Company that put gas engines in Teslas goes bankrupt owing $37 million

Obrist, the Austrian company known for pulling the battery out of a Tesla Model 3 and installing a small gas engine as a range extender, has gone bankrupt. Three companies in the group filed for insolvency with combined debts of about $37 million, and the two main Austrian units told the court there was no way to continue or restructure, so they shut down immediately.

The company spent more than a decade pitching its "HyperHybrid" system as a cheaper, longer-range alternative to electric cars, first promising production vehicles by 2023, then pivoting to a "climate positive" fuel made from captured carbon, and eventually claiming it had billions in investment lined up for fuel plants around the world. None of it led to an actual production car. The company also lobbied European regulators to loosen the EU's 2035 ban on new gas-powered cars, arguing its engine was cleaner than running on battery power alone.

This isn't a story about a product you could have bought or installed in your own car. It's the end of a company that never shipped anything. For homeowners thinking about electric vehicles, the practical takeaway is simply that battery costs and driving range keep improving, which is part of what the company itself blamed for its failure. If you already drive an electric car, charging it from home solar remains a separate way to cut fuel costs, unrelated to any of this.