09/26/2013 08:34:00 CEST
- Research institute ZSW Baden-Wuerttemberg places order with volume of approximately EUR 5 million
- Manz participates as an industry partner in the development of near-series production processes for large lithium-ion batteries in Germany
- Excellent growth opportunities in the Battery division for the years ahead
Manz AG, one of the world's leading high-tech engineering companies with an extensive technology portfolio in its three strategic business units "Display", "Solar" and "Battery", has won a strategically important order worth around EUR 5 million in the Battery division. In order to advance the development of near-series production processes and new materials for standardised prismatic lithium-ion batteries, a research production line conceived specifically for this purpose and without equal in Europe is being established at the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Wuerttemberg (ZSW). A significant part of the production equipment required by this project is being supplied by Manz AG. The research line is a strategic project run by the German Federal Government's National Electric Mobility Platform. The intended focal points of development are to increase the quality and safety of the batteries and reduce production costs, thereby accelerating the establishment of a strong cell and battery industry in Germany. In addition to the Federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, leading German industrial companies including BMW AG, Daimler AG, ElringKlinger AG, Rockwood Lithium GmbH and SGL Carbon GmbH are involved in this pioneering research project. The lithium-ion batteries should be used not only in the electric mobility segment, but also in other areas such as stationary electricity storage.
Dieter Manz, CEO and founder of Manz AG, comments: "We are delighted that we, as Germany's leading engineering company in the field of lithium-ion batteries, are able to support the research project with our know-how. This union between the ZSW and a host of renowned industrial companies is a powerful statement about this technology's future viability – and a highly positive signal for the whole industry and for Germany as an industrial location."
Thanks to the positive market outlook in the e-mobility and electricity storage segments, this field offers a diversity of opportunities to Manz AG as a high-tech engineering company. Experts are assuming that battery capacities in the automotive sector are likely to grow with an average annual growth rate of 59% to 19 GWh by 2015 and 49 GWh by 2020. The growth prospects in the stationary electricity storage segment are similarly positive: capacities of 2 GWh for 2015 and as much as 10 GWh for 2020 are being forecast. Dieter Manz is correspondingly optimistic: "Over the next few years I see excellent growth potential for our company in the Battery division. Thereby our competitive advantages as a high-tech engineering company with broad technological expertise will come into their own. If the market continues to develop positively, the Battery division could achieve a range of revenues similar to that of our currently booming Display division in three to five years."
