Further Expansion in the Bus Sector: AKASOL Concludes Long-Term Framework Agreement in the Mid-double-Digit Million Euro Range with the Largest Turkish Commercial Vehicle Manufacturer
AKASOL AG has signed a strategically important framework agreement with Turkey’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer. The total volume of the agreement is in the mid-double-digit million euro range. From 2021 to 2025, the Company will supply the second and third generation of its high-energy battery systems for one existing and one new bus type manufactured by the customer, thereby expanding its customer portfolio.
“As Europe’s leading manufacturer of battery systems, we are proud to have prevailed against strong European and Chinese competition in the commercial vehicle sector while demonstrating that our technologically leading battery systems are competitive even in cost-sensitive markets.”
Under the new framework agreement, AKASOL will not only expand its customer base to include a strategically important partner from the Middle East but will also strengthen its market share in the sector for electric buses. As the largest Turkish manufacturer of commercial vehicles and buses, AKASOL’s new customer has a workforce of more than 3,000 employees and produces some 12,000 vehicles per year, most of them sold on the markets in Asia and Eastern Europe. By commissioning AKASOL, the company intends to consistently expand its electrification strategy in the bus sector in the coming years: Following its market launch of the first electric bus in its company history in 2019, the customer will now launch another model with an electric drivetrain.
AKASOL will initially supply the second generation of its AKASystem 15 OEM 50 PRC-type, high-performance/high-energy battery systems for the new electric bus, which is set to launch in autumn 2021. Production of the battery systems will begin in the first quarter of 2021 at AKASOL’s serial production facility in Langen, Germany. The customer will also equip all of the buses it produces from 2023 with AKASOL’s third generation of battery systems. Summing up the significance of these moves, Sven Schulz pointed out:
“The fact that the framework agreement already includes the transition to our new ultra-high-energy battery system is a strong vote of confidence in our extensive expertise in the field of high-performance Li-ion batteries. It also shows that another customer with operations worldwide now considers us a strategically reliable partner for the rapid electrification of its portfolio.”
Along with the corresponding production capacities for serial production of high-performance battery systems, AKASOL has also demonstrated its know-how and competencies in the field of eMobility in recent years by concluding successful and long-term cooperation arrangements with major worldwide operating commercial vehicle manufacturers.
With the commissioning of its new Gigafactory 1 at the new AKASOL campus in Darmstadt, Germany, the Company will also have a further 2.5 GWh of production capacity available beginning next year.
“Since our serial production began, we have already equipped more than 2,500 commercial vehicle applications with our battery systems and can tap into very deep and broad expertise in this field. Depending on existing and new customers’ requirements, this can be doubled, so we are also in a position to produce reliably, quickly and as needed.”
Regarding the Turkish market, it is becoming increasingly important to AKASOL, Schulz points out. The Company delivered prototypes to another leading commercial vehicle manufacturer in Turkey just last year and is currently negotiating an expansion in the cooperation arrangement.
“For us, the framework agreement with the Turkish bus and commercial vehicle manufacturer is an important step into the Asian and Eastern European region, where the trend toward electrification is gathering speed.”
This article was originally published by AKASOL AG.
