UK battery pack manufacturer looks to Europe as it aims for £100m
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Battery pack maker Alexander Battery Technologies (ABT) is planning to invest in its UK and European sites to meet ambitious growth plans.
The Peterlee based company designs and manufactures customised rechargeable battery packs for a range of industries and has seen turnover rise 30% to £126m in 2023. Since embarking on a five-year growth plan, ABT is aiming for £100m annual sales in the next four years.
It has 50 per cent of sales in the US and around 47 per cent in Europe, and the company wants to grow exports while also significantly boosting sales across the EU and the UK. Later this year the company plans to announce details of a new manufacturing operation in Europe.
During 2023, the company secured several large contracts in e-mobility, securing a project for a battery pack for an on-highway eMotorbike. Elsewhere, ABT won a project in the military sector for an unmanned support vehicle that works alongside military personnel, carrying heavy equipment and support gear. This demanding project requires a large battery pack of around 70kg with a voltage of circa 120V.
The international company operates in key sectors including robotics, telecommunications and e-mobility.
It operates an advanced high-voltage battery testing and validation laboratory at its Battery Technology Centre, as well as its state-of-the-art logistics facility in the UK. It opened a new location in Frankfurt last summer to offer technical consultancy tailored to the needs of regional customers in e-mobility, robotics, medical, and wearable/portable devices markets.
“The business invested heavily during 2023, to set us up for growth in the coming years. We concluded the complete design and build of our Battery Technology Centre, providing 12 dedicated laboratories for new battery development projects,” said Alex Stapleton, chief commercial officer at ABT.
“These bring important capabilities of engaging in up to 12 different projects in parallel, for projects up to 800V and over 100kWh. The Battery Technology Centre also added much needed office space, as well as extra production floorspace to further future-proof the flexibility of our UK site.”
Additional equipment will go into this building in 2024, including a bespoke test-rig for battery testing, which can be adapted for a wide range of projects and applications, such as high voltage requirements.
In the middle of 2023, ABT invested in the EV Flex battery laser welding machine from IPG Photonic. The laser welder is currently being installed within the Peterlee factory, which once in full production will represent an investment of more than £500,000. This provides the technical platform to deliver large packs to meet the standards required for automotive on-highway vehicles and similar high voltage applications.
A new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform, representing a further investment of around £500,000, has recently gone live as well.
“This critical system upgrade will enable the business to digitalise and automate all the world-class controls in manufacturing, enhancing the level of available detail to meet automotive standards where needed,” said Stapleton.
www.alexandertechnologies.com/
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