Swedish battery startup making waves in Washington nets $34M to electrify ships
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An employee at an Echandia facility. (Echandia Photo)
Echandia, a Swedish maker of battery systems for marine vessels, raised $34 million.
Echandia leaders said the investment will be used to increase its production capacity, grow its U.S. market presence, and fund R&D efforts.
Almost a year ago, the company celebrated the opening of its manufacturing and sales facility in Marysville, Wash., which is its first site in North America.
The startup employs seven people at the Washington facility, and expects to hire this fall when its assembly line starts running.
'With North America serving as a critical growth region, we believe we're well-positioned to help operators cut emissions and hedge against fuel price volatility, while enhancing vessel performance,' Torbjörn Bäck, CEO of Echandia, said in a statement.
Echandia partners with shipyards to build and retrofit vessels to make them all-electric or hybrid-electric powered. The startup has customers in Europe, India and New Zealand and is working on ferries, naval vessels, merchant ships and offshore vessels.
Its batteries use a lithium-titanate-oxide chemistry, which the company says is safer and faster-charging than traditional lithium-ion designs.
Investors in Echandia's round include U.S.-based S2G Investments; Klima, the energy transition fund for Spain's Alantra; Swedish investors Industrifonden and SEB Greentech VC; and the Japanese firm EEI.
Echandia has raised a total of $54.6 million. Its revenue quadrupled last year, and is expected to triple again this year 'driven by strong market demand and an expanding order pipeline,' the company stated.
San Francisco Bay Ferry's REEF (Rapid Electric Emission Free) Program last year selected the company to provide its battery systems, making it the first U.S. operation to offer zero-emission ferry service starting next year.
Washington State Ferries has been pursuing a strategy to start moving its fleet to hybrid-electric vessels by 2040 by converting some existing ferries and buying new vessels. The ferry system burns roughly 19 million gallons of diesel each year and is the largest producer of greenhouse gases among state agencies.
The effort to cut emissions, however, is being delayed as the cost of converting an initial vessel was significantly higher than expected, the Seattle Times reported. The state hired Vigor Shipyards, a long-time local company, for the job. The state has not said which shipbuilder will construct the new ferries, but a decision is anticipated by the end of the month.
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