KION Opens Second Production Line for E-Mobility

KION Battery Systems GmbH (KBS) is expanding its production line at its site in Karlstein, Germany, for manufacturing 24-volt batteries, used in mobile warehouse handling equipment.

KION Battery Systems is a partnership between KION GROUP AG and BMZ Holding GmbH that was set up in the summer of 2019 to produce lithium-ion batteries for industrial trucks. KBS’s objective is to sustainably expand its lithium-ion product offering and production capacities for the EMEA region.

Both KION and BMZ boast expertise in the lithium-ion technology sector. In the two-and-a-half years since its foundation, the company has been manufacturing 48 and 80-volt batteries for counterbalance trucks at its state-of-the-art plant. Now, production is being extended to other industrial trucks and with the addition of a second production line, the KBS plant now has the capacity to produce 30,000 batteries every year.

“Our modern lithium-ion trucks provide the basis for resource-saving intralogistics”, said Rob Smith, CEO of KION GROUP AG, at the inauguration of the second production line. “With the addition of a second production line, we are now taking the next vital step towards a sustainable future in our role as one of the leading suppliers.

“KBS gives our brands another important boost to their energy-efficient drive systems and strengthens our position in the area of Li-ion batteries significantly. The partnership with BMZ is paying off. The experts at KBS are currently designing a completely new forklift battery that uses cells developed specifically for KION. This is cutting-edge technology made in Germany”.

In addition to battery production, the R&D department at KBS is making strides forward in developing concepts for reconditioning lithium-ion batteries and transitioning the system into a second or even third life. The development team and other KION experts are looking at the battery’s entire life cycle: from the development of new proprietary battery systems and intelligent load management to reconditioning and ultimately recycling batteries, with the existing possibility to recover up to 95% of the raw materials used.

Founder and Managing Director of BMZ Holding, Sven Bauer, highlights the potential the jointly operated company has to offer: “KBS brings together know-how from two different worlds. KBS stands for the combined forces of pioneering spirit and expertise from two of the world’s leading groups in lithium-ion battery development and intralogistics. Based in the growth market of electrification, our jointly operated company has demonstrated its huge potential over the last two-and-a-half years and has thus become a forward-looking anchor in the BMZ Group within a very short space of time”.

Find more information about KION Battery Systems and the opening of a second production line for E-Mobility on its website.

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