ASX-listed UltraCharge has signed an agreement with Indonesian battery product maker PT Garda Persada to manufacture, market, distribute and sell its unique high powered lithium-ion battery pouch cells in Indonesia and the ASEAN region.
PT Garda must secure firm orders for at least US$5m worth of batteries from military clientele in order to proceed with the joint venture.
Ultracharge will then invest up to US$3m to establish a new production facility near Jakarta.
It will also assist in funding the costs of the joint venture business while PT Garda will contribute its resources, facilities and labour to run the production line and meet any post production costs.
PT Garda will also market and sell the lithium-ion battery pouch cells in Indonesia by making use of its local sales contacts and by marketing to existing contracted clients.
Ultracharge will have a 70% stake in the new joint venture company, which will have exclusive rights to use its lithium-ion battery intellectual property in Indonesia for the term of the agreement.
PT Garda currently manufactures various lead acid battery products and solar power systems, primarily for the military and defence industries.
It also provides gel and sealed lead and acid batteries for tanks and other vehicles.
UltraCharge CEO Kobi Ben-Shabat said: “Our deal with PT Garda Persada is hugely significant and marks our first production agreement with a joint venture partner.”
“As we have previously outlined, the defence industry is a significant market for UltraCharge’s unique, lightweight, high voltage lithium-ion battery technology solutions.”
“We also look forward to investigating potential commercial opportunities with PT Garda Persada’s parent entity - Trinitan Group – who offer a wide range of global energy storage solutions in the automotive, renewable energy and telecommunications sectors.”
PT Garda Persada Chair Umi Kalsum said: “We believe our agreement with UltraCharge will allow our joint venture company to capitalise on UTR’s unity lithium-ion technology solutions, as well as assisting us to develop new battery technologies for torpedoes and drones as well as for other applications such as base transceiver stations.
“These type of new battery solutions could be used for telecommunication operators in Indonesia and for other organisations using radios. The army alone uses a large quantity of communication-related batteries every year.”
Just last month, Ultracharge signed a deal with Israeli electric scooter manufacturer Blitz Electric Motors that effectively transformed it from a battery parts technologist into a complete lithium-ion battery manufacturer.
The company will provide Blitz with high voltage lithium-ion batteries that it said would deliver more toque and horsepower to the back wheel, whilst potentially carrying less battery cells – and therefore less weight- to power each vehicle.
Ultracharge said its battery technology could potentially double the range of Blitz’s scooters from 100km to 200km.
Ultracharge’s cobalt free technology could also be of special interest to manufacturers such as Elon Musk, who has flagged his interest in cutting cobalt from the batteries that power Tesla vehicles.
The company says it can build its batteries for possibly half the cost of traditional lithium-ion batteries given that no cobalt is used. Cobalt currently sells for close to $100,000 a tonne.
Ultracharge’s deal with PT Garda is very significant as it provides a manufacturing base and production line knowhow for the company as it seeks to make the leap from technologist to battery manufacturer.
Interest in lithium ion battery makers is extreme right now too – particularly if the meteoric 44% rise of Chinese giant Contemporary Amperex Technology on its first day of trading on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange is any indication.
The rise - the maximum allowed by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange – took its value up to US$12.3bn.
Contemporary Amperex Technology’s rapid growth should not surprise given that the company overtook Panasonic as the world’s largest supplier of electric vehicle batteries last year.
By Matt Birney
