American Battery Solutions Completes the Acquisition of High Voltage Battery Assets from Bosch Battery Systems

LAKE ORION, Mich. and SPRINGBORO, Ohio, Aug. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- American Battery Solutions, Inc. (ABS), an advanced battery systems company, announced it has completed the acquisition of high-voltage manufacturing and testing assets from Robert Bosch Battery Systems. The acquisition initially announced on May 20, 2019 was closed today.  With the transaction completed, the 170,000 sq. ft. battery systems manufacturing facility and production lines in Springboro, Ohio are now wholly owned by ABS. The key manufacturing personnel from the plant have also joined ABS as its employees.

ABS is backed by a $50 million committed investment from KCK Group, a principal investment firm with global offices in London, New York, San Francisco and Dubai.  ABS brings electrified mobility battery systems to emerging transportation, industrial and commercial markets by leveraging the team's vast experience and expertise in automotive battery system development, testing and manufacturing.

ABS is already in discussions with several potential customers to develop, test and manufacture modular battery solutions for underserved transportation, industrial and commercial markets, primarily in North American and Europe,  Subhash Dhar, Founder, chairman and chief executive officer of ABS stated, "We are excited to have the highly experienced manufacturing team join our world-class battery professionals and automotive experts  together with world-class development and manufacturing facilities," Dhar said.    

The company is founded by KCK Group and Dhar, a longtime innovator and industry leader in the development and commercialization of energy storage. ABS leadership team include some of the most talented and experienced members of the industry including Dr. John Warner, chief customer officer; Ivan Menjak, vice president, business development and Arun Kumar, director, electronics.

"ABS will focus on the middle of the spectrum of battery systems value chain," Dhar said, "concentrating on module production, pack assembly and customer integration."  It will work with the world's leading OEMs, system integrators and battery manufacturers to supplement and extend their brands with a combination of engineering, testing and manufacturing services.  The venture will partner with leading cell suppliers, to offer a variety of chemistries and cell form factors to optimize each application

Target applications include:

• High performance and autonomous EVs;
• Delivery trucks, buses and utility vehicles;
• Rail and marine;
• Mobile commercial power;
• Material handling equipment; and
• Construction, agriculture and mining equipment.

IDTechEx, a market research firm, forecasts that the electric vehicle market will reach $1.1 trillion in sales by 2028, including vehicles for  construction, agriculture & mining markets which will reach over $100bn by 2029 as the prices of lithium-ion batteries decrease and enable solid business cases in these applications. "We see a huge business opportunity in these underserved segments and have received very positive market feedback since our emergence from stealth mode three months ago" Dhar said.  

SOURCE American Battery Solutions, Inc.