Electra Vehicles, the “brain” that extends battery life

He has developed an intelligent brain for lithium batteries (and not only). She called it Eve-AI. You set up a business and you did it in the United States. And now he invoices, announces rounds and dreams of returning to Italy. Fabrizio Martini, 36, in 2015 in Boston launched Electra Vehicles Inc., a company that combines data, machine learning, artificial intelligence and electrification. He has just closed a 21 million dollar round, led by United Ventures, a venture capital vehicle based in Milan, together with other investors. Almost all Italian.

“We have developed software which, thanks to all-round data analysis, can increase the duration, life and safety of lithium batteries. Now we sell them under license in the automotive field (but we could also range in other fields We feed the neural networks data from the battery, the driver and his driving style, the type of vehicle and the environment. The result? We can improve the performance of each individual battery by 28 percent, make it last even 14-15 years instead of the 6-7 that make up the current life cycle of batteries. And predict possible damage three months in advance”. Son of entrepreneurs, passionate about MotoGP and cars, Martini travels only by bicycle in Boston. He has a three-year degree from the Milan Polytechnic in Vehicle Dynamics. At 21 he is already abroad for a doctorate in battery and energy storage at Northeastern University in Boston. Then the university introduces him into the world of work. At 22, he develops innovative batteries for the US government: first for the Department of Energy, then for the Defense Department. At 23, the United States gave him 5 million dollars to make batteries and asked him in exchange to show the results of his studies in the desert, in Houston and Cape Canaveral. From here Fabrizio Martini’s project arrives at NASA. “They were working on the exploration of Venus using electric drones and they asked me to find the ideal battery for that environment. I developed software for that project. Over the years, I applied to NASA for a patent to do a feat.” Yes, as long as you stay in the United States for four years”. So I invested all my savings, 65 thousand dollars, and left. Then the State of Massachusetts gave me a grant of 300 thousand dollars, Amazon Web Service gave me another 150 thousand. The companies had a lot of data and didn’t know what to do with it. We offered to look at it, analyze it and then give them a lot of useful information. We started billing right away”.

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Two years ago Fabrizio, who leads a team of 50 people and has a turnover of 10 million dollars a year, opened an office in Europe. He chooses Turin. Stellantis Ventures and previous investors who have reconfirmed interest, such as LIFTT and the Investors Club, also participated in the new round, announced on February 22, 2023. Among these also BlackBerry Limited. “Today we expect to hire another 50 people between Italy and the USA. We want to bring our technologies to vehicles and close commercial contracts with car manufacturers. In my journey I have met people with the desire to improve their own lives and that of others and wishing for a better future for those who will come after. This made the difference for me. Today I am an American citizen, but I am considering returning to Italy. However, two things should be done in our country: double the investments in technologies foreseen in the coming years and push younger people to prefer startups to big companies. Right now, we’re having a hard time hiring Italian kids”