Efficient Drivetrains, Inc. (EDI), a global leader in advanced, high-efficiency Hybrid and Electric drivetrain solutions, today announced closing $3.5M in Series A funding. The round was led by Jinyuan Development Company, and also included participation by Silicon Valley China Venture Partners and the Shanghai Gui Guo Assets Management Partnership.

Founded in 2006, EDI develops and markets advanced concepts and technologies for use in Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV), Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV), and Electric Vehicles (EV) worldwide. EDI offers highly unique drivetrain solutions for light, medium, and heavy duty vehicles to global vehicle developers, OEMs, and suppliers enabling them to realize advantages in drivetrain size, weight, performance and affordability.

'Increasing demand and changes in technology economics are accelerating the electrification of vehicles of all types, and market opportunities are changing dramatically,' said Joerg Ferchau, co-founder and CEO of EDI. 'New business models, regulatory requirements and evolving technologies are fundamentally altering the marketplace. With this infusion of capital, EDI is well prepared to support new market and customer opportunities.'

EDI recently announced the initiation of a number of new vehicle programs which are based on the company's EDI Drive PHEV drivetrain system that provides cost and efficiency advantages by providing vehicles with full Electric, Series, and Parallel hybrid performance. The company has also developed industry-changing technology for new types of continuously variable transmissions (CVT) that are among the most efficient and largest torque capacity transmissions of their type in the industry today.

'With increasing regulatory pressures, the industry is undergoing a huge shift, and EDI is leading the charge by setting the standard'taking visionary ideas and transforming them into real applications that can be delivered across a wide range of vehicles globally,' said Winston XU, President of SVC. 'SVC invests in best-of-breed companies, and we were pleased to continue to back EDI in their Series A round of funding.'

EDI will use its new funding to support current customer opportunities, to expand its engineering and sales organizations, facilities, and product roadmap in order to meet the growing demand for its Plug-in Hybrid and electric vehicle drivetrain solutions in the U.S. and Asia. The company is currently working to expand its Asia operations in Beijing, China, as well as its U.S. operations in Dixon and Silicon Valley, California.

About EDI:

Efficient Drivetrains, Inc. (EDI) develops and markets a range of state-of-the-art proprietary drivetrain products and technologies that have direct applications in PHEVs, HEVs, and BEVs worldwide. EDI's leading hybrid electric drivetrain systems and technologies provide significant cost and efficiency advantages for parallel and series hybrid drivetrain architectures across nearly all platform classes and configurations. EDI is currently active in automotive projects throughout North America and the APAC region. More information about EDI is available at http://www.efficientdrivetrains.com.