Plans that first circulated at this year’s IAA, have now been officially confirmed by battery system manufacturer Akasol. The German firm will be setting up battery production in the USA with production to begin at the end of 2019 with a capacity of 300 MWh.

　　That means that new facility will correspond to the same performance specifications as their factory in the city of Langen in Hesse. The latter however, will be upgraded to 600 MWh by 2020. The managing director for the U.S. subsidiary that will be established as part of the venture will be Roy Schulde.

　　The plans to start assembling batteries in the States were initially revealed by Akasol CEO Sven Schulz at the IAA Commercial Vehicle in a German language interview with our sister page electrive.net. He explained that their growth is driven by electric buses and large commercial electric vehicles. Hence they are working to increase their cell capacity from 243 kWh to 330 kWh without enlarging the battery pack.

　　With regards to the details of their U.S. American expansion CEO Schulz added: “The North American automotive and commercial vehicle markets are extremely important factors in the growth strategy of AKASOL AG. This site is therefore an important milestone in our company history. We are delighted to be joined by such a proven, experienced automotive sector expert as Roy Schulde.”

　　Akasol wants to start battery production in the USA in late 2019.