ACM Adaptive City Mobility is apparently broke

The electric car start-up ACM Adaptive City Mobility from Munich has filed for insolvency at the competent district court. However, the company is also looking for further investors to continue vehicle development.

As reported by the German publication Automobilwoche, the well-known insolvency expert Michael Jaffé has already been appointed as insolvency administrator. According to ACM, the background to the insolvency application was that the presentation of the City One had been severely delayed due to Corona and now the time for negotiations with potential partners was too short.

A presentation was actually planned for the beginning of 2021, but ACM only gave a preview of the series version of the City One at the end of June. The vehicle was then shown to the public and potential partners at the IAA Mobility in Munich. Because of the delay, money was tight and negotiations with potential investors could not be concluded quickly enough.

These talks are now to continue even during insolvency. According to Paul Leibold, founder and CEO of Adaptive City Mobility, the goal is still to “conclude the investor process for a continuation of the vehicle development as quickly as possible”. They will “quickly approach strategic partners”, the report says.

This is also being done with the express support of the insolvency administrator. “We will push ahead with the international search for investors for this forward-looking technology,” says Jaffé. “Looking to the future, it is a worthwhile challenge to realise the next development stage of the vehicle. The market response to date and the expertise of the ACM team give us confidence in this.”

The ACM City One is a small electric vehicle, which with its modular design should also be suitable for developing and emerging countries. The 3.60-metre-long vehicle can be converted from a car to a van in just a few steps – and can thus transport either four passengers or loads with a load volume of up to 1,450 litres. In addition, a battery charging system and intelligent home charging are being developed for the ecosystem around the City One.

The City One is the result of around six years of development work – initially in the Adaptive City Mobility 2 (ACM) project from the “ICT for Electromobility” technology programme, and later under the direction of ACM Adaptive City Mobility GmbH. According to founder and CEO Paul Leibold, the electric vehicle is particularly suitable for ride-hailing and shared mobility fleets – in combination with a B2B pool sharing platform that optimises vehicle utilisation and ensures energy supply around the clock.

automobilwoche.de (in German)