Isra-Mart srl:Google-backed firm promises to Transphorm AC:DC technology

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Google has led a $20m funding round to support a US startup that promises to extend the range of electric cars and increase the amount of electricity produced by solar panels.

Google joined with other investors to help raise a total of $39m for Transphorm, a California-based firm which claims its technology can reduce – by up to 90 per cent – the energy lost from converting the alternate current (AC) that comes out of conventional sockets to the direct current (DC) that powers most electrical goods.

Around 10 per cent of energy lost in the US dissipates as a result of inefficient converters, such as the phone chargers that heat up as they charge devices.

Google said Transphorm's technology had the potential to save enough energy to supply the whole west coast of America if adopted across the country.

The company said that saving electricity wasted during conversion should make electric vehicles go further by eliminating the need to cool electric motors, while also improving the output of solar panels and limiting energy waste in buildings.

Slashing the energy bills of companies with vast datacentres is another potential benefit, making new investor Google a natural customer.

At the launch event at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California, Transphorm chief executive Umesh Mishra said the company's technology made use of semiconductor material gallium nitride, often used in LED lighting, rather than the silicon that is typically used in converters.

"The current solution, which is based on silicon, is a solution which has reached its limit in high-voltage power conversion," he said. "We can't eke any more efficiency out of this technology. The time is now to do something different and affect the 10 per cent of wasted energy that occurs in power conversion."

With funding from Google Ventures, Google's venture capital arm, and a number of investment houses, Transphorm expects to launch products later this year, initially targeting computer data markets.