Transphorm

Google said today it had invested in a startup called Transphorm, whose power-conversion efficiency technology could some day help create more efficient electric cars. The company’s technology can reduce by up to 90 percent the power lost when one form of energy is converted to the other (say, from AC — alternating current — to DC, direct current). Hybrid and electric car drives also convert electricity from AC to DC, so the Transphorm’s technology could one day be used to make electric vehicles and hybrids more efficient, said CEO Umesh Mishra in an interview with...