German firms Triathlon Batteries and forklift OEM Jungheinrich have acquired a 240,000m2 site to build one of Europe’s biggest lithium-ion battery pack assembly plants for the motive application market.
The companies’ JT Energy Systems joint venture, formed earlier this year, will initially build a 42,000m2 production plant on the former solar equipment-manufacturing site in Freiberg, in the eastern-German state of Saxony.
A JT Energy spokesperson told BEST Battery Briefing it would not disclose the planned production capacity or investment costs.
However, the spokesperson confirmed battery systems and chargers for vehicles including electric forklifts and trucks would be assembled at the new plant, which is scheduled to start operations in the first quarter of 2020 with a workforce of around 200.
Meanwhile, battery module production will take place at a “highly-automated” facility JT Energy plans to establish in in Glauchau— about an hour’s drive from Freiberg— using cells imported from an undisclosed Asian manufacturer.
Jungheinrich, which has a 70% majority stake in JT Energy, said the new facilities would “solidify our technological leadership in electric mobility, and particularly lithium-ion technology”.
Both firms produce heavy-duty lead-acid (25,28 and 48V) and lithium-ion batteries.
JT Energy’s joint MDs Reinhild Kühne and Martin Hartmann said: “With the acquisition of the Freiberg plant, we are gaining both the production capacity necessary and an excellent site which equips us for further expansion of our lithium-ion battery and charger production.”
In May, German firm Tesvolt announced it was building a ‘gigafactory’ to assemble energy storage systems in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany.
The company will use South Korean cell manufacturer Samsung SDI’s nickel manganese cobalt oxide technology to build ESSs for on and off-grid applications.
The plant will initially include 12,000m2 of floor space, with plans to expand it to 20,000m2 to achieve its final output capacity goal of 1GWh of systems within two years. Initial manufacturing is set to begin next year.
