- Battery manufacturing pilot line to be completed Q1 2023 with current workforce set to double when operational
- Voderady to act as R&D epicentre in Slovakia, supporting planned portfolio of gigafactories in Europe and US
- Significant partnerships and MOUs signed over the last year
- Clear progress made towards future growth plans
London / Bratislava, 15 December 2022: InoBat (“InoBat” or the “Company”), the European pioneer of premium electric battery R&D, engineering, and production, today provides an operational update following the achievement of key development milestones this year and the significant progress made towards the Company’s future growth plans.
In summer 2021, InoBat began the construction of its EV battery R&D and pilot line facility on a brownfield site in Voderady, Slovakia. With a footprint of ~9,500 sqm, the site has progressed rapidly and now encompasses state-of-the-art laboratories, a dedicated R&D centre and a manufacturing pilot line, all on track to be commissioned in Q1 2023. The facility will be the epicentre of InoBat’s agile approach to product development, providing an “all-in-one” location solution – from chemistry research and cell development to battery production and recycling capability. This successfully showcases InoBat’s “cradle-to-cradle” circular economy approach in support of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN (SDG 2030), which heavily influenced the decision to use an existing site to house InoBat’s first operations, reducing the need for carbon intensive construction methods.
The facility continues to progress swiftly and is on track to be up and running as planned in Q1 2023, with the production of tailor-made electric battery cells for InoBat’s customers set to begin shortly afterwards. With customer orders already signed, the facility’s current employee base will more than double to 150 as the site becomes fully operational, with one-third of the employee-base remaining entirely focused on R&D and product development. The facility will benefit significantly from Slovakia’s wealth of engineering talent and the intellectual capability developed at Voderady will sustain all of InoBat’s future sites.
This is only the first stage of development, however, as InoBat’s modular approach will enable the scale up of the plant in stages to ensure its expansion is in line with offtake demand, allowing the initial ~45MWh per annum capability to grow to gigafactory scale in a considered manner. As well as ensuring future capacity can be added smoothly without interrupting operations, this approach will also support production flexibility and the future-proofing of InoBat’s operations as processes evolve.
InoBat’s significant progress builds on the foundations that were carefully laid at its creation in 2019, with much of the past three years focused on investing in its own proprietary R&D, taking the view that European companies must develop their own ideas if they are to compete with established international manufacturers in Asia. For InoBat, it has been key to take a customer-focused approach and concentrate on creating the right product for customer needs before building very large, giga scale manufacturing facilities. Collaboration is key for success and, importantly, InoBat has already signed customer agreements with players in the commercial vehicle industry and the electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft sector, with the first cells already shipped and $2 million of initial revenues realised. In addition, InoBat benefits from an extensive further pipeline and is currently in discussions with 30+ parties.
Marian Bocek, CEO of InoBat Auto, commented: “I am incredibly pleased with the progress that has been made since we began developing our Voderady site just over a year ago. What was once a disused building is now an advanced research, development, and production facility with a top calibre R&D and operations team, all sitting under one roof.
“At the heart of our success is InoBat’s truly differentiated approach to produce tailor-made EV battery solutions, understanding that no two customers’ needs are alike. Our bespoke batteries provide customers with longer range, longer lifecycle, higher energy density and faster charging time – and most importantly, we develop our products first before scaling up our manufacturing capability. With tailor-made products for key customers under our belt, supported by an excellent R&D and operational team, we have all we need to succeed and will continue to drive forward on our journey to become a leading player in green mobility.”
The significant progress of InoBat’s Voderady facility is just the first operational step towards a global ambition to drive the transition towards EV mobility whilst localising value-chains through local partnerships and alliances. InoBat currently has a portfolio of projects under development in Europe and the US with plans that will see InoBat develop a network of sites and, eventually, gigafactories, with local partners. This important step began in June 2022, when InoBat announced plans – along with cornerstone investor, Ideanomics, and the State of Indiana – to develop a new facility in Indiana. This was swiftly followed by the announcement of InoBat’s planned site in Serbia, with support from the Government of Serbia and IFC. InoBat will also soon be announcing the location of the company’s third gigafactory, planned for Western Europe, with declarations of intent signed with authorities in Spain although other locations, such as the UK, remain under consideration.
These three gigafactories – one in Eastern Europe (Serbia), one in Western Europe (location to be confirmed) and one in the US (Indiana) – will all be developed in a phased approach aligned with offtake demand, in 4GWh modules until they reach full-scale gigafactories. These future facilities will be supported by the intellectual capability produced at InoBat’s existing Voderady site as well as its first UK site at the University of Warwick Science Park’s Warwick Innovation Centre.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About InoBat
InoBat specialises in pioneering research, development, manufacture, supply, recycling, and ultimate careful disposal of innovative electric batteries custom-designed to meet the specific requirements of global mainstream and specialist OEMs within the automotive, commercial vehicle, motorsport, and aerospace sectors.
InoBat provides innovative solutions across the entire value chain thanks to its “cradle-to-cradle” approach, which showcases the concept of a circular economy. InoBat is backed by a strong consortium of strategic investors and partners such as Rio Tinto, Amara Raja, Ideanomics, IFC, IPM Group, Matador, AEN, CSG and Across.
A European-based battery manufacturer, InoBat already has a battery research and development facility and pilot line under development in Slovakia. InoBat has also been approved for grant financing under the EU sponsored programme, Important Projects for Common European Interest, and already received a grant from the Slovak Government.
For more information and news on InoBat, please visit https://inobatauto.eu/.
Media enquiries
Katarina Stryckova katarina.stryckova@ipmllp.com
Gary Haddon, InoBat gary.haddon@inobat.eu
Zoë Watt, Teneo zoe.watt@teneo.com
Tom Davies, Teneo tom.davies@teneo.com
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