Go Scale Capital, Zhejiang VIE Science & Technology and Tianjin THSG Corporation have led a US$70 million new financing round in Protean Electric, an in-wheel electric drive system developer, according to a company announcement.
Existing investors Oak Investment Partners and GSR Ventures also participated in the round.
The new funding will be used to ramp up production in China and for new product development and formation of a manufacturing joint venture.
“This funding accelerates the adoption of our…technology in the booming electric vehicle market in China,” says KY Chan, CEO of Protean Electric.
The investment follows Protean’s announcement in May that the company is setting up a manufacturing site in Tianjin to commercialize its model PD18 in-wheel motor.
China aims to have five million new energy vehicles on the road by 2020, and has focused on electrification of buses and logistics vehicles to achieve that goal.
Operating out from Shanghai, Tianjin, the U.K. and the U.S., Protean’s in-wheel motors convert electricity directly into power and eliminate energy waste in power transmission, boosting an electrified vehicle’s energy efficiency by up to 15% compared to a centralized motor in an electric power train.
