Dave Stenson has made a career in the auto industry with nearly three decades working in engineering and product development for General Motors. He also helped broker the still-born spinoff of Hummer a few years ago, serving as the brand’s CTO. Today he is pushing forward a clean-tech automotive startup.
"There is a multitude of reasons (for launching his own clean-tech startup), ranging from economic (fuel efficiency) to environmental (reduced emissions) to what’s good for our country (energy independence)," Stenson says.
Inventev is creating a hybrid-electric system for commercial trucks. Think plug-in electric technology. The technology is a new transmission architecture that allows electric machines to operate other aspects of the trucks, such as the hydraulic lift. That way the trucks' diesel engines don't need to idle while they dump their load.
"It saves on both fuel and emissions," Stenson says. "It also reduces noise emissions so they can expand work hours in places with noise ordinances."
The
TechTown-based firm and its team of six people is pre-seed, having raised a little bit of friends-and-family money. It has a goal of raising $2 million in seed capital in 2014. The startup made the semifinals of the
Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition and Stenson believes it is about three years from commercialization once it raises it seed capital.
Source: Dave Stenson, founder & CEO of Inventev
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.