlier this year, we published an exclusive report about Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard’s comeback in the EV space with a new startup. It is an interesting story.

Fast forward to today where we’ve learned that China’s SF Motors, which recently launched in the US, has acquired Eberhard’s startup.

The company announced the acquisition in a press release today. They write about the startup, called InEVit, in the release:

“The Company has developed and patented a unique EV chassis architecture, battery module design innovations and manufacturing techniques that will allow the EV industry to rapidly scale manufacturing of cost-and-feature-competitive vehicles. The pre-revenue company will become a wholly owned subsidiary of SF Motors, and will continue to market and license its innovations to competitive vehicle OEMs.”

Eberhard’s work at the startup sounds similar to the early development at Tesla since they are focusing on battery module technology, which is “chemistry- and form-factor-agnostic” in the case of the newly acquired company.

As we previously reported, Eberhard left Tesla after a very public ‘founders disagreement’ with Elon Musk that led to his ousting from his role as CEO of the company back in 2008.

He briefly led Volkswagen’s electric vehicle development in the US and later joined his former Tesla colleagues at competitor Atieva, now Lucid Motors, before leaving in 2015. We learned last year that he resurfaced as a consultant for SF Motors as it was trying to enter the US market.

Eberhard commented:

“I have truly enjoyed working with SF Motors and playing a role in the company’s strategic vision, and am excited to join the company along with the rest of the InEVit family as we work to establish the next great milestone in clean mobility,”

He and the team, including Heiner Fees, a former engineer at Bosch, now “Founder / VP Engineering & Managing Director of InEVit GmbH”, and Mike Miskovsky, serial green tech entrepreneur and former CEO of Zep Solar, which was acquired by SolarCity – now Tesla, will all be joining SF Motors in new roles.

Aside from its new InEVit subsidiary, which apparently will aim to supply electric powertrains to OEMs, SF Motors’ plans are not exactly clear – but they look like big plans.

The company is backed by China’s Sokon and it recently acquired the former Hummer factory in Indiana, where it plans to manufacture unspecified electric vehicles. They also recently officially launched and inaugurated their new US headquarters in Silicon Valley.