KION Group engineers joint venture for lithium-ion batteries

This joint venture will manufacture lithium-ion batteries for industrial trucks in the EMEA region. The objective is to broaden the lithium-ion product offering and to increase production capacity to best serve the rapidly growing demand for lithium-ion battery systems in the intralogistics market.

The production facility for the joint venture is built by BMZ Holding in Karlstein am Main, the headquarters of the BMZ Group. By 2023, the workforce of the JV is expected to grow to around 80 employees working in mainly research, development and production functions.

Initial focus will be on the production of 48-volt and 80-volt batteries for counterbalance trucks. Soon, the offering will be expanded to 24-volt batteries for smaller warehouse trucks.

The transaction still needs to be approved by the competent antitrust regulator.

Direct access to proprietary test labs and development teams as well as strategic, cost-optimised product developments will be key to the success of the joint venture the companies said in a statement.

The new business will be jointly managed by the KION Group and BMZ Holding. KION's Carsten Harnisch and Christian Hasenstab from BMZ will be appointed as managing directors of KION Battery Systems. Likewise, each founding company will appoint two members of the four-person shareholders' committee. The joint venture will be fully consolidated by KION Group.