Einride entered a definitive agreement to acquire Flipturn, a developer of charging and energy management software for electric fleets for the estimated price of $38.4 million, the firm announced in a press release.
The Sweden-based maker of electric heavy duty autonomous trucks, which has been expanding in the U.S. since going public in June, said the acquisition allows it to add Flipturn’s established customer base to Einride’s portfolio.
Flipturn manages over 250 megawatts of charging capacity, which represents about 5,000 charging ports under management, Christina Zander, a spokesperson for Einride, said in an email to Trucking Dive. The deal doubles Einride’s existing capacity of energy under management.
Einride said in the release that the deal lays the groundwork to create North America’s largest heavy-duty EV charging ecosystem. Flipturn serves multiple segments including commercial properties, retail and multifamily but a majority of its managed capacity is concentrated in fleet deployments, Zander said.
CEO Roozbeh Charli said in a statement that the acquisition of Flipturn is a step in the company’s U.S. scaling strategy. The company said it planned to close the all-stock purchase, which was subject to regulatory approvals, last month.
“Flipturn will further strengthen Einride’s software layer for electric heavy-duty freight optimization and improve our customer offering by adding more cost efficient, more reliable, and accessible charging to our customers,” Charli said in the July 21 announcement.
Einride said Saga AI, its platform for optimizing electric freight, has supported EVs traveling more than 19 million electric miles worldwide by continuously optimizing vehicle utilization, energy consumption and performance, per the release.
Einride said it is looking to Flipturn’s technology to better predict charging times, optimize power delivery and adapt each fleet’s vehicle and battery behavior over time. It also will help the company ensure charging networks remain online and manage driver access and payments.
Flipturn’s energy management technology has also helped reduce grid energy costs, which has led to lower total cost of energy, according to Einride. Einride said aggregating charging demand at scale will allow it to negotiate more competitive access to third-party charging networks.
No changes are expected at Flipturn as its customers will keep the same team and platform they currently use, Flipturn co-founder and CEO Katie Siegel said in the announcement.
Despite the shifting environment for zero-emissions vehicles, many private efforts including those by EV Realty and a consortium involving the Port of Long Beach, continue to build out electric charging infrastructure as fleets advance deployment of the technology.
Einride’s is also pushing ahead with its strategy to grow EV charging infrastructure, Zander said.
“The North American charging strategy has remained focused on building out partnerships and access models that benefit both charging hub developers and Einride’s needs for efficient charging,” she said.
Zander said while many of Eniride’s partners relied heavily on previous regulations or granting programs, Einride has grown charging access without directly taking any grants or subsidies for charging to-date.
“Einride’s US charging team is now delivering over a half GigaWatt-Hour of charging each month, all while beating parity in costs to diesel fuel for our fleet operations, and showing no signs of slowing,” she said.
