NEWS: Briggs & Stratton Acquires SimpliPhi Power: Enters Into Energy Storage System Market

[Steve_S]

Briggs & Stratton Acquires SimpliPhi Power: Enters Into Energy Storage System Market​

Acquisition Expands Business to Offer Broad Range of Energy Storage Solutions​

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MILWAUKEE (September 7, 2021) – Briggs & Stratton announced today it has acquired SimpliPhi Power, a California-based manufacturer of energy storage and management systems which store solar, grid and wind power for future use by residential, commercial and industrial customers. Through this acquisition, Briggs & Stratton will accelerate its growth into the energy storage system market, expanding the business to offer a comprehensive range of products that provide safe, reliable and affordable energy solutions to a broader group of customers in this fast growing market.
There is rapidly-growing demand for energy storage systems that provide power in the event of an outage, store excess energy to offset high electricity costs during peak times and supplement power from the utility grid. SimpliPhi Power designs and manufactures efficient, non-toxic and enduring energy storage and management systems that utilize lithium-ion batteries to store power generated by residential solar panels, among other sources.
“This acquisition quickly establishes a strong position for Briggs & Stratton in the high-growth energy storage system market,” says Steve Andrews, President and CEO of Briggs & Stratton. “The SimpliPhi Power team brings deep application expertise, strong technical support and proven, successful products to the Briggs & Stratton portfolio of power-agnostic products and technology solutions.”
“Combining forces with Briggs & Stratton will provide SimpliPhi Power with new growth opportunities and substantial resources to lead the energy storage system market. Briggs & Stratton’s expansive distribution network, power application expertise, and commitment to innovation will accelerate our growth and our mission of providing resilient energy storage systems that create universal access to safe, reliable and affordable energy to empower people, communities and enterprises globally,” says Catherine Von Burg, CEO of SimpliPhi Power.
Briggs & Stratton intends to offer SimpliPhi Power products through its own distribution channels in addition to continuing to service SimpliPhi Power’s existing distribution channels.
Godfrey and Kahn S.C. served as legal counsel to Briggs & Stratton. Needham & Company, LLC served as financial advisor and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati served as legal counsel to SimpliPhi Power. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Media Contact:
Lauren Vagnini
Briggs & Stratton
vagnini.lauren@basco.com

SOURCE: https://www.briggsandstratton.com/na/en_us/news-room/briggs-stratton-acquires-simpliphi-power.html

 

[JoeHam]

Can’t wait to get a SimpliPhi powered lawnmower ?.

Wonder if this is diversification for them or a real pivot in strategy. Only time will tell.

 

[Bob B]

Can’t wait to get a SimpliPhi powered lawnmower ?.

Should be easier to start ...

.... but seriously .... I bought a small electric lawnmower for my daughter a couple years ago. It works surprisingly well.

 

[circus]

I'll never understand economics. A company buys Generac, go's bankrupt, get raided, then buys another. Don't know if this is building or looting.

 

[ewb]

Does anyone else think this Briggs & Stratton/Simpliphi SPHI-IN-6 inverter looks an awful lot like the MPP LVX6048WP with similar specs?

https://www.mppsolar.com/v3/lvx6048wp/

 

[robby]

Should be easier to start ...

.... but seriously .... I bought a small electric lawnmower for my daughter a couple years ago. It works surprisingly well.

I bought one about 6 months ago to replace a gas powered Briggs & Stratton push mower.
Lets just say I will never ever be going back to a Gas Powered Mower.
I would bet that 95% of the people who get an electric mower feel this way.

 

[robby]

I'll never understand economics. A company buys Generac, go's bankrupt, get raided, then buys another. Don't know if this is building or looting.

I know a big company that bought out some game changing IP from a startup in the water testing market.
This IP went as far as being built and beta tested for months in the field and it 100% worked.
For a fraction of the normal cost you got much more accurate digital results almost instantly with a reusable system for making hundreds of test on multiple parameters before spending about $30 to replace a removable cartridge.

The big company paid millions for this tiny 6 person company and the Venture capital firm they had been working with got all the cash.

The design and IP was a game changer for the company that bought them out and the startup employees were told that they were very Interested in adopting the technology into a new product line and even had engineers visiting and making pitches on how to improve the design so that it could go to market in 6 months plus dolled out positions and salary info to all of them for the new division they were creating.

Just after signing the deal, getting NDA's and paying the money they fired everyone. The lead engineer who worked on the design for six years and spent every dollar he had making the first prototype so that he could get Venture Capital to invest got so distraught that he almost OD on Xanax two days later.
BTW I know the guy personally so I was actually following along for months before this went down.

All they were interested in was protecting the antiquated tech they already had on the market and now the IP and Beta unit designs sit in a Vault and have been there for the last three plus years.

It makes me wonder how many drugs are locked away in vaults that could probably cure cancer or just about any other disease.

 

[Buff]

Does anyone else think this Briggs & Stratton/Simpliphi SPHI-IN-6 inverter looks an awful lot like the MPP LVX6048WP with similar specs?

https://www.mppsolar.com/v3/lvx6048wp/

I thought the exact same thing when I saw it. Looked at the specs and manual and they are nearly identical. Same Voltronic unit with maybe a few small changes here and there, and maybe customized firmware to work with their EnergyTrak stuff.

 

[koppted]

Does anyone else think this Briggs & Stratton/Simpliphi SPHI-IN-6 inverter looks an awful lot like the MPP LVX6048WP with similar specs?

https://www.mppsolar.com/v3/lvx6048wp/

Has the Simpliphi inverter been released?
EDIT: I just saw the spec sheet and:
1. everything is the same as the LVX6048WP. https://simpliphipower.com/wp-conte...kw-inverter-sphi-in-6-specification-sheet.pdf
2.Only ambiguity is where it says certifications/standards. I don't know if this certification is actually UL listing of if its the same TUV cert to UL.
3. Priced at $3600 what a boondoggle
4. Bet you it has the same problems as the 6048WP

 

[e645824]

I wonder if the SimpliPhi EnergyTrak cell phone app would actually work with the LVX6048WP. Of if EnergyTrak specifically looks for the SimpliPhi units instead of just a Voltronic unit. According to Daniel at SimpliPhi:

Great observations! It is true we are having a OEM to make an inverter to our specifications. I'm not sure of the exact name of the global company that we are partnering with - the engineering team likes to keep those things under wraps.​

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Although the inverters look very similar - they are not the same product. We've had several changes and upgrades, specific to our requests, incorporated into the inverter model we are offering. Changes have been made to optimize the inverter to pair with our Energy Trak App and batteries.​

 

[e645824]

I wonder if the SimpliPhi EnergyTrak cell phone app would actually work with the LVX6048WP. Of if EnergyTrak specifically looks for the SimpliPhi units instead of just a Voltronic unit. According to Daniel at SimpliPhi:

Great observations! It is true we are having a OEM to make an inverter to our specifications. I'm not sure of the exact name of the global company that we are partnering with - the engineering team likes to keep those things under wraps.​

​

Although the inverters look very similar - they are not the same product. We've had several changes and upgrades, specific to our requests, incorporated into the inverter model we are offering. Changes have been made to optimize the inverter to pair with our Energy Trak App and batteries.​

According to the Energy Trak installation manual:

https://www.altestore.com/static/datafiles/Others/energytrak-control-system-installation-manual.pdf​

it appears that the SimpliPhi version of the MPP LVX6048WP also uses a special hardware module that the EnergyTrak app talks to:

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and the "gateway" is that unit on the DIN rail and has several connections to the LVX6048WP. This gateway goes into an external enclosure:

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​

None of the glossy SimpliPhi photos show this gateway box on the external wall of the house (with their nicely arranged LVX6048WP clone and the 3 large SimpliPhi batteries).

In looking closely at the diagram, there is the RS232 d-sub connector that we are familiar with that works with the LVX6048WP. But there are also a couple of pin adapters on some of the RJ45 lines. So I'm guessing that their gateway is a standard item (from someone else) and they have to flip the pins around (using the stub cables) to work with their version of the LVX6048WP (which is also from someone else).

All of this implies that they aren't using the native communications of the LVX6048WP.