1 billion dollar funding for EV startup EVelozcity
Founded by former BMW and Faraday Future manager Stefan Krause, the electric car venture EVelozcity is hot among investors. Krause says he got funding offers over 1 billion dollars and thus the startup is planning big.
EVelozcity wants to launch three electric cars by 2021, according to Krause. They shall utilise one shared platform and aim at a price below 50,000 dollars with a range of 400 kilometres. Conceptionaly, EVelozcity’s models are to serve commuters on the last mile, delivery companies in the commercial sector and lastly the rising ridesharing business.
Still, EVelozcity has yet to present a design of their own. So far, founder Krause seems to be riding on his good name. He is well connected both from his two decades at BMW and most recently as CTO of Faraday Future, which has gotten ever deeper into a crisis since. His departure was not amicable. In fact, Faraday Future filed a lawsuit against its former CFO for stealing trade secrets and employees (we reported).
In his new venture, Krause appears to serve with expertise mostly. EVelozcity says it does not want to build the electric cars themselves but is talking to both American as well as Chinese companies to produce to order. Krause calls this his “asset-light” approach. EVelozcity wants to then sell its electric cars in the States, China and also Europe eventually.
To date, the firm employs 100 engineers and developers and plans to create another 200 jobs before the year’s end. EVelozcity has not given any details on its investors. Krause told Forbes: “We have investment or commitments for this kind of amount of money,” and added “We have a global group of financially oriented investors from China, Europe and the U.S.,” whom he would not identify.
Yet, the investors alleged trust does not seem unfounded. Krause is joined for EVelozcity by technology chief Ulrich Kranz, who helped design BMW’s electric models, the i3 and i8.
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