paragon subsidiary Voltabox Deutschland GmbH forms strategic partnership with Triathlon Batterien GmbH
paragon’s subsidiary Voltabox Deutschland GmbH has agreed a strategic partnership for the European market with Triathlon Batterien GmbH, Glauchau. At core, this exclusive agreement involves supplying lithium ion batteries for use in intralogistic solutions such as electric forklift trucks, driverless transport systems etc.. Triathlon is one of the leading providers in Germany of traditional lead acid batteries in this market and aims to further expand its position with high-performance lithium ion batteries from Voltabox. Alongside its strategic partnership with Vossloh-Kiepe for electric buses Voltabox has now accessed its second major market segment.
Voltabox will supply several hundred battery modules to Triathlon in 2015. From 2016 onwards, output is scheduled to rise to several thousand modules a year. paragon assesses the revenues expected over the next five years in a double-digit million euro range.
Comments Klaus Dieter Frers, CEO of paragon AG: “We have long worked towards building this partnership. We are delighted that this cooperation with Triathlon will enable us to access a further complete and very interesting market segment, and that without incurring the great expense necessary to establish proprietary sales structures for this industrial market. Further, this exclusive partnership offers not only enormous revenue potential but also great planning reliability as the contractually agreed minimum purchase volumes will add a substantial base capacity for the highly automated production at Voltabox over several years.”
Triathlon, a leading direct supplier and equipper for intralogistics drive batteries, has nationwide sales and service structures and suitable partners in other European countries. Just at the end of 2014, Triathlon launched operations at Europe’s most up-to-date battery assembly plant in Glauchau including a production hall section specially earmarked for Voltabox lithium ion batteries. In future, paragon’s Voltabox subsidiary will act as an exclusive partner manufacturing and supplying to Triathlon all battery modules using this technology. These modules are designed for use both in the replacement business with existing lead acid batteries and in the original equipment market and can be individually grouped for a wide variety of installation spaces.
Adds Klaus Dieter Frers: “Our strategic commitment to electromobility and the substantial investments made in recent years are increasingly paying off. This second major step, and by no means the last, will secure substantial revenues for us over several years, raise the share of the non-automotive business as a second source of revenue, and sustainably boost our market position in the battery pack sector.”
