German lithium-ion manufacturer BMZ has opened the new headquarters of its US subsidiary in Virginia.
A total of more than $2 million has been invested in the BMZ USA expansion project at Virginia Beach.
A BMZ spokesperson told BEST Battery Briefing the company’s former US operations site nearby, which opened in 2011, has now been closed.
Three production lines are already running at the new facility “and at least a fourth will be installed this year”, the spokesperson said. Six lines in total are expected to be in operation in 2020.
Planned turnover of BMZ USA in 2019 is $18m with a production output of around 100MWh.
The move to the new facility is the latest step taken by the BMZ group to expand its US business. Since 2017, BMZ USA has created 30 new jobs in Virginia Beach and plans to hire 20 more by the end of the year.
MD of the US subsidiary Kai Schoeffler (pictured, foreground) said the company also intends to work on “developmental projects” at the new facility.
In 2018, the BMZ group took control of fellow German lithium-ion developer and producer, TerraE, as part of an effort to launch battery cells production in Germany by 2020.
Also last year, BMZ signed a long-term battery cells supply deal with South Korea’s LG Chem. BMZ said the contract covered supplies of “over a few hundred million cells” by the end of 2022 for products in the electro mobility and energy storage markets.
