At FootPrint portfolio company, Kindred Motorworks, the ‘V’ in EV stands for vintage. Today, the company launches its first models of classic cars retrofitted with modern comfort, contemporary powertrains, safety features, and of course EV technology.
On August 19, 2022, the company will open pre-orders for its launch models, the Kindred Bronco and Kindred Electric VW Bus, with the imminent debut of its second set of vehicles, the Kindred Camaro and Kindred Electric Chevy 3100 Pickup coming soon after.
For the past 20 years, Kindred CEO and founder Rob Howard has been in his garage, restoring classic cars. When his wife and kids went to bed, that’s where he was, he said in a video on the company’s site.
The more time he worked under the hood, the deeper he fell into a love of classic hot rods. A vintage Chevrolet took him 4 years to restore. “One day I looked at it and saw how complex it was, and as a technology person, I knew I could organize it in a much more efficient way if I applied technology to it,” he said in the video, “I knew there was a real business there to simplify the modernization of these cars and make them more reliable today.”
Howard and his team at Kindred have been working together for 15 years. According to the company, their meticulously developed technology infrastructure allows them to produce these restored EV conversions at a scale that’s unprecedented in the vintage-automobile market.
“We use technology as a tool to build our cars at scale and with great efficiency, blending everything we love about these timeless designs with the cleanest, most advanced, and most user-friendly powertrains available,” said Howard. “Our approach has won over investors, who believe in both the processes we’ve created and the products that we’re launching as a result.”
Now, a love of vintage vehicles can also be zero-emissions and you can cruise into the sunset ’70s style without polluting the atmosphere. From the Kindred bus’s classic VW hubcaps and Safari windshields to the Bronco’s iconic interior, these EVs are a wave of pure nostalgia redeveloped to exist in the future’s zero-carbon world.
With the launch backing of FootPrint Coalition with other venture investors like CPMG, Goldcrest, and Fifth Down Capital, the company was able to raise over $20 million through its first two funding rounds.