British start-up Ionetic, which develops electric vehicle (EV) battery packs for low-volume carmakers, has launched production at a UK pilot plant as it scales up for projects with manufacturers, the company said on Tuesday.
The company's £5m (R116.1m) plant in Brackley, Northamptonshire, comes as Ionetic is working on EV battery packs for a number of British and US carmakers, CEO James Eaton said.
Major global carmakers have committed to investing hundreds of billions of dollars to develop EVs, the most complex and expensive parts of which are the battery pack and software system to run it.
Ionetic is targeting lower-volume manufacturers making everything from buses to commercial vehicles, sports cars, off-road vehicles and even golf carts or beach buggies that would struggle with the expense of developing EVs.
“The really big players can throw hundreds of millions or even billions at electrification,” Eaton said. “But about 90% to 95% of manufacturers are small and don't have hundreds of millions of pounds to go electric.”
He said that while a carmaker could expect to spend upwards of £30m (R696.9m) on an in-house EV battery pack, Ionetic can develop one for customers for under £1m (R23.2m).
“We want customers to spend as little as possible to get to production with a great battery pack,” Eaton added.
Low-volume carmakers could opt for generic existing off-the-shelf battery pack technology, but could end up with a product that does not meet their needs for range, power and performance, Eaton said.
The start-up has an ongoing research and development project with bus maker Alexander Dennis, a unit of Canada's NFI Group , but Eaton said he could not yet disclose which other carmakers the company is working with.
Ionetic has partnered with industrial automation firm Rockwell Automation to provide hardware and software for its pilot plant. Rockwell has provided digital twin software to Ionetic to test packs virtually before it invests in production, Eaton said.
Ionetic launches UK pilot plant for EV battery pack production
Image: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images
British start-up Ionetic, which develops electric vehicle (EV) battery packs for low-volume carmakers, has launched production at a UK pilot plant as it scales up for projects with manufacturers, the company said on Tuesday.
The company's £5m (R116.1m) plant in Brackley, Northamptonshire, comes as Ionetic is working on EV battery packs for a number of British and US carmakers, CEO James Eaton said.
Major global carmakers have committed to investing hundreds of billions of dollars to develop EVs, the most complex and expensive parts of which are the battery pack and software system to run it.
Ionetic is targeting lower-volume manufacturers making everything from buses to commercial vehicles, sports cars, off-road vehicles and even golf carts or beach buggies that would struggle with the expense of developing EVs.
“The really big players can throw hundreds of millions or even billions at electrification,” Eaton said. “But about 90% to 95% of manufacturers are small and don't have hundreds of millions of pounds to go electric.”
He said that while a carmaker could expect to spend upwards of £30m (R696.9m) on an in-house EV battery pack, Ionetic can develop one for customers for under £1m (R23.2m).
“We want customers to spend as little as possible to get to production with a great battery pack,” Eaton added.
Low-volume carmakers could opt for generic existing off-the-shelf battery pack technology, but could end up with a product that does not meet their needs for range, power and performance, Eaton said.
The start-up has an ongoing research and development project with bus maker Alexander Dennis, a unit of Canada's NFI Group , but Eaton said he could not yet disclose which other carmakers the company is working with.
Ionetic has partnered with industrial automation firm Rockwell Automation to provide hardware and software for its pilot plant. Rockwell has provided digital twin software to Ionetic to test packs virtually before it invests in production, Eaton said.
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